Reader’s Digest Extras | April 2013

Hello to Mr. Matt Ridley,
I have thought of myself an optimist for as long as I can remember, and I am definately a fan of logic.  I enjoy reading articles that are written by logical people, either formally educated in world facts/stats, or just plain old all-around happy. My opinion is, if there were more that were willing to be thankful, pay-it-forward, forgive others, trust a little more, and just generally enjoy their day, the world would be a better place. I need to work on these myself, I’ll be the first to admit. Thanks for not being one of the many who just want to see the “gloom” or just want to darken the day. Your article serves as proof that sometimes good news sells. Please keep the optimistic articles coming. I believe they will/are making a difference.

Thanks you Matt Ridley for CHEER UP!

What a breath of fresh air!  ”Cheer Up” indeed.  In a country saturated with paid brutish politi-porn, “if it bleeds, it leads”, and hyped end-of-the-world news, I’m delighted to have found this TERRIFIC article thanks to my Kindle Readers Digest subscription.
Keep up the cheerful news!  We really need it -

Warm regards,

Peggy Pannke-Smith
Longmont CO

I really enjoyed “Cheer Up! 17 reasons it’s a great time to be alive.”  At the same I was amazed that RD printed so many words against their usual progressive agenda, e.g. #11 “Oil is not running out” or #13 “Storms are not getting worse.”  However, the bone I want to pick is #2, “Urban living is good living.”  Yes urbanites occupy only 3% of the land area, but they could not survive a week without sucking food, water, air, garbage disposal etc from the surrounding 97% …you know, RD, sustainability.  Sky scraper living can not survive 72 hours without land, labor and capital from the rest of us.

Sorry to say the Mr. Ridley is wrong about quite a few things:

1. Crude oil production has been flat since 2004 at 70 million barrels per day. This despite the highest prices in history.
2. The storms are getting worse. The US just had the most billion dollar disasters, adjusted to 2011 dollars, since record keeping began. This is in keeping with an upward trend in storm damage.
3. .86 degrees worth of Celsius isn’t ‘a little’ warming. It’s about 1/4 the difference between normal and another ice age, but in the direction of hot.
4. Overpopulation is a problem. It affects consumption of all goods including food and oil. High population is one reason forward food supply has dropped from 100 days to 72 days over the past decade. 
5. It may be easy for someone who’s prosperous to belittle the current economic difficulties, but it has created severe strain for millions of families.

Ridley’s attitude of laissez faire in a time of trouble is a bit disconcerting. For my part, I believe similar attitudes led US citizens to put their faith in devastating economic policies, such as deregulating Glass Steagall, that helped to lead up to the financial collapse. A return to ‘go with the flow’ thinking is exactly what we don’t need at the moment. What we need is recognition of the problems facing us and positive action to deal with those problems. Once that happens, Ridley will have every reason in the world to be optimistic. But not an instant sooner.

Your points of view are interesting.  I wish someone would listen to mine!  But I do have a question about population growth and your statement that according to the United Nations, population will start falling once it peaks at 9.2 billion in 2075.  My question is, what will cause it to start falling?