Things humans do that monkeys don’t do

1. Things humans do that monkeys don’t do Use your arrow keys to navigate.

2. This presentation will lead you to appreciate some of the behavioural differences between us and our closest cousins on the evolutionary scale, monkeys. • We will deal mainly with what humans do - that monkeys don’t do and finish with one striking similarity.

3. What qualifies as something that humans do that monkeys don’t do? • THE ADOPTION OF A PROCESS OR THE BUILDING OF INFRASTRUCTURE THAT: • Requires petroleum or a large amount of inputs • Will be irreversible once energy becomes rare • Will be inoperable without petroleum • Will cause irreparable future harm to the environment and perhaps to society • Our descendents will curse us for

4. If you have prior understanding of: Peak oilCarrying capacityExponential growthThe I=TAP formulaOvershoot and dieoff you will better appreciate the irony of what humans do that monkeys don’t do.

5. In recent years, the modern human has acquired a fondness for bottled water:

6. Bottled water: • Not guaranteed to be any healthier than tap water • Can cost up to 10,000 times more than tap water • Transporting bottled water long distances involves burning massive quantities of fossil fuels • Nearly a quarter of all bottled watercrosses international borders to reach consumers • Making bottles to meet Americans' demandfor bottled water requires enough energy to fuel 100,000 U.S. cars for a year • In a number of places there is better regulation governing the quality of tap water than bottled water • Adds more garbage to landfill http://www.earth-policy.org/Updates/2006/Update51.htm

7. Yet, it is so easy to avoid: • Have we become so lazy that we can’t fill a jug or a reusable bottle?

8. Would a monkey build a Ski Hill in the desert, knowing that oil will run out??? • The United Arab Emirates have more money than they know what to do with. So what do they do? Have a look at the following pictures.

9. Ski hill under construction

10. Eureka! It’s completed! Ain’t it modern looking?

11. Actually, it’s really funny! Snow in the scorching heat of the desert!

12. Complete with chairlift and lights

13. Right down to the snow-covered pine trees!

14. But that wasn’t enough!!! Now they’re building the largest artificial island in the world to turn into waterfront lots. Enormous vacuum pipes transfer gravel from the sea bottom onto newly made mounds to form the islands.

15. How about the world’s largest swimming pool?

16. Sur la côte Pacifique, à 130 kilomètres de Santiago du Chili, se dresse San Alfonso del Mar. Plage de sable, restaurant, salles de cinéma et boîtes de nuit : ce complexe touristique créé en 2007 pourrait ressembler à n'importe quelle station balnéaire. A ceci près qu'il entoure la plus grande piscine du monde. Découvrez-le. San Alfonso del Mar, Santiago de Chile: 1 kilometre long, 2,5 million litres of water, covering 20 acres

17. Chile can’t be accused of thinking small!

18. Another nail in the coffin of biodiversity and sustainability, huh?

19. « Mother Nature doesn’t know how to do things right », seems to think Fernando Fischmann, the creator of this monstrosity

20. Monkeys don’t sail, so they might not even think of this one… The Biggest Private Yacht!!! In 2003, the launch of Paul Allen's 127m (416ft) "Octopus" secured its number one position as the world's largest yacht. Microsoft's "accidental billionaire" Paul Allen - worth US$20 billion according to Forbes, the third richest man in America and 7th in the world - owns two other monster yachts such as Tatoosh ranked 3rd in the World in 2003. Octopus cost Allen over US$200 million and has Permanent crew of 60, including several former Navy Seals. It has two helicopters, seven boats, a 10-man submarine and a remote controlled vehicle for crawling on the ocean floor. The submarine has the capacity to sleep eight for up to two weeks underwater. On average, owners must spend a minimum of 10 percent of the purchase price every year to keep these yachts in good working condition and cover crew salaries. Therefore “Octopus” which cost Allen US$200 million requires a US$20 million annual budget. Have a look at the following photos.

