Wait until significant numbers of these men are unable to find wives and the option of working in the factories goes away…
Via: New York Times:
Jobs go begging in factories while many educated young workers are unemployed or underemployed. A national survey of urban residents, released this winter by a Chinese university, showed that among people in their early 20s, those with a college degree were four times as likely to be unemployed as those with only an elementary school education.
It is a problem that Chinese officials are acutely aware of.
“There is a structural mismatch — on the one hand, the factories cannot find skilled labor, and, on the other hand, the universities produce students who do not want the jobs available,” said Ye Zhihong, a deputy secretary general of China’s Education Ministry.
China’s swift expansion in education over the last decade, including a quadrupling of the number of college graduates each year, has created millions of engineers and scientists. The best can have their pick of jobs at Chinese companies that are aiming to become even more competitive globally.
But China is also churning out millions of graduates with few marketable skills, coupled with a conviction that they are entitled to office jobs with respectable salaries.
***
Richard Heinberg addresses this at a keynote speech in the following Radio Eco-Shock podcast. He points out the exponential aspect of economic growth, that the size of its resource extractive parameters double with 1% growth in 70 years and 7 years with 10% growth. After a doubling of China's economic activity within under a decade at 10% growth, Heinberg asks if it is reasonable to expect another doubling in the face of Peak Everything. Highly unlikely.
Infinite Growth in non-adaptive to non-growth or negative growth. Meaning, without continuous growth Industrial Civilization collapses. There is no gentle decline, no slow de-growth process. That is why policy makers have been playing "kick the can down the road" for over 4 decades, when groundbreaking and insightful studies such as The Limits To Growth study initially and accurately predicted the future of a failed paradigm.
Einstein was correct when he stated that problems cannot be solved with the kind of thinking that created them. We aren't going to solve the mismatch between an Infinite Growth economic model and a finite bio-sphere with more and more growth. Einstein also defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again yet expecting a different outcome.
Infinite Growth in non-adaptive to non-growth or negative growth. Meaning, without continuous growth Industrial Civilization collapses. There is no gentle decline, no slow de-growth process. That is why policy makers have been playing "kick the can down the road" for over 4 decades, when groundbreaking and insightful studies such as The Limits To Growth study initially and accurately predicted the future of a failed paradigm.
Einstein was correct when he stated that problems cannot be solved with the kind of thinking that created them. We aren't going to solve the mismatch between an Infinite Growth economic model and a finite bio-sphere with more and more growth. Einstein also defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again yet expecting a different outcome.
The above is what some of the social consequences of global economic collapse looks and feels like.
My only hope now is purely meta-physical. Larry Lowe, in a recent C-Realm podcast, The Overview Effect, posits that maybe Humanity will begin to psychically repair our damaged and abused planet, similarly to how a terminally ill patient given 6 months to live by a doctor miraculously and fully recovers, against all logic: Spontaneous Remission.
Spontaneous Evolution
My only hope now is purely meta-physical. Larry Lowe, in a recent C-Realm podcast, The Overview Effect, posits that maybe Humanity will begin to psychically repair our damaged and abused planet, similarly to how a terminally ill patient given 6 months to live by a doctor miraculously and fully recovers, against all logic: Spontaneous Remission.
Spontaneous Evolution
Source: http://www.ecoshock.org/
Why Is the Economy Shrinking? - Richard Heinberg
Endless growth is a delusion with consequences...The spiral of climate change, peak energy, and economic crisis, with author Richard Heinberg. Fresh interview on giant new book "Energy: Overdevelopment and the Delusion of Endless Growth". Followed by speech to Chicago Bioneers "Life After Growth: Why the Economy Is Shrinking and What to Do About It”. Radio Ecoshock 130116
Download/listen to this Radio Ecoshock show (1 hour) in CD Quality (56 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
Download/listen to Richard Heinberg's speech to the Chicago Great Lakes Bioneers conference (42 minutes) in CD Quality or Lo-Fi
Download/listen to my Radio Ecoshock interview with Richard Heinberg (17 minutes)in CD Quality or Lo-fi.
Please donate to Radio Ecoshock from our blog, or from our web site. Your financial help keeps me digging and broadcasting the awful truth.
NEW! 2 part video version of our Radio Ecoshock interview with Richard Heinberg, about the book "Energy: Overdevelopment" featuring images from the big book!
You tube Part 1 (9 min)
Part 2 (9 min)
And now, one with the show.
Richard Heinberg, California.
Eye-popping, jaw-dropping, - I'm out of words to describe the tsunami of agencies and experts admitting our troubles are bigger than our brains.
