Twelve unsustainable things that will soon come to a disastrous end on our planet

(NaturalNews) If you look around what's really happening in our world today, there's an inescapable pattern that curiously emerges: Much of what's going on is simply unsustainable. It can't go on for much longer, in other words. And it must collapse due to the laws of economics or physics.

Here, I've put together a collection of twelve systems that are utterly unsustainable on our planet. Each of these twelve is scheduled for some sort of collapse or shut down in the coming years. They range from economics to medicine, population and the environment. And interestingly, the collapse of just one of these twelve would have devastating consequences across human civilization. What happens when two, three or ten of these things collapse?

This article doesn't cover the consequences of the collapse of these unsustainable things, but we'll work on covering that in future articles. Here are the twelve:

1) Debt-based banking and economic systems

There's little question that our global fractional reserve banking system is headed for a catastrophic collapse. It's a system based on debt rather than sound money principles, and the laws of economics dictate that the global multiplication of money and debt is entirely unsustainable.

This system will collapse, and when it does, it will be so large that the economic devastation will be global. Governments have actually made this worse, of course, by bailing out the dishonest investment institutions that have made the situation worse. The coming financial collapse will teach humanity some hard lessons about honest money.

When it comes to money, banking and debt, Ron Paul has always been right, after all.

2) Conventional agriculture and "rape the planet" farming

The current agricultural system that feeds the planet is simply unsustainable. It is a "rape the planet" model that clear-cuts forests to grow GMO soybeans that feed factory cattle which are turned into processed meat. Even the plant crops grown through conventional agriculture depend on chemical fertilizers from sources that are running out (fossil fuels, phosphate mines, etc.).

Furthermore, the mass application of chemical pesticides, fungicides and Monsanto's Roundup chemicals is destroying the viability of soils while polluting the world's farms, rivers, streams and oceans. This system is unsustainable. When it collapses, humanity will learn (the hard way) that only sustainable agriculture can sustain human life on our planet.

3) Mass-consumption economies based on buy-it-and-trash-it behavior

When children are raised to be good little Americans (or Canadians, or Australians, etc.), they're taught to consume more stuff. In America, it was even called "patriotic" by former President George Bush. To support your local economy, you're supposed to go out and buy stuff that you don't need, then chuck it into the trash after you use it, then go out and buy more!

Virtually the entire first-world economy is based on this idea that people need to consume more stuff, then throw it away, then consume more. That's what all the corporate advertising is for, to convince people that they are inadequate unless they buy and consume more high-priced cars, designer jeans, electronic gadgets and throwaway home cleaning supplies. This system is insane. And it cannot continue indefinitely.

4) The accelerating loss of farming soils

There's a great documentary you need to see on this called Dirt. (www.DirtTheMovie.org) It explains the value of dirt (soil) and why conventional agriculture methods are destroying the dirt upon which our civilization depends. We even wrote about the movie here: http://www.naturalnews.com/031597_D...

No dirt = no food. Get it? And the dirt is disappearing at an alarming rate, thanks to the unsustainable practices of conventional agriculture, with all its tilling, soil destruction, poisons and GMOs. I wonder what the people will plant their seeds in when all the cropland dirt is either dead or gone?

5) The mass poisoning of the oceans and aggressive over-fishing

Oceans ecosystems are collapsing. This isn't some future prediction, it's happening right now. Ocean acidification is destroying the coral reefs and mollusks all across the globe. At the same time, human civilization treats the oceans as giant planetary toilets into which all the toxic chemicals of modern civilization are flushed: Pharmaceuticals, pesticides, fertilizers, heavy metals, hormone-disrupting chemicals and a whole lot more.

Massive fish die-offs are becoming increasingly common (http://www.naturalnews.com/031645_d...), and fish populations are plummeting across several species. We are beginning to see the results of mankind's ongoing poisoning of the oceans.

6) Mass genetic pollution of the planet through GMOs

It will be the great, dark legacy of our modern civilization: The widespread genetic contamination of the planet through the use of GMOs.

Genetically engineered seeds are spreading their altered genetic code all across the world. The DNA of GMO crops is now detectable in soils, foods and water systems. What's the upshot of all this? It's a big unknown, of course, and that's the frightening part: No one before has ever "played God" with the planet, right out in the open, and then observed what happens after a few years (or decades). Thanks to companies like Monsanto, we are the experiment, and no one know if it might ultimately lead to something like a widespread crop failure or even the alternation of natural web-of-life interactions across multiple ecosystems.