25. The paradox is that it is perfectly rational for Paul Allen to indulge in this kind of luxury. Before passing judgement on Mr. Allen, lets consider this. If he deprived himself of his toys it would make not an iota of difference in the onset of the oil peak. And when the ramifications of peak oil send the price of the barrel of petroleum through the roof, Mr. Allen will still have plenty of money to secure the supply he will need. So why should he make a sacrifice when everybody else is living it up?

26. Monkeys like heights, but not to the extent that humans do. Here’s the world’s tallest building

27. The Taipei Tower • The Taipei 101 tower, Taipei, Taiwan, achieved its full 508-meter (1,674 feet) height with the addition of a huge metal spike capping the 101-floor structure. • The 60-meter spire pushed the tower's height well above the 452-meter high twin towers in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur. • The designers of the Taipei 101 tower say it has been built to withstand typhoons and earthquakes, both of which have struck the Taiwan capital in recent years. • Taiwan, which straddles an active fault line of the western Pacific regularly experiences earthquakes. • In September 1999 a powerful quake of magnitude hit the capital, killing more than 2,400 people and destroying or damaging over 50,000 buildings. • The architects behind the new Taipei 101 tower say it will easily ride out a quake of similar strength, or an even more powerful one.

28. The Taipei Tower • Lets assume the engineers are right and that the tower will never fall. • The problem is that after Peak Oil this building will become useless, unless we can harness a few tens of thousand monkeys to ride an exercise wheel connected to a generator to provide it with power.

29. World’s largest cruise ship • The largest cruise ship in the world is under construction just a few years before global oil production peaks!

30. Project Genesis • Not ugly as cruise ships go, this future white elephant will displace 222,000 tons and will carry 5,400 passengers. • It will measure 360 metres and have a freeboard of no less than 65 metres in height! • She will generate 1,800,000 litres of fresh water and 35 tonnes of ice every day. • For the amusement of its passengers, it will provide an ice skating rink, rock climbing walls, a water park and an on-board surfing system. • It is being built in the Turku ship yards of Finland at a cost of $1.1 billion U.S.

31. One wonders what the investors think this monster will run on when oil runs out.Of course, what they are thinking is “I can recoup my investment and make a killing in ten years”

32. The world’s largest passenger aircraft

33. The A380 may seem like a good idea now.But what will we do with the carcases when the tourism industry goes to the dogs after peak oil?

34. Terminal five - Heathrow • Spanking new! Inaugurated by the Queen in March 2008

35. Grow grow grow as usual in spite of the peak oil alarm bells!!! • 60 million passengers per year in 2008 – how many will there be twenty years from now?

36. Big Box Shopping Centres

37. Without gasoline, how will we drive to the big box stores? After peak oil, what will we do with these empty stores? Will we have enough resources to disassemble them and return the land to agriculture?

38. Dismantling of railways

39. Putatively for saving money • The Canadian government decided to trash the future of transportation by dismantling thousands of kilometres of railway tracks throughout Canada.

40. Scrapping streetcars In the 1950s the majority of Canadian municipal councillors, thinking of themselves as “progressive”, dismantled their streetcar systems.

41. Why? • This environmentally sound method of public transit was trashed in favour of noisy, smelly busses that depended on petroleum. • One factor that influenced the decision was the notion that streetcars were old fashioned and busses modern.

42. Curtain walls • Built because they were pretty…

43. Curtain walls • Curtain walls are windows that form an entire wall. They don’t open and therefore don’t allow the tenant to control air quality naturally. • Once energy becomes expensive, how will we heat, cool and ventilate buildings made this way?

44. Irrigation • On the surface, using irrigation for growing food or useful products such as cotton might sound like a good idea. But look at what it’s done to the Aral Sea…

45. The Aral Sea: an inland body of fresh water turned into a salty desert.

46. The Aral Sea

47. Irrigation with fossil water • We are using groundwater faster than it’s replenishing itself. Ogallala aquifer in central-southern USA

48. Irrigation with fossil water • We have artificially increased food production through an unsustainable reliance on underground water that was sequestered in aquifers millions of years ago. • But when those sources run dry, the global society will have to grow less food with what falls from the heavens.

49. Draining wetlands

50. Draining wetlands • The idea is to replace the cropland usurped by urbanization and to create new building lots.