But this week we're going to step back from brink. I want to explore what it means.But who can assemble the currents of climate change, peak energy, and a delusional economy into a big picture? Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow at the Post Carbon Institute is one of the few who consistently keeps track of all three. He's the author of 10 books including "The Party’s Over", "Peak Everything", and "The End of Growth".
I start by calling Richard up about a very big new book, and then we'll hear his assessment from his keynote speech at the Great Lakes Bioneers Conference in Chicago. I knew some of the facts Richard brings out, but I didn't know how these forces of collapse interact, or when.
THE BIGGEST BOOK I'VE EVER OWNED
I wanted to give Richard Heinberg Hell for wasting resources on an eight pound monster book - about wasting precious resources!
The book "Energy, Overdevelopment and the Delusion of Endless Growth" is so big, I had to clear off my desk just to look at it. But then I got sucked in, by 2 foot photos of the-wide photos of the nasty industrial mess hiding behind our cars and smart-phones. Why didn't I know it's that bad out there?
The book has huge photos of even larger landscapes, places wrecked by our insatiable need for more and more energy. I began to wonder: why don't we see these images in the media, or in our daily lives? Are they censored, or is it because we don't want to look?
For one thing, Richard points out, if you don't have a private plane, you'll never see most of these energy reserves. They are generally in the out back lands. Plus, since 911, most of these energy farms have private security guards and the threat of being labeled a terrorist if you are there taking pictures.
I've seen horrible photos of the Canadian Tar sands oozing across the scarred landscape, as far as the eye can see. But until this book, I didn't realize the vast impact of conventional oil and gas production. Richard and I talk about "energy sprawl".
I was taken by the paper by the former Director of the C.I.A., R. James Woolsey. He says we are ready to spend billions fighting malevolent groups like Al Queda, but we totally unwilling to even talk about what he calls the "malignant threats" like system collapse of things like our electric grid, or the climate. Richard Heinberg has experienced that unwillingness to look, talk, and act for much of his professional life.
Surprisingly, this book includes green favorites like wind energy and solar farms as "blighted industrial landscape". And yet, despite the hard-headed figures on world energy sources and things like return on energy investment, I was surprised by the photos and essays on the importance of wild places and the species that live there. Is this a return to the old environmentalism?
Along those lines, I notice the flagship web site and discussion spot for the Post Carbon Institute has changed from the well-known "Energy Bulletin" to a completely new site,Resilience.org Richard Heinberg explains why, and notes some of the new resources aimed at helping us all relocalize.
He also says you can read some of the essays from the book online at resilience.org as time develops, from luminaries like Wendell Berry, James Hansen, David Orr, Amory Lovins, Sandra Steingraber, Juan Pablo Orrega and just too many more to mention. The essays are also found in the book "Energy Reader", available from the Post Carbon Institute. This Reader, Heinberg says, is already being used in some college classes.
The book "Energy: Overdevelopment and the Delusion of Endless Growth" was published with the help of the Foundation for Deep Ecology, which also spearheaded other activist large format books, including CAFO (Confined Animal Feeding Operations) and a great rainforest book.
Find the Radio Ecoshock coverage of CAFO - Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations The horrible truth about our meat production practices. Interview with Daniel Imhoff, editor of 2 new books on factory farm production. From Ecoshock 101015 Lo-Fi 4 MB 19 min
THE MEETING OF CLIMATE DISRUPTION, ENERGY DECLINE, AND ECONOMIC CRISIS or "Why the Economy Is Shrinking".
How do climate change, energy problems, and the fragile economy interact? And which will hit us worst and first? Let's hear Richard Heinberg add it all up at this keynote speech at the Great Lakes Bioneers Conference in Chicago, on November 2nd, 2012. This was recorded for Radio Ecoshock by Kelly Pierce of the Chicago Independent Media Center. The talk is titled “Life After Growth: Why the Economy Is Shrinking and What to Do About It”. We take you there. Find the links to listen to or download this speech by Richard Heinberg above.
Find Richard at richardheinberg.com. The helpful PCI news and discussion board isresilience.org.
I'm Alex Smith for Radio Ecoshock.
Thank you for listening to the big picture.
Download/listen to this Radio Ecoshock show (1 hour) in CD Quality (56 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
Download/listen to Richard Heinberg's speech to the Chicago Great Lakes Bioneers conference (42 minutes) in CD Quality or Lo-Fi
Download/listen to my Radio Ecoshock interview with Richard Heinberg (17 minutes)in CD Quality or Lo-fi.
Please donate to Radio Ecoshock from our blog, or from our web site. Your financial help keeps me digging and broadcasting the awful truth.
