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REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS
Earth's oceans on course for mass extinction
Wednesday, September 21, 2011 9:20 AM
NIKI2
Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...
Quote:Mass extinctions are seldom pretty, but this one would transform Earth's oceans forever, especially coral reefs. A new report by the International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO) assesses how climate change, overexploitation, pollution, habitat loss and other stressors are affecting the ocean as a whole. The conclusion? We're on course for a mass extinction that would include coral reefs and the menagerie of species that rely on them, as well as multiple species of fish consumed by people, although it may not be as severe as the "big five" extinctions of Earth's distant past. "We're seeing a combination of symptoms that have been associated with large, past extinctions," says Alex Rogers, the head of IPSO. Acidifying waters Rogers says the biggest problem is the rapid pace of climate change, which is "virtually unprecedented". The closest comparison is the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum of 55 million years ago, when 2.2 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide was released every year for millennia and many deep-sea species were wiped out. Today we release over 25 gigatonnes every year. Many harmful factors combine to cause additional damage. For instance, the oceans are acidifying as a result of CO2 dissolving in the water, and this makes corals more susceptible to "bleaching". Rogers recommends nothing less than slashing CO2 emissions, establishing Marine Protected Areas covering up to one-third of the ocean, and restoring marine ecosystems. http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20595-earths-oceans-on-course-for-mass-extinction.html Millions of dead anchovies appear in a marina in Redondo Beach, south of Los Angeles, California in March
Wednesday, September 21, 2011 9:58 AM
AURAPTOR
America loves a winner!
Wednesday, September 21, 2011 12:49 PM
DREAMTROVE
Wednesday, September 21, 2011 4:53 PM
RIONAEIRE
Beir bua agus beannacht
Wednesday, September 21, 2011 5:02 PM
SIGNYM
I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011 6:36 PM
NEWOLDBROWNCOAT
Wednesday, September 21, 2011 6:50 PM
Quote:Originally posted by NewOldBrownCoat: Hon, wasn't it last year that ALL the bees were going to die, so nothing would pollinate the food crops, and we were all gonna die?
Wednesday, September 21, 2011 7:07 PM
Thursday, September 22, 2011 3:45 AM
Quote:Originally posted by RionaEire: That bee thing still is of concern to me. But I know what you mean, if someone let themself worry about this stuff too much they'd be in a pickle. "A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya
Thursday, September 22, 2011 3:58 AM
BYTEMITE
Thursday, September 22, 2011 5:13 AM
Thursday, September 22, 2011 5:48 AM
Thursday, September 22, 2011 5:51 AM
ANTHONYT
Freedom is Important because People are Important
Thursday, September 22, 2011 6:30 AM
Thursday, September 22, 2011 6:52 AM
WULFENSTAR
http://youtu.be/VUnGTXRxGHg
Thursday, September 22, 2011 7:20 AM
Thursday, September 22, 2011 10:31 AM
Thursday, September 22, 2011 11:15 AM
Quote:[Researchers] documented a 96 percent decline in the numbers of the four species, and said their range had shrunk by as much as 87 percent. As with honeybees, a pathogen is partly involved, but the researchers also found evidence of inbreeding caused by habitat loss. "We provide incontrovertible evidence that multiple Bombus species have experienced sharp population declines at the national level," the researchers reported ... calling the findings "alarming." http://www.grist.org/article/food-2011-01-04-bumblebees-join-the-die-off bees are still doing THEIR thing, too, and it's increasing. As of a few days ago:Quote: They are famed as being the angriest insects in the animal kingdom. But now experts believe killer bees have gotten even more furious in 2011. Reed Booth, who calls himself the Killer Bee Guy and works with sheriffs' offices and fire departments to remove hives, had to this week take out a 200lb hive holding 250,000 killer bees on a farm in Bisbee, Arizona. The bees killed a 1,000lb hog and sent a pregnant 800lb sow into a coma, leaving all her piglets dead. 'This is the worst I've seen in 10 years,' Booth told KOLD-TV. ‘They're much ornier this year for some reason.' The massive find came after man in Wilhoit, Arizona, died following a bee attack and hives of 100lbs or more were discovered in homes in Phoenix. Speaking on the Bisbee incident after he had removed the hive, Mr Booth said: 'A thousand-pound pig is a huge thing. I'm kinda surprised that they did kill it.' http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2038687/Killer-bees-getting-angrier-say-experts-hive-250-000-kills-1-000lb-hog.html?ITO=1490 The horrors we're wreaking on this planet are happening every day, we just don't know about them or don't pay attention to them uless it's on the MSM.
