Posted by
michael
on from the take-a-deep-breath dept.
geek42 writes "Looks like Russia has picked up where the U.S. failed: they've ratified Kyoto, and now it's going to be law (on Feb 16). The BBC has coverage. 'Industrialised countries will have until 2012 to cut their collective emissions of six key greenhouse gases to 5.2% below the 1990 level.'"
50% of all species on the planet will be extinct in the next 50 years - all because of human impact. How the hell can we let that happen? The "mass extinction" of the dinosaurs was ONLY 19% of all species on the planet at that time.
On the other hand, the end-Permian (Permian-Triassic) extinction resulted in the extinction of 90-95% of marine organisms and ~70% of terrestrial species. And that was 298(?) million years ago - several hundred million years before humans were around. Not that the extinctions we are seeing now aren't bad (and a very large portion of them probably are the result of human activity), but they are hardly unprecedented.
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On the other hand, the end-Permian (Permian-Triassic) extinction resulted in the extinction of 90-95% of marine organisms and ~70% of terrestrial species. And that was 298(?) million years ago - several hundred million years before humans were around. Not that the extinctions we are seeing now aren't bad (and a very large portion of them probably are the result of human activity), but they are hardly unprecedented.