Biohistory’s Global Warning: Invest in Biological Research Now to Combat Industrial and Societal Decline Later
by Dr. Jim Penman
Global warming has been a hot issue in recent years, with attitudes largely defined by political orientation. Those on the left tend to see it as a serious threat to humanity, and conservatives as an overblown danger that is an excuse to bash business. In this debate I will upset many readers of this article by siding with the left. It is hard to imagine that massive increases in the level of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere could have no ill effects, whether they be melting ice caps, rising sea levels, ocean acidification – or all of the above. It’s hard to predict exactly what these effects will be, but they surely will happen…those that aren’t happening already, that is.
As for dealing with the problem, I favor a relatively steep carbon tax. Nobody likes taxes, but those that encourage energy efficiency and new technology are preferable to those such as payroll taxes that increase unemployment. And a carbon tax is far more efficient than government ‘direct action’ schemes such as subsidizing solar panels for affluent yuppies. Markets are good at picking the most efficient way to achieve results. Governments are generally hopeless.
Having said all this, it should be noted that the decline of industrial civilization, which biohistory predicts, will solve the global warming problem without any help from government. As economies decline and technology retreats in coming decades, the remaining fossil fuel deposits will become increasingly hard to extract. This will naturally bring about a return to water power, the use of animals, and back-breaking human labor. With time, the surplus CO2 will be gradually absorbed and the world return to the pre-industrial norm. Not that this will be any conservationist’s Garden of Eden. For subsistence farmers, trees are firewood and fodder for goats, wild animals a source of food.
Global warming may well be taking place, but any resulting problems will be utterly dwarfed by the misery of decline. Thus, the cause of human welfare would be best served by diverting some fraction of the resources spent to combat global warming, even a fraction of a percent, to invest in some basic biological research along the lines biohistory suggests.
In the meantime, overmuch concern about global warming is like worrying about litter on the beach – when there’s a tsunami coming in.
Dr. Jim Penman has devoted his life to the scientific understanding of social change. Having obtained a PhD in History from Australia’s La Trobe University, he is now an honorary fellow and guest lecturer at RMIT University in Melbourne. Dr. Penman is the pioneer of ‘Biohistory,’ a revolutionary new scientific theory examining the physiological underpinnings of social change and its probable effects on civilizations. He is also a successful businessman and the founder of Jim’s Group, Australia’s largest franchise network with 3,400 Franchisees in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United Kingdom. To date, Dr. Penman has co-authored ten peer-reviewed papers in leading journals including Behavioral Brain Research and Physiology and Behavior. Dr. Penman currently lives in Melbourne, Australia, is married and has ten children.
Learn more about Dr. Penman and Biohistory at www.biohistory.org.
Biohistory: Decline and Fall of the West is available in hard cover and paperback from Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Amazon and other select online and retail locations.