May 24, 2023 – One Finite Planet

One Finite Planet

Topics and Subtopics.

Oliver Zipse, BMW CEO climate denial or failure to read the room?

May 24, 2023 May 24, 2023

It can be very hard being a CEO. In a company the size of BMW, harder than anything I have experienced. But does it explain

Trump’s 2025 Geopolitics Earthquake.

Commenced: February 22, 2025

Although, while in the midst of it all, it is easy to miss the real impact, we are experiencing what we may soon see as the greatest political upheaval since at least the collapse of the soviet union.

Why do so many Americans support Trump in 2024: They’re not all crazy or weird, many fear being disenfranchised.

Commenced: November 4, 2024

To many people, both those within the US as well as perhaps most outside the US, a vote for Trump is seen as something hard to understand and even seen as the uneducated or the domain "others": people seen as are very different from "normal people". Yet 50% Americans are not radically different "others", nor uneducated, nor stupid, even though around 50% will vote for trump. With around 80% of Americans believing the country is on the "wrong track", is it any surprise a large number feel if trends continue, they risk being disenfranchised by that "wrong track" and are desperate to believe only a big change can protect their rights?

Left vs Right Perception Bias: Idealists vs The Economy?

Commenced: November 17, 2020

Vote centre left (e.g. Democrats in the US) to increase support for ‘idealist’, issues, such as climate change, or vote centre right (e.g. Republicans in the US) for a better economy. I (and others) suggest this is conventional thinking and there is a perception that the economy will be better under the centre right, but […]

Population Growth Change Lag: The Population Pipeline

Commenced: May 16, 2016 Updated: March 3rd, 2024

2024 March 3 : Update in progress for page format and clarity, but not a new edition.

Even after the "peak child" the population on this planet could continue to grow for decades, as the "population pipeline" creates inertia and a situation analogous to how a super tanker can continue forward even after the engines have stopped, or even switched to reverse. Population growth is the difference between the number of people who are born, and the number of people who die, and as there is a lifetime delay between those two events, at any one time the people being born are from a world separated by many generations from . People enter the population pipeline at birth and remain in the pipeline until they die, which on the current world average current world average of 73, which means deaths today reflect the global population of 73 years ago.

Mr Bean cans EVs: what he gets right.

Commenced: June 13, 2023

Yes, he may come across as a mega-rich collector of exotic internal combustion engine vehicles looking to find any way to delay their demise, but while the fascinating recent article by “Mr. Bean” does get so much so very wrong, it also does get somethings right. From the fascinating article by Rowan Atkinson on EVs: […]

Could Trump become responsible for more deaths than Hitler?

Commenced: August 2, 2023

A recent article on how even during the July 2023 heat wave the US republican party was still falling in line with Donald Trump and rallying against climate action because those wanting action were silenced by the support for Trump. The result is the world’s largest economy and one of the most powerful forces in […]

Big oil ramps up anti-EV stance… but how much?

Commenced: July 23, 2023

Big oil has been investing heavily in swaying public option against both climate action and electric vehicles for decades now, but it is reported that now in July 2023 they have taken the new step of creating video advertisements to boost their campaign against EVs. However, reading the reporting of this event quickly revealed the […]

Prigozhin lowers WWIII risks?

Commenced: June 30, 2023

Friday 24th June 2023: Prigozhin Tells Russians the truth about the war and then launches what looks like an attempted coup. The result seems to be a weaken Russian military, and a weakened Putin. But what really happened, and what will happen next? What just happened? It is still not entirely clear. What has been […]

Oliver Zipse, BMW CEO climate denial or failure to read the room?

Commenced: May 24, 2023

It can be very hard being a CEO. In a company the size of BMW, harder than anything I have experienced. But does it explain a failure to “read the room”, or is there a degree of climate denial required? This week there are headlines such as from Top Gear: BMW boss: July 2025 target […]

Australian fuel efficiency standards: A stall tactic?

Commenced: April 26, 2023

At a time when much of the world is preparing for a transition to EVs, Australia is finally doing what other countries did decades ago and adapting a fuel efficiency standard for internal combustion engine vehicles, or ICE vehicles. While many advocates for the environment are heralding this as a good thing, I have to […]

SpaceX: Should we colonise the solar system?

Commenced: April 24, 2023

I heard an on-air debate about the merits of the program in light of the explosion of the SpaceX starship rocket on April 20th. Viewpoints were of course varied. They included the “we have this beautiful planet already and it makes no sense to be spending so much to go elsewhere” and very much focused […]

Why Car Makers are Lying about the storm.

Commenced: September 10, 2021

If you follow car industry publications, there both facts and well recognised predictions that combined, signal a storm for the car industry. Reality: Why The Makers Are Lying. In less than 5 years, electric vehicles will become less expensive than ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicles, and are already significantly less expensive to maintain. Lower cost […]

COP27: Climate change action sabotage?

