The Point of No Return

Important Notice … WARNING!

[First Released October 2005]
Unless the global energy consumption is reduced rapidly—by mid 2006—to levels below 60 exajoules (6E+19J) annually (this level is about 12.4 percent of the global energy consumption in 2005), our studies show that the runaway positive feedback loops and mechanisms that are destroying Earth’s ecosystems including ozone holes, global heating, extreme climatic events, toxic pollution, depletion of food and energy resources, unethical conduct, war, and disease pandemics would reach the point of no return and overwhelm our life support systems rendering most of our cities unsustainable.

The MSRB Index of Human Impact on Nature (HIoN) stands at a terminally high level of 171.40 as of March 2007, that is 71.4 percent higher than our planet could cope with resulting in the collapse of the population centers by as early as 2015, possibly earlier.

Failure to rein back the global energy consumption to levels below 60 exajoules by mid 2006 would render the concept of sustainable management redundant (it seems highly unlikely that post industrial civilization would voluntarily sacrifice its perceived privileges and values in favor of sustaining life on Earth). MSRB has replaced its EcoPreneur program with Ecological Disaster Rescue Operations.

Notes:

1. MSRB estimate for global energy consumption in 2007 is 531 exajoules [16.8 terawatts, revised October 7, 2007] equivalent to the energy released by detonating 26,636 Hiroshima-sized A-bombs on the planet every day, or 9.73 million bombs throughout 2007.

2. The energy released by the Hiroshima Bomb was equivalent to the destructive power of about 14 kilotons of TNT (5.46E+13J).

3. For related information see: Greenhouse Effect, Global Warming, Earth’s Energy Budget, Earth’s Radiation Budget.

4. Fossil fuels accounted for about 88 percent of global energy consumption in 2006.

 

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