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Scientists Warn That World's Wilderness Areas Are Disappearing (nytimes.com)
Scientists are warning that if human beings continue to mine the world's wildernesses for resources and convert them into cities and farms at the pace of the previous century, the planet's few remaining wild places could disappear in decades. From a report: Today, more than 77 percent of land on earth, excluding Antarctica, has been modified by human industry, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature, up from just 15 percent a century ago. The study, led by researchers from the University of Queensland in Australia and the Wildlife Conservation Society in New York, paints the first global picture of the threat to the world's remaining wildernesses -- and the image is bleak. "We're on a threshold where whole systems could collapse and the consequences of that would be catastrophic," said James R. Allan, one of the study's authors. In the study, Mr. Allan and his colleagues urged the participants of a United Nations conference on biological diversity, scheduled for next month in Egypt, to protect all of the world's remaining wilderness areas. "We cannot afford to lose more," he said. "We must save it in its entirety."
oh no I need research dollars, time to spout some bullshit! the world is on the precipice of some goddamn disaster!
Hope your stock returns keep you warm when you drown and/or starve to death with the rest of the species.
Until it's them dying, personally. The dishonesty of the anti-environment right is perhaps their greatest "achievement" in influencing our world. They have damned themselves willingly, and the rest of us with them.
THE CREED (tm) of the PAVERS (traditional version)
We believe in a completely Paved Earth.
Earth is cursed with trees, shrubs, grass,
and scurrying creatures. With every breath
We act to right this terrible wrong.
We believe in The Plan (tm).
The Plan (tm) is the final word; it brings us
the knowledge of the twin pleasures:
Speed and Convenience.
We believe food should be enjoyed.
"Nutrition" is an aberration of human nature.
The juicy Burger and hearty Beer are Our sacrament.
We believe in the Depletion of scarce natural resources.
Some see the vessel as half full; others see it as
half-empty; We pour it out on the floor and laugh.
We believe in a sky roiling with Smog.
The color blue should appear nowhere but the paint
on Our HyperCars (tm).
And what is the square footage of Mr. Allan's home? What size lot is it on? How many vehicles does he own? How many spawn has he produced?
The lorax
Enrich Amazon, destroy The Amazon.
But which politician is going to protect animals over people? Even in a developed and educated country like America, being against "tree huggers" and Spotted-owl lovers gets lots of votes.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
I go burn another tire with some used motor oil...
We can still fit the entire population of the world in Texas giving them 981sq ft. Pretty impressive that we have managed to touch and/or effected 74,682,719 sq miles of land. Pretty amazing numbers we are putting up.
What fucking idiot doesn't know this already? It started millions of years ago dipstick.
And a great many of them don't come to pass - this type of science is conjecture, and conjecture is not prognostication or even probability. The truth is usually somewhere in the middle. We could do better, absolutely, and should (we made great strides in the 70s and 80s, but a lot of it has been reversed, ironically, by millennials and their addiction to comfort and disregard for others or their ways of living, and big industry like Silicon Valley) but things aren't likely as dire as is being reported here, either.
Oh, boy, that's such a good point! You're really a thoughtful, intelligent person. You sure do have it all figured out, you selfish asshole.
I don't respond to AC's.
Well, those short-sighted, selfish asshole are going to learn the hard way, then, aren't they?
I'm glad I don't have kids. The world's largest ecosystems are currently collapsing at an unheard of rate, and it doesn't even warrant a "like" on the click click thing. Humanity's fucked.
I don't respond to AC's.
Can you imagine a physics paper that shows that Einstein's GR has been vindicated once again, and then ends by urging the establishment of an International Einstein Day? When you make the transition from saying what is to what should be, then you've climbed down from your scientist pedestal and joined the rest of us riff-raff know-it-alls.
What's the problem they are pointing out? That humans are changing the planet too much? I've seen what happens when humans change the planet, they turn deserts to fruitful soil. I don't see that as a bad thing.
This is just a bunch of hatred on humanity. If the impact of humans on the planet bother you so much then don't breed. I'd suggest going further but I wouldn't wish death on anyone, even self hating idiots that would like to impose misery on their fellow humans to save the wilderness.
You know who does the best on saving the wildlife? Hunters. Licensed hunting has done more to save the wildlife than these self hating fools. You know who has done the most in turning sand to soil? Farmers. You know who has done the most to keep trees growing? Loggers. Who has done the most to maintain the fish populations? Fishermen. People in business collecting the world's resources will fight for making sure that there are resources to collect. Setting them off limits makes them worthless and therefore no one has any interest to preserve it.
Making the wilderness off limits to law abiding humans only opens it up poaching, littering, and all kinds of criminal behavior by the not so law abiding humans. We've seen this happen, don't make history repeat because of your ignorance of it.
I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
We have now almost completely consumed the systems that give us life.
mankind has learnt nothing in the last 1000 years....
It's overpopulation uber alles. Put it on your extinction R.I.P. You're just zombies now, waiting for the coup de grace.
....but on the other hand, i also heard that Bob Saget raped and killed a girl in 1990.
There is no solution for this. All the politicians in all countries want growth. Growth is incompatible with wildlife. It is growth or wild life. You don't have to hold degree in poly Math to see who will win. From the point of view of The Rest Of Nature humanity is a virus.
The pace won't be the same because:
a) easily/moderately accessible resources are pretty much being exploited therefore $$$ will temper further exploitation
b) farms/cities can't be built just anywhere and already exist anywhere that is easily/moderately feasible.
Bottom line: nothing increases linearly forever. A scientist should know that. There will be a plateau and we've likely reached it.
Instead think: it is cheaper to increase efficiency of resource use and higher densities of habitation.
Epilogue: this sort of 'science' means well (maybe) but only makes people doubt scientists in the long run.
"Consensus" in science is _always_ a political construct.