Quote: They are famed as being the angriest insects in the animal kingdom. But now experts believe killer bees have gotten even more furious in 2011. Reed Booth, who calls himself the Killer Bee Guy and works with sheriffs' offices and fire departments to remove hives, had to this week take out a 200lb hive holding 250,000 killer bees on a farm in Bisbee, Arizona. The bees killed a 1,000lb hog and sent a pregnant 800lb sow into a coma, leaving all her piglets dead. 'This is the worst I've seen in 10 years,' Booth told KOLD-TV. ‘They're much ornier this year for some reason.' The massive find came after man in Wilhoit, Arizona, died following a bee attack and hives of 100lbs or more were discovered in homes in Phoenix. Speaking on the Bisbee incident after he had removed the hive, Mr Booth said: 'A thousand-pound pig is a huge thing. I'm kinda surprised that they did kill it.' http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2038687/Killer-bees-getting-angrier-say-experts-hive-250-000-kills-1-000lb-hog.html?ITO=1490
Thursday, September 22, 2011 11:23 AM
Thursday, September 22, 2011 11:29 AM
Thursday, September 22, 2011 11:59 AM
PERFESSERGEE
Quote:Originally posted by Niki2: Population limiting as seriously suggested WOULD mean population decline. Not everyone gets married, not everyone lives long enough to have children, much less two--obviously it's not workable, I'm just point out that it WOULD create a decline in population. We may not have to worry about that--well, if we had time, that is. Considering the rate at which some countries are populating, it's already too late. But I think Sig's remark about sperm count is right on target (it's already happening), and I agree with her every point. Space isn't the answer. Mankind has always fucked up his environment, then either died out or moved on. We'd do the same in space, and you need raw materials to do any of that; earth only has so many, and what we DO have is being seriously depleted. How do you provide materials enough to start a colony such as suggested, much less keep it going and start others, when earth's material is less and less even with the population we have NOW? Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani, Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”, signing off
Thursday, September 22, 2011 12:14 PM
Quote:much less keep it going and start others, when earth's material is less and less even with the population we have NOW?
Quote:obviously it's not workable, I'm just point out that it WOULD create a decline in population.
Thursday, September 22, 2011 12:21 PM
Thursday, September 22, 2011 1:08 PM
Thursday, September 22, 2011 1:44 PM
Thursday, September 22, 2011 3:37 PM
Quote:but it wouldn't necessarily support a population...
Thursday, September 22, 2011 3:45 PM
Thursday, September 22, 2011 5:09 PM
1KIKI
Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.
Thursday, September 22, 2011 5:17 PM
Thursday, September 22, 2011 6:11 PM
Thursday, September 22, 2011 6:17 PM
Thursday, September 22, 2011 6:22 PM
Thursday, September 22, 2011 6:35 PM
Thursday, September 22, 2011 6:52 PM
Thursday, September 22, 2011 7:08 PM
Friday, September 23, 2011 4:37 AM
Friday, September 23, 2011 5:12 AM
Friday, September 23, 2011 5:42 AM
Quote:HAVE forgotten the point of Firefly, and Star Trek, Star Wars, and all the others: They ARE fiction.
Quote:What is "possible" (if it even is) and what "will happen" are worlds apart.
Friday, September 23, 2011 8:19 AM
Quote:The reason Firefly is popular around here is because it constructs a very plausible scenario.
Friday, September 23, 2011 8:49 AM
Friday, September 23, 2011 8:56 AM
Friday, September 23, 2011 9:06 AM
Friday, September 23, 2011 9:20 AM
Quote:In my opinion we ARE different than every other species on earth in that we are dominant, we change our surroundings to fit us (which changes the balance of nature), and we cover the globe.
Friday, September 23, 2011 10:37 AM
Quote: Humans have been extraordinarily successful. When the British made landfall at Sydney Cove in 1788 and began colonising Australia, the world's population was about 750 million. The total today is nearly eight times as many; there is hardly a place where humans haven't been … and nowhere they don't influence. Thanks to industrialisation, our hunger for resources and the sheer number of people, humans have an immense impact. They outstrip every other species in demand for energy and resources, to the point where their impact on the biosphere arguably threatens our own long-term viability. THE WORLD IS IN THE SWAY of a dangerous illusion. Most leaders, officials and institutions behave as if the human enterprise is somehow remote from the environment; as if human expansion can go on forever; as if the Earth's resources and energy were limitless. And yet, we know this is not the case. We know many complex civilisations, successful and advanced, have nevertheless collapsed. Ours could too. The worldwide population is expanding by about 75 million people a year. Even given that population growth rates are declining, United Nations projections put the global population at almost 8 billion in 2025. Humans have already used nearly a third of all available land area – some 3.8 billion hectares – in agriculture or built-up areas. Most of the remainder is too dry for agriculture. Global grain production, currently 1.84 billion tonnes annually, will need to increase by about 40 per cent to meet demand in 2020. While demand is going up, our capacity to meet that demand is under a growing cloud. Human-induced soil degradation has been getting worse since the 1950s. About 85 per cent of agricultural land contains areas degraded by erosion, salination, compaction, and other factors. It has been estimated that soil degradation has already reduced agricultural productivity by 15 per cent in the past 50 years. In the past 300 years, the rate of topsoil loss was 300 million tonnes per year; in the past 50 years that rate has more than doubled to 760 million tonnes per year. ..... (it's a very long and fascinating article, but that's a good beginning. ""We have just two more generations, at most, to fix the problem with our climate systems. We are aware of what we need to achieve to survive in the longer term, but the big trick is to identify the next steps." On top of this, if current water consumption patterns continue, half the world's population will live in water-stressed river basins by 2025. What it all adds up to is hotly debated, but for many people it looks a little like Easter Island: that we are driving headlong into a crisis we seem unable to see. We're getting to the end of the trees, and still we keep chopping. As if nothing was wrong. http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/features/print/2736/survival-species?page=0%2C4
Quote: How did the Easter Islanders deal with the increasing probability of ecological collapse back in the 16th century? As their cultural trajectory had them hurtling towards a barren future in a treeless land with no prospect of escape, surely some of their elders were advocating the need for the entire society to adopt radical change? If so, then they were either ignored … or they spoke up too late.
Friday, September 23, 2011 10:44 AM
Friday, September 23, 2011 1:07 PM
Friday, September 23, 2011 3:58 PM
Saturday, September 24, 2011 6:18 AM
Saturday, September 24, 2011 10:29 AM
Saturday, September 24, 2011 10:27 PM
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