h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Defending the Indefensible: Mankind vs. Earth - A52933575
Author: 9 <star> Frenchbean - lurking - U236943

This started as one of The Stretcher challenges in April, but was left high and dry as a result of real life intervening. I've returned to it and think it's worth pursuing and hereby submit it into PR for your comments.


Fb

for tomorrow (sorry, long day)

Great entry - very thought-provoking.

No issues with the content and structure.

Just a few nitpicks:


...to recognise... ?


EF Schumacher (house style)


add space after footnote


summit (lower case)


journalism is... ?


needs punctuation after 'change'


the West (occurs more than once)

I'm not sure you need to footnote United Nations (UN).

Icy

Hi Icy and GB (and other Peerers)... I'll address all comments in a wee while. Real life has sadly intervened again. Please bear with me.

Fb

I haven't got any specific comments either, other than well done Frenchbean, a great entry

FB:

Overall, I quite like it! This certainly is a message worth repeating!

There are a couple of concerns that I would have, if I may be so bold:

[Imagine a Doomsday Courtroom thronging with the starved, the poisoned and the drowned former inhabitants of Earth.]
Certainly the starved and starving, probably the poisoned, if they haven't expired, but the 'drowned'? Past tense? Is this the Creator Judgement Day court, or a hypothetical earth-bound court?

[A similarly clad counterpart... Is this a valid defence?]
As you state, the obvious answer is 'No'; but, if this were a case of vandalism or destruction of private (or public) property, I don't think the court would convict someone who simply didn't bother with it. The (also obvious) point you make is that we're all contributing. Here here!

[Fortunately this image is a dream – a nightmare if you will – and we are far from it yet.]
Actually, I think the key message is that we are not all that far from it. We have seen that areas being defoliated can take just so much strain on their system when they eventually flip, rather rapidly, to a completely different kind of environment. Deforrested areas can rapidly flip to desert, fish-filled lakes and streams to swamps, etc.

[What is it about human nature that allows us to stick our heads in the sand and enables us to shoot down people who bravely shout warnings from the parapets? Is it justifiable behaviour? Are we indeed guilty as charged?]
You might want to make 'allowances' for those who are bravely shouting from the parapets, and striving for cleaner technologies. Also those who promote less animal protein in our diets and more fresh vegetables. It is well documented that our excessively meat-fllled diets are a major source of greenhouse gases from all of the cattle.

Just some thoughts.

Again, someone else with little to comment beyond 'well done'. It's just about the right length to keep interest without becoming a treatise.

I like it.

Hello all

Thank you for the comments. I have edited as per Icy's post 3.

Fords: I haven't altered anything as a result of your thoughts: I'm not sure what can be changed.

I have no idea where the imaginary courtroom is... it can be wherever anybody wants it to be.

Who is to say what rules the imaginary court is operating under? It can be whatever the reader wants it to be

The fact that it is a nightmare is true: it's not real. I have made the point that we are careering towards it though.

Have I been harsh on people who are trying to make a change? I tried not to be by explaining the reasons for the general intertia.

Thank you Vip and h5ringer.


Fb

Any more comments?

Hi FB!

As I mentioned, my comments were largely just 'thoughts'.

You're keeping 'drowned' then?

I'm content with drowned... sealevel rise will see to it that some of us are indeed drowned.

- or should that be
Fb

Yes, there will be drowning; but my question was will they appear at trial?

Why not? There are no rules about this trial... I am not trying to be too literal, nor too tied to convention here. To be honest, I don't quite understand your concern

No problems! It's your entry.

I just found it a bit weird to think that dead people might actually come to the trial!

Aha I see I assumed they are all dead... It's a nightmare after all.

Any other comments?

Fb

Oh! Sorry FB!

I lost track of this.

No, If we're talking the 'revenge of the dead' trials, all is now clear!!

Thanks

Very good article
Given my newbie status this is obviously more of a thought than a comment but a mention Earth overshoot day where the resorces produced in that year are used up - any resorces used beyo0nd that day are non-sustainable - i think the current one is b elieved to occur sometime ion september.
I'm not sure of how scientfic the site is so some extra checking beyond mine could be in order.
Well done
http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/earth_overshoot_day/

Hello Ford's Towel I lost track too... have had 'flu and am only just coming back up for air

Anyway, Nbb: thank you for the thought about ecological footprints and overshoot day. I looked at a heap of different websites and information when I was compiling the entry and decided in the end to refer to none of them, because the science is complex and not really the main thrust of the entry. That's why I added the footnote about it being taken as read that we are living beyond our means.

It would be interesting to have an entry assessing the accuracy and relevance of some of these types of ecological measurements. For instance the individual footprint quiz on the site you mentioned is 50% irrelevant for me because I don't live in a big urban area and I don't own or use many of the pieces of equipment it measures. But is that important? Is it enough to get people onto the site and thinking about their footprint? If so, the quizzes are rather disingenuous imho.

There's a challenge for somebody

Fb

Your Guide Entry has just been picked from Peer Review by one of our Scouts, and is now heading off into the Editorial Process, which ends with publication in the Edited Guide. We've therefore moved this Review Conversation out of Peer Review and to the entry itself.

If you'd like to know what happens now, check out the page on 'What Happens after your Entry has been Recommended?' at EditedGuide-Process. We hope this explains everything.

Thanks for contributing to the Edited Guide!