Commenced: November 16, 2022

Reports from COP27 seems indicate the key initiative this year to make wealthy nations cover the cost of the damages poor nations will incur as a result of emissions that have main originated from those wealthy nations. The proposal as it stands has a missing an essential piece, and trying to cover for that essential piece, appears most to likely to increase emissions, and move COP away from a focus on solving the climate crisis and instead toward just fighting over the cost. This is a troubled look at the key flaw in what has been put forward and the real solution that should be in place.

Can Peter Dutton repair the democracy ‘loyal opposition’.

Commenced: June 6, 2022

Democracy is under threat, and a significant part of the problem stems for the distortion of the current model of 'opposition'. While the politics of division and polarisation of the USA Trump republicans vs Biden democrats attracts most attention on the world stage right now, what happens in Australia following the recent election which saw democracy strike back (page coming soon), has the potential to provide the world with an alternate blueprint for the role of the opposition party, which could reinvigorate democracy and spread to the US and elsewhere. Is there an alternative to the current Republicans vs Democrats style, where 'opposition' is about each party demonising the other?

The innocent child assumption: even Hitler?

Commenced: April 6, 2021

I recently watched an episode of "Comedians in cars getting coffee",(C6:E4 11:55) where Ricky Gervais has a photo of Hitler as a baby. And relates, "I talk about sci-fi, and I always go back and kill Hitler". And I go, I go, they go "well people tried all the time", and they go "No I'd go back and kill him as a baby". I go, "You'd go back, and kill baby Hitler, who hasn't done anything wrong yet, and just strangle him? Have you seen Hitler as a baby" and I pull out this photo and I go "He was adorable".

News & Updates.

Commenced: May 11, 2022

News and updates for early May 2022. Climate at +1.5 within 5 years confirmed as realistic threat.

News In Brief.

Commenced: April 26, 2022

It is now war until the end for Putin. If Putin is to win in Ukraine, he would simply have to start a new war elsewhere, as relations with Russia could never again return to 'normal' without charges of war crimes being held.

Flatten the curve: Misleading?

Commenced: March 26, 2020

The phrase ‘flatten the curve’ has become popular, and perhaps, overused. The term has come to be associated with any strategy to manage Covid-19 that includes some measures to reduce the rate new infections. This page provides analysis of what different things can be done (at least in theory) to manage an outbreak, and the […]

Long Covid.

Commenced: February 14, 2021

I will collect information on ‘long covid’ and add to this page. These articles are the starting point, but I plan to add more. UK studies reveal long covid may cause brain damage. Long Covid: what we know so far . For many sufferers of long Covid, proving they are sick is a big part […]

Coronavirus: Facts, Myths and Surprises (March 13th)

Commenced: March 14, 2020

(go here for link to latest update) This is a collection of facts on the ‘novel’ coronavirus, together with some discussion on myths and surprises such as: how quickly it could all end we do not know the mortality rate how the world will probably forever changed the debunking and fact exploring on topic of […]

Might vs Right and Persuasion

Commenced: February 21, 2021

I have just started on this page, but will post updates over coming months. Updating my Facebook Dilemma thoughts today was a key driver to start this page.

The New Economics of Population Growth in a Finite world

Commenced: February 20, 2017

Summary: Most of us now live under ‘finite world economics’, where population growth results in a smaller share of wealth for each individual and the majority of the population, but increased revenues for Governments, nationwide businesses and multinationals who gain revenue from the entire population. The rich win, the rest suffer. The now finite World […]

Wuhan Coronavirus: The Real Threat Level

Commenced: January 27, 2020

I use the label ‘Wuhan Coronavirus’, but it is also described as ‘novel coronavirus’, and other names including perhaps confusingly just ‘coronavirus’. This is a disease that has managed to raise alert levels before even getting a unique name. What is a Coronavirus? First, The Good News Getting Infected? Now, The Bad News The Rate […]

Photons: What is electromagnetic radiation?

Commenced: September 1, 2020 Updated: September 1st, 2020

*2023-06-16 Fixed incomplete paragraph.

Radio waves, microwaves, millimetre waves, infra-red, visible light, ultraviolet, x-rays, gamma rays… …… can seem so different, yet they are all electromagnetic radiation. All are composed of the same fundamental particle: the ‘photon’. All photons, travel at the ‘speed of light’ (or the ‘speed of photons?’), have the properties of a wave, and interact with […]

“driven too far by issues that he’s suffered”

Commenced: February 25, 2020

Are we really dealing with the root cause of domestic violence? It occurs to me that our society may itself also engage in ‘victim blaming’. The quote above refers to the tragic case of domestic violence that resulted in the death of an entire family. When I first heard that a police spokesman raised the […]

High Voltage DC for Australia.

Commenced: June 20, 2024 Updated: June 20th, 2020

2020 June 20 : First draft (push back date)

draft. The problem: Additional grid connections for renewables. New grid connections are needed for renewables, largely because the right location for wind and solar is often not same as the location of existing power generators. The Australian opposition has just launched a plan for nuclear power generators, mostly at the sites of existing coal powered […]

Solution: A quota system with equity?

