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Earth Approaching Tipping Point Say Scientists
Hugh Pickens writes "The UC Berkeley News Center reports that a prestigious group of 22 internationally known scientists from around the world is warning that population growth, widespread destruction of natural ecosystems, and climate change may be driving Earth toward an irreversible change in the biosphere, a planet-wide tipping point that would have destructive consequences absent adequate preparation and mitigation. 'It really will be a new world, biologically, at that point,' warns lead author Anthony Barnosky. 'The data suggests that there will be a reduction in biodiversity and severe impacts on much of what we depend on to sustain our quality of life, including, for example, fisheries, agriculture, forest products and clean water. This could happen within just a few generations.' The authors note that studies of small-scale ecosystems show that once 50-90 percent of an area has been altered, the entire ecosystem tips irreversibly into a state far different from the original, in terms of the mix of plant and animal species and their interactions. Humans have already converted about 43 percent of the ice-free land surface of the planet to uses like raising crops and livestock and building cities. This situation typically is accompanied by species extinctions and a loss of biodiversity. 'My view is that humanity is at a crossroads now, where we have to make an active choice,' says Barnosky. 'One choice is to acknowledge these issues and potential consequences and try to guide the future (in a way we want to). The other choice is just to throw up our hands and say, 'Let's just go on as usual and see what happens.'"
Just coincidence? I think not...
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
I'm sure we're going to pick Choice B, "throw up our hands and say, 'Let's just go on as usual and see what happens.'" Choice A would require some serious coordinated effort from all the world's industrialized nations, and there's absolutely no way that's ever going to happen.
Good luck with that. Humans will continue plodding along exactly the same as they always have, until they start dying off suddenly once the reserve is gone and some minor catastrophe or other strikes that is just too much to deal with, pushing everyone over the edge. After all that's how disease happens. You're fine until the day you're not. This will happen because everyone thinks it's someone else's problem. Witness people - not even only lower class uneducated peasants but middle class supposedly educated people - gladly boasting of having 5 or more kids even today. Now consider the undevelopped world parts of which are still growing at rates like 6% (which means doubling in size every 12 years). I'd say a few generations is too generous.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
No really, it really IS reaching a tipping point, no matter what your energy company overlords are saying.
If you're so big into peer reviewed research, you might want to scale back your claims there, mate. The scientists in the article are a lot more careful in their claims than you, as we see from this quote, "The authors of the Nature review argue that, although many warning signs are emerging, no one knows how close Earth is to a global tipping point, or if it is inevitable." The world would be a better place if more people were careful in what they asserted,like these scientists.
In other words, don't load up on oil futures just yet.
We don't believe in evoltution. Your phrase implies a faith that is not necessary. We merely understand evolution. For example, we understand that evolution is a biological mechanism, not an all encompassing silver bullet that guarantees survival of the human race regardless of the behavior of the planets inhabitants on a global scale. It is called an ecosystem for a reason, which leads to a need to understand entropy. Note that you don't need to believe in entropy. It is going to happen even if you become best friends with the flying spaghetti monster. The question is, can we dynamically counteract it. Some of us believe we can, and so it matters how we behave. Others don't believe it is necessary to change our behavior as a species, and will keep ignoring any evidence that is contradictory to their comfortable world view.
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
"Instant access to this article: $32" I'd say were doomed.
I see people driving dangerously all the time and I realize the driver is thinking "Hey, I've done this hundreds of times before and it's never been a problem." And they're right. Until the one time they're not right. Then it's too late. I don't think getting away with something many times is an excuse to keep doing it. People die that way every day.
What a fool believes, he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.
Everything will correct itself. Once things get real bad, there will be large scale fighting which will kill off a fairly significant number of people which should bring us to the balance needed. Nature is self-correcting after all.
Maybe, but then again you may not like the results from nature correcting itself.
Curious, one person replied to the graph claiming that it looks like it is leveling off (correctly noting that the rate of growth is expected to slow down) and someone else then claims the graph is somehow maniuplated. So could you explain what is manipulated in this graph? It isn't using a wonky time scale or a wonky population scale. The most common trick of this sort is to cut off the base and essentially start the y value at some higher level, but that's not the case here. It is also possible to cut off early data (say if one wanted to hide large scale fluctuations) but if you include data before 1800 the prior time looks pretty similar. So that's not. You can't just dismiss any graph as bad just because it is possible to make graphs look bad. It is a reason to actually look carefully at graphs, and if there's no problem with it, actually pay attention to it.
Species around less than a million years thinks it will be around forever. LOL.