And if genetic pollution causes problems, how do you "clean" that pollution? You can't! Genetic pollution endures. Once crops become infected with GE seeds, it's all but impossible to eliminate the DNA contamination.

7) The drugs-and-surgery conventional medical system

Big Pharma's days are numbered -- based on economics if nothing else. The monopolistic pricing, the deadly side effects and the corrupt, criminal operations of the industry make it all utterly non-sustainable.

Big Pharma and the whole chemical approach to medicine is bankrupting companies, cities, states and nations. No nation can economically survive in the long run if it keeps spending its money on Big Pharma sick care schemes. Ultimately, those nations that hope to survive will need to ditch Big Pharma and return to natural medicine and preventive nutrition.

That day is coming. Sooner that you think, probably.

8) Widespread pharmaceutical contamination of the human population and the environment

Until the day comes that Big Pharma collapses into ruin, the pharmaceutical pollution of the planet will continue. Right now, pharmaceutical factories in India (which export their pills back to the states to be sold as brand-name drugs) are dumping untold thousands of gallons of dangerous chemical drugs into the waterways there (http://www.naturalnews.com/025415_w...).

In the U.S. and Canada, the water near every major city is heavily contaminated with pharmaceuticals. (http://www.naturalnews.com/025933.html)

The situation is so bad that Big Pharma's chemical runoff threatens the future of life on our planet! (http://www.naturalnews.com/029314_w...)

Fortunately, this sad chapter in human history will soon come to an end.

9) Runaway human population growth

Here's the one nobody wants to talk about. But make no mistake: The human population growth we see right now is entirely unsustainable. The available of cheap food and fossil fuels over the last century has contributed to an unprecedented population explosion that is now nearing its end. There are only so many acres of farmland, after all, and only so many acre-feet of water to irrigate it.

Don't misinterpret this, however, of thinking that I support some sort of population reduction measures a la Bill Gates and his quote about reducing the world population by 10 - 15 percent through the use of vaccines and health care (http://www.naturalnews.com/029911_v...).

Unlike some of the truly evil world leaders, I don't believe in killing off human beings just to reduce global population. Rather, it makes more sense to teach sustainable living practices along with good parenting and well-considered parenthood. Strangely, most of the new children brought into the world today are not the result of stable, well-prepared parents choosing to have children, but rather the unintended consequences of casual copulation.

10) Fossil water consumption for agriculture

We just published a story on this issue, talking about how the Ogallala Aquifer is running dry, threatening the agricultural output of Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and even parts of Colorado and Texas (http://www.naturalnews.com/031658_a...).

This is a global issue, affecting India, China, North America, South America and nearly every nation that produces any significant agricultural yields. Fresh water is running out all across the world, and while additional water supplies can always be created through desalination, for example, that's a very expensive way to replenish the water, and it's almost entirely dependent on fossil fuels (see below). Even if you could build enough desalination plants to irrigate the world's croplands, the resulting food prices would still result in mass starvation by those who couldn't afford the food which might cost ten times the current price.

Imagine paying $20 for a loaf of bread and you get the idea of what's coming.

11) Fossil fuel consumption

I realize this is a highly contentious issue, with some people claiming that there's an "unlimited supply of oil" in our planet because it's replenishing itself all the time. This idea simply doesn't square with what we know: The Earth is a finite object, occupying finite space. Inside it can only be a finite amount of fossil fuels. The recharge rate of fossil fuels is on the scale of millions of years, meaning we can't simply wait around for more fuel to reappear if we use up the current reserves.

There is convincing evidence right now that Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil producer, has been lying about its output capacity for at least the last decade. It can't reach its production targets, and there is reasoned speculation that its own best-producing oil wells are approaching their end. Even if oil remains available for a few more decades, it still becomes increasingly expensive oil, meaning that everything else down the supply chain becomes more expensive, too: Food, fuel, consumer goods, etc.

The era of cheap fossil fuels is coming to an end. Although fossil fuels will no doubt be around for several decades more, the cheap stuff is long gone, it seems. The citizens of Earth will soon need to find an alternate way to power their cities, cars and businesses in the 21st century.

Oh, and by the way, solar probably isn't the answer, as solar panels depend on rare earth metals that are entirely dependent on Chinese mining operations (http://www.naturalnews.com/028160_r...). Wind energy also hasn't panned out as it should have. And the governments of the world continue to suppress free energy technologies such as Cold Fusion, which has now been proven to work by even the U.S. Navy (http://www.naturalnews.com/025925_c...).