NEW! 2 part video version of our Radio Ecoshock interview with Richard Heinberg, about the book "Energy: Overdevelopment" featuring images from the big book!
You tube Part 1 (9 min)
Part 2 (9 min)
And now, one with the show.
Richard Heinberg, California.
Eye-popping, jaw-dropping, - I'm out of words to describe the tsunami of agencies and experts admitting our troubles are bigger than our brains.
But this week we're going to step back from brink. I want to explore what it means.But who can assemble the currents of climate change, peak energy, and a delusional economy into a big picture? Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow at the Post Carbon Institute is one of the few who consistently keeps track of all three. He's the author of 10 books including "The Party’s Over", "Peak Everything", and "The End of Growth".
I start by calling Richard up about a very big new book, and then we'll hear his assessment from his keynote speech at the Great Lakes Bioneers Conference in Chicago. I knew some of the facts Richard brings out, but I didn't know how these forces of collapse interact, or when.
THE BIGGEST BOOK I'VE EVER OWNED
I wanted to give Richard Heinberg Hell for wasting resources on an eight pound monster book - about wasting precious resources!
The book "Energy, Overdevelopment and the Delusion of Endless Growth" is so big, I had to clear off my desk just to look at it. But then I got sucked in, by 2 foot photos of the-wide photos of the nasty industrial mess hiding behind our cars and smart-phones. Why didn't I know it's that bad out there?
The book has huge photos of even larger landscapes, places wrecked by our insatiable need for more and more energy. I began to wonder: why don't we see these images in the media, or in our daily lives? Are they censored, or is it because we don't want to look?
For one thing, Richard points out, if you don't have a private plane, you'll never see most of these energy reserves. They are generally in the out back lands. Plus, since 911, most of these energy farms have private security guards and the threat of being labeled a terrorist if you are there taking pictures.
I've seen horrible photos of the Canadian Tar sands oozing across the scarred landscape, as far as the eye can see. But until this book, I didn't realize the vast impact of conventional oil and gas production. Richard and I talk about "energy sprawl".
I was taken by the paper by the former Director of the C.I.A., R. James Woolsey. He says we are ready to spend billions fighting malevolent groups like Al Queda, but we totally unwilling to even talk about what he calls the "malignant threats" like system collapse of things like our electric grid, or the climate. Richard Heinberg has experienced that unwillingness to look, talk, and act for much of his professional life.
Surprisingly, this book includes green favorites like wind energy and solar farms as "blighted industrial landscape". And yet, despite the hard-headed figures on world energy sources and things like return on energy investment, I was surprised by the photos and essays on the importance of wild places and the species that live there. Is this a return to the old environmentalism?
Along those lines, I notice the flagship web site and discussion spot for the Post Carbon Institute has changed from the well-known "Energy Bulletin" to a completely new site,Resilience.org Richard Heinberg explains why, and notes some of the new resources aimed at helping us all relocalize.
He also says you can read some of the essays from the book online at resilience.org as time develops, from luminaries like Wendell Berry, James Hansen, David Orr, Amory Lovins, Sandra Steingraber, Juan Pablo Orrega and just too many more to mention. The essays are also found in the book "Energy Reader", available from the Post Carbon Institute. This Reader, Heinberg says, is already being used in some college classes.
The book "Energy: Overdevelopment and the Delusion of Endless Growth" was published with the help of the Foundation for Deep Ecology, which also spearheaded other activist large format books, including CAFO (Confined Animal Feeding Operations) and a great rainforest book.
Find the Radio Ecoshock coverage of CAFO - Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations The horrible truth about our meat production practices. Interview with Daniel Imhoff, editor of 2 new books on factory farm production. From Ecoshock 101015 Lo-Fi 4 MB 19 min
THE MEETING OF CLIMATE DISRUPTION, ENERGY DECLINE, AND ECONOMIC CRISIS or "Why the Economy Is Shrinking".
How do climate change, energy problems, and the fragile economy interact? And which will hit us worst and first? Let's hear Richard Heinberg add it all up at this keynote speech at the Great Lakes Bioneers Conference in Chicago, on November 2nd, 2012. This was recorded for Radio Ecoshock by Kelly Pierce of the Chicago Independent Media Center. The talk is titled “Life After Growth: Why the Economy Is Shrinking and What to Do About It”. We take you there. Find the links to listen to or download this speech by Richard Heinberg above.
Find Richard at richardheinberg.com. The helpful PCI news and discussion board isresilience.org.
I'm Alex Smith for Radio Ecoshock.
Thank you for listening to the big picture.
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