Btraill@aol.com wrote:
> The real root of pollution is there are just too many of us in this State,
> country and planet. A couple years ago the local newspaper published a pole
> that was asked of all the top name economists in America. The question was
> "How many people can America support with a quality life, good / meaningful
> job etc." The averaged response was 180 million. We are now at 260 million
> and projected for 1/2 billion by the year 2050. Some say "we have the room"
> but the question is do we have the resources, the air, the water, the land
> fills, and don't forget the sewer facilities. This will ultimately be the end
> of us as a people and as a "free" nation...it was a grand expiriment.
>
Glad to have you on the list! I'm not fully in agreement with your thesis. I
too,
shudder at 500 million in the US by 2050 and fortunately won't be around for it.
However, I'm still a cockeyed optimist as to the resources of American ingenuity
and creative energy. The 500 mil won't be evenly distributed across this great
land of ours, and I see it as only a further concentration of current conditions
in the big inner cites. IMHO, NYC, Wash DC and LA are already virtually
uninhabitable - those are cities with which I am familiar. That situation will
only get worse with the influx of immigrants which will make up a great majority
of the 500 mil. CA projections are for an additional 18 mil by 2020, but they
won't be coming to country/rural areas which will have 200-400K residences. No
political ideology intended, just a fact of economic life. You are right about
one of the main CA problems of the next few decades - the issue of water.
As to transportation issues, the recent "automated highway" demo here in San
Diego was very impressive as a "train" of Buicks ran up and down the I-15 HOV
lane at 65mph hands off. I think that technological approach is ahead of
electric
cars, public transit, and other schemes that are the favorites of politicians.
Bill Harkins
Fallbrook, CA
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