12) The widespread destruction of animal habitat

Here's one that drives some people nuts. What? We can't keep clear-cutting the rainforests to plant genetically engineered soybeans?

Not if you want the planet to survive, actually. There's a delicate web of life on our planet upon which human life ultimately depends. The more animal habitat we destroy, the more it ultimately comes back to haunt us.

Now, I'm not in favor of the insane green police and the UN's freedom-stealing efforts to pigeon-hole human beings into centrally-controlled behavior boxes. The key here is finding ways for people to live in balance with nature while still maintaining their freedoms.

And that depends on education. We need to continue to teach people how to make sound decisions about where they buy their wood furniture (to avoid the slashing of old-growth forests). We need to teach people who eat meat to buy truly free-range, grass-fed meat rather than factory-farmed meats that depend on soybean mega-farms. And of course, we also need to make people aware of the benefits of getting more plant-based foods into their diets where possible, because when properly prepared, plant foods provide a lot of nutrients with a smaller ecological footprint than most meats.

I'm not against those who eat meat, by the way. I just think that people need to consider where their food comes from no matter what they're eating, and then take steps to reduce the ecological footprint of the food they're choosing to consume. The best answer to this is to buy local food. In fact, I would argue that eating some beef steaks from a local farmer is more ecologically sound than juicing up organic fruits and vegetables grown and imported from Chile (unless you live in Chile, of course).

That's an arguable point, of course, and opinions differ sharply on this, but I believe that we really need to focus on eating local foods just as much as we do on what we're eating. Personally, I don't eat cows, but even for the plants I consume, I'm working hard right now on growing more of my own so that I'm acting with integrity -- "walking the talk" so to speak -- to be aligned with what I'm advocating for others.

While we're at it, one of the best ways to reduce the destruction of animal habitat is to grow your own food by turning your yard into a garden. Reduce your demand for store-bought food and you unquestionably reduce your ecological footprint on the planet.

And reconsider how much seafood you eat. Most seafood is extremely damaging to ocean ecosystems. I don't have space to discuss it all right here, but we'll cover it more on NaturalNews in the near future.

Life is on the line

So those are 12 of the biggest things that are entirely unsustainable on our planet right now. Human life depends on most of them. It makes you wonder: How will humans survive when these systems and resources upon which we depend have run out or collapsed?

That is a question we'd all better be asking ourselves right now. Because the age of cheap fuel, cheap money, cheap water and cheap food is fast ending. The future of life on our planet will require something far more evolved than the infantile, selfish and self-destructive mindset that humanity has so far demonstrated.

Debt-based money systems don't cut it. Burning up all the fossil fuels is only a fool's abundance. Medicating the humans and animals with toxic, synthetic pharmaceuticals is a form of medical insanity. These things will all come to an end.

The question is: Who will survive the end of these things and be around to help shape the next society which must operate with far greater humility and wisdom?

Salt-Laden Foods can  Harm Your Heart in 30 Minutes

Those French fries may look relatively harmless but a new study shows this salty snack can harm your arteries in just 30 minutes, even those who have healthy blood pressure.  The study is published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and is led by Researcher and Author, Kacie M. Dickinson, from The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization in Adelaide, Australia.  

Dickinson noted the same response after a meal high in saturated fats which we already know can damage blood vessels in the long-term.  The study showed the impact of high salt food by giving one group a low-salt version of tomato soup and another group with 10 times more salt.  Each serving size was one cup.   

After the soup was consumed, the volunteers were asked to have their blood pressure taken using an ultra sound machine which measure how much the arteries widened as the blood rushed back through during deflation of the cuff.  The same experience was repeated between the two groups so those who at the high-salt soup received the low-salt version the second time.   

Consistently, the arteries of people who got the high-salt soup widened about half as much as those who consumed the low salt version. The effect passed in about two hours.   By using an ultrasound machine, scientists were able to detect changes in blood vessel function which shows one of the earliest stages of atherosclerosis where fat accumulates in the blood vessels.  Over time, this can lead to blockages in the blood vessels causing strokes and heart attacks.  

When the heart pumps blood through the arteries, nitric oxide is released making the arterial walls relax, allowing the vessels to expand more easily to carry the blood flow.  Salt and fat block the release of nitric oxide which helps support the cardiovascular system laying the stage for atherosclerosis.  When the arterial lining is challenged and doesn’t work as well because of a lack of nitric oxide release, then it makes it easier for cholesterol to stick to the arteries.    