Commenced: January 5, 2016

The ‘old boys network’ is real, and that is one key reason and many ethnic groups are unrepresented in positions of power and influence. 1: But why is this so? And 2: how do we change things?

Remdesivir: how does it change things?

Commenced: May 1, 2020

“The data shows that remdesivir has a clear-cut, significant, positive effect in diminishing the time to recovery,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said at the White House during a meeting with President Donald Trump. CNN: April 29th It this time remdesivir is not yet FDA approved, but it will be ‘fast-tracked’. The announcement came in a letter […]

Covid-19: Vaccines and Cures

Commenced: April 7, 2020

Vaccines Vaccines represent a path to ‘herd immunity’, without all the trauma. People become immune by vaccination, not by catching the disease as part of the outbreak. Some vaccines result in a controlled mild case of the disease to create immunity, while other vaccines boost immunity in other ways, with no exposure to the actual […]

Coronavirus: Facts, Myths and Surprises (Q&A and toilet paper Update)

Commenced: March 18, 2020

(go here for prior update or here for all on covid-19) I have been asked a few questions…here they are with answers: why toilet paper? herd immunity why such different mortality rates more on ‘the end?’ No Real Data: How many infections distorted data collection as a policy we should can could collect real data, […]

Covid-19 Cases

Commenced: March 17, 2020

I plan to record snapshots of points in time where the epi/pandemic is up to at the those times. I will reference this data in updates. See the Q&A for why the data varies so much. January 28th Status March 17th Reports Country Norway Cases 1,322 (but gov states infections will be more) Fatalities 3(0.2%) […]

Covid-19: Tipping point 3?

Commenced: February 17, 2020

The growth of the ‘novel coronavirus’ (there was no official name at the time of my previous post) has been largely as projected in my previous post on the topic. At that time just over two weeks ago the virus had no official name, and while cases have grown from 4,000 to almost 70,000, these […]

Highlander Economics: Does it end with only one?

Commenced: January 31, 2017

Back in 1986, the movie Highlander was released. It was actually sufficiently successful to inspire four sequels, plus spin offs and even a reboot. Something in the original clearly stuck a chord, and the tagline and concept ‘in the end there can only be one’ could be part of this. The plot centres around a small group of […]

The alliance: Conservative politicians and ‘secondary terrorists’

Commenced: December 19, 2015

Two groups who benefit from the exact same outcomes. Whether by design or by accident, both thrive when their actions produce the exact same outcomes. How do we stop these groups working in harmony?

Tribalism, Racism and Despair: The xenophobia cycle

Commenced: September 23, 2016

It feels like the world is in the grip of a wave of xenophobia, and we just seem so far from a solution. From extremist Muslim terrorists through to the Donald Trump presidential campaign and the British ‘Brexit’ vote, the is a worldwide rise in at least the visibility of intolerance, if not intolerance itself. […]

The ‘perfect’ everyday bag: messenger bag, shoulder bag or backpack?

Commenced: May 7, 2017

I am on the hunt for the perfect bag to carry things with me, but is this a backpack, a messenger bag, or some hybrid of the two. The strongest candidates right now, are the peak design backpack, or the ‘urban disguise’ series from Thinktank. Peak design make a messenger bag the can work as […]

Population: just how did the ‘engine’ switch off

Commenced: May 1, 2016

I have commented several times on how the ‘engine for global population growth’ has been switched off. Most of us will have noticed how family sizes have dramatically reduced in recent generations even if we have not linked this to population growth. Many of us have stories of families just one or two generations ago […]

Is our wealth distribution system really broken?

Commenced: February 5, 2017

A first reaction could be: “ok, the people who voted for Donald Trump clearly feel it is broken, but I am not sure they are that smart”, or “I am doing ok, and I think the system is fair. Yes people like that Elon Musk character have ‘X’ times more than me but he is also […]

Inferno: How could we limit the population?

Commenced: October 18, 2016

There is an argument that we currently have more people on Earth than ideal, but even if you accept that we have an overpopulation problem, the idea that a sudden reduction in the population would solve the problem is both absurd, dangerous and damaging. The premise of the movie ‘Inferno’ is that a virus could […]

The Growth Age is Over

Commenced: May 31, 2016

The reasons the growth age is over are: the unprecedented population growth has come to an end there are no more ‘new worlds’ further improvements to travel time will have little impact on trade Unprecedented Population Growth is Over I have more detailed posts on this topic already, but in summary, the rate of population […]

Population: Why more than the current change is required.

Commenced: May 3, 2016

If you are not aware that the rate of population increase has slowed significantly, then you can refer to some of the pages in this section. The red line on graph here may also help. As you can see, although the rate of growth has dropped significantly, the global population does still continue to grow. […]

Sport and Gender Equality

Commenced: March 18, 2015

I was reading a news article today a comment on how Venus Williams has been a tireless campaigner for women in sport: It made me contemplate how equality in sport may actually be counter productive towards achieving gender equality overall.