Dr. Peter Counihan, an Associate Professor at the University of Pittsburgh Cardiovascular Institute points out that salt can have permanent side effects, high blood pressure being one of them.  All good things in moderation and be wary of the salt content of foods.   

During the past two decades, countless new foods have been introduced in restaurants and most of them are loaded with salt, fat and sugar using core ingredients such as meat, vegetables, potatoes and bread.  Potato skins are a good example of this where the potato is hollowed out, deep fried for a strong, fat base.  Then a combination of bacon bits, sour cream and cheese is added with the result being fat on top of fat on top of fat, much of it loaded with salt.   

Salt begins to work on your kidneys making your body hold on to more water.  This extra water raises your blood pressure and puts strain on your kidneys, arteries, heart and brain.  Eating salt raises the amount of sodium in your bloodstream resulting in high blood pressure, putting strain on the delicate blood vessels that lead to the kidneys.   

Over time, this strain can damage the kidneys making it difficult for them to filter out unwanted toxic waste products which can build up in the body.  This can lead to kidney disease or failure because they can no longer filter the blood and the body slowly becomes poisoned by its own toxic waste.     

If you have high blood pressure and are being treated with a diuretic medication, this makes the kidneys remove more fluid from the bloodstream. Because the sodium in salt counteracts this effect, reducing your salt intake will make your blood pressure medicine more effective.

Salt Damages the Arteries

Eating too much salt puts extra strain on the inside of your arteries.  As a result, the artery walls become stronger and thicker which makes the space inside the arteries smaller raising blood pressure even more.  Over the years, this cycle of increasing blood pressure ultimately leads to the arteries bursting or becoming so narrow that they clog up entirely.   

The organs throughout the body become starved of oxygen of blood from the arteries and end up lacking nutrients they so desperately need.  This can result in the organs being damaged and can be fatal.   

 

Matters of the Heart

One organ that suffers from too much salt is the heart if the arteries are damaged leading to the heart.  At first, it may cause a slight reduction in the amount of blood reaching the heart. This may lead to angina (sharp pains in the chest when being active).

With this condition the cells in the heart don't work as well as they should because they are not receiving enough oxygen and nutrients. However, lowering blood pressure may help to alleviate some of the problems and reduce the risk of greater damage.

If you continue to eat too much salt, over time, the damage caused by the extra blood pressure may become so severe that the arteries burst or become completely clogged.  If this happens, then the part of the heart that was receiving the blood no longer gets the oxygen and nutrients it needs and dies. The result is a heart attack.

The best way to prevent a heart attack is to stop the arteries becoming damaged. And one of the best ways of doing this is keep your blood pressure down by eating less salt.

The Risk of Stroke

Eating too much salt raises your risk of a stroke because it damages the arteries leading to the brain.  At first, it may cause a slight reduction in the amount of blood reaching the brain. This may lead to dementia (known as vascular dementia).  The brain doesn’t work as well because it is not receiving enough oxygen and nutrients.  Lowering blood pressure naturally can reduce the risk of damage. 

If you continue to eat too much salt then, over time, the damage caused by high blood pressure may become so severe that the arteries burst or become completely clogged.  The part of the brain that was receiving the blood no longer gets the oxygen and nutrients it needs and dies. The result is a stroke, where you lose the ability to do the things that part of the brain used to control.  The best way to prevent a stroke is to stop the arteries becoming damaged. And one of the best ways of doing this is keep your blood pressure down by eating less salt.

How to eat less salt

One of the quickest ways to lower your blood pressure (especially if you have high blood pressure) is to eat less salt.  An adult should eat no more than 1 teaspoon of salt a day, but most of us eat much more than this because most of the salt is ‘hidden.’  A majority of the salt eaten is in processed foods like breads, breakfast cereals, pre-packaged and fast food.  Only 20% comes from the salt we add while cooking or eating at the table at home.   

Practical Tips

Don’t be overly concerned about the exact amount of salt you eat. The aim is to reduce the amount of salt you eat as much as possible, not to keep an exact tally of the amount you eat. (One Teaspoon of salt a day is the maximum you should eat, and the less you eat the better.)

 
When you do season with salt at home, use sea salt which is full of minerals and does not elevate blood pressure as much as regular table salt.

 
The best approach is to try to always eat foods with the lowest salt level.

 
At first, food without salt can taste bland, but don’t give up. It's just the same as giving up sugar in tea. After a few weeks your taste buds will adjust and you will start to enjoy food with less salt. In fact, you'll wonder how you ever ate food that was so salty!