Mass Extinction Threat: Earth on Verge of Huge Reset Button?

[defendandprotect]

Mass extinctions have served as huge reset buttons that dramatically changed the diversity of species found in oceans all over the world, according to a comprehensive study of fossil records. The findings suggest humans will live in a very different future if they drive animals to extinction, because the loss of each species can alter entire ecosystems.

Some scientists have speculated that effects of humans - from hunting to climate change - are fueling another great mass extinction. A few go so far as to say we are entering a new geologic epoch, leaving the 10,000-year-old Holocene Epoch behind and entering the Anthropocene Epoch, marked by major changes to global temperatures and ocean chemistry, increased sediment erosion, and changes in biology that range from altered flowering times to shifts in migration patterns of birds and mammals and potential die-offs of tiny organisms that support the entire marine food chain.

Scientists had once thought species diversity could help buffer a group of animals from such die-offs, either keeping them from heading toward extinction or helping them to bounce back. But having many diverse species also proved no guarantee of future success for any one group of animals, given that mass extinctions more or less wiped the slate clean, according to studies such as the latest one.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/massextinctionthreatearthonvergeofhugeresetbutton


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We've known about Global Warming since the 1950's -- when we had time to do something

about it -- totally change our culture --

Capitalism is suicidal exploitation of nature, natural resources, animal-life and even

other human beings --

As long as we permit capitalism/corporatism to rule we are on a pathway to self-destruction.

[TreasonousBastard]

1. What does capitalism have to do with volcanoes or asteroids? Is that what REALLY...

wiped out the dinosaurs?

[baldguy]

2. Capitalism is driving the current mass extinction.

[defendandprotect]

6. IMO, too much citizen trust in government and capitalism ... has to end -- !!

Everyone needs their BS-meters turned up waaaay higher!!

[amborin]

7. +1000

[TreasonousBastard]

14. That's not quite the most ridiculous thing I've heard today...

but it's up there.

For one thing, name a system that does not harm the planet but still gives you all the things you are in favor of. Unless you prefer to live in a mud hut and forage for your food, you can't come up with a realistic one.

Sure, you can come up with all sorts of neat ideas, but "realistic" as in has some chance of actually happening is the operative term.

Now, without capitalism rearing its ugly head, the Incas poisoned their croplands because they didn't understand how years of irrigation eventually salinated the soil. The ancient Mesopotamians did the same thing. The Scots, Irish, Lebanese, and Easter Islanders managed to cut down all their trees before they had their "Oh Shit" moment. All of this was due simply to human sue of resources and shortsightedness.

The only difference between us and the Incas is that we now have the technology to clearcut the Amazon, carve down entire mountain chains, and create new and better poisons.

I don't argue with the concept that the human race is the most destructive thing the planet has come up with (aside possibly from that bigass asteroid) but to try to pass the blame off to some economic system is a chickenshit argument.

[greyl]

25. Do you believe that being a member of our culture compels us to destroy Earth?

"I don't argue with the concept that the human race is the most destructive thing the planet has come up with..."

You should, because it's a false idea based on incorrect notion that our culture is the pinnacle of human evolution. Humanity isn't "the problem", the problem is a particular global culture. That(our) culture does not represent humanity at large.

[TreasonousBastard]

32. You mean educated and technologically adept? Show me the culture...

anywhere in history that was both technologically advanced and fully self-sustaining.

[greyl]

33. No, I was being decidedly more specific. nt

[Panaconda]

3. See

post #2

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

4. The truth of the matter is...

there's no way humans on earth can survive the radiation of the Van Halen belts.

[tkmorris]

10. Van Halen Belts?

Can we fly through them on Led Zeppelins?

[tularetom]

5. In the long run the sun will burn out and all life on earth will die

We cannot prevent this regardless of what we do.

Yes, human greed will probably hasten the end of the earth by a few billion years but in the enormity of time is that a BFD? There could be two or three or more mass extinctions before the final extinguishment of the flame.

We're all doomed in the final analysis no matter what.

So while I might be pissed off at the excesses of capitalism, I won't become a hermit because of it. I'm not gonna stop driving a car, turning down my air conditioner in the summer or enjoying a good steak now and then.

I'm not disagreeing with your post. Nor questioning the reality of global climate change or the effects of extinction on the food chain. The earth is a very complex model and there are a lot of unknowns. But the final result is not in question.

[defendandprotect]

8. If this is all about YOU, then I think you should understand Global Warming isn't some

far off effect coming to change our lives -- it's with us now -- and its

damaging effects are occurring now -- and they continue to increase.

We all have the possibility of finding ourselves "Katrina'd" in the near future!

This isn't something natural happening -- this is an elite trade off of our futures

and our children's futures so they could accumulate wealth.

Few of us, I imagine, will find that trade off to make any sense --

Nor was it done with our knowledge --


More and more the slogan, "We had to burn the village to save it!" will haunt us!

Every day now I'm seeing more and more trees cut down -- huge limbs being hacked off

so that cars on our roadways aren't threatened by falling limbs caused by increasing

lightning/thunder storms and strong wind patterns increasing.

All of these effects -- and many more -- will continue to compound.

[tularetom]

12. It isn't about me and it's every bit as bad as you say it is

And we are most likely in for a very rough patch over the next few centuries.

But if all the people on earth rose up and struck down capitalism tomorrow, it would have no effect on the ultimate fate of our planet.

It's too late to do anything about it now. It was too late the day the first amoeba began wriggling around in the primordial ooze.

[defendandprotect]

16. If you think we have "a few centuries" then you're not getting it ....

Nor will it be a "rough patch" which is another sign that you're not getting it --

We are where we are not because of some flaw in our stars, but because of oil industry

propaganda and the Unholy Trinity -- patriarchy -- and their underpinning, organized

patriarchal religion -- and their invention - capitalism.

But if all the people on earth rose up and struck down capitalism tomorrow, it would have no effect on the ultimate fate of our planet.

And THAT is something for each citizen to decide -- will we stop planting trees?

Stop trying to save endangered species?

Stop trying to reign in capitalism and oil industry destruction -- pollution of nature?

Fail to stop anyone from doing harm because we may not succeed?

Stop fighting for public education? Stop educating ourselves re nature and Global Warming?


My apologies -- this looked a little self-centered to me --

So while I might be pissed off at the excesses of capitalism, I won't become a hermit because of it. I'm not gonna stop driving a car, turning down my air conditioner in the summer or enjoying a good steak now and then.


And -- referring to the "excesses of capitalism" sounds like an attempt to alibi for the suicidal

nature of capitalism which will be taking us all along for the ride!

[tularetom]

23. If humanity went extinct tomorrow

Cockroaches would eventually consume all the earth's resources and starve themselves to death.

If capitalism disappeared tomorrow, people would not stop eating and reproducing. Eight billion people cannot live in harmony with nature the same way a few million did. I don't care if the entire population of the earth was living in communal bliss, we would eventually overpopulate the planet and disappear.

It isn't the suicidal nature of capitalism that's causing the problem it's the suicidal nature of living organisms.

Capitalism may suck but it's ludicrous to blame any "ism" for the extinction of humanity.

And eventually the sun will go out and any living thing will become a popsicle.

Let's have this argument in 100 years and we'll see who was right.

[undergroundpanther]

24. ...

It is the senseless brutality of nature and reality,of 'evolution,ego and 'selfish genes'.If you step out of your self your species and observe the corrosive effects of life and habitat you find that life in a material existence is not sustainable,add in the suicidal nature of living organisms it's a bad thing but it is.That suicidal nature in life is conflicted,the more you identify with living organisms and self however, in people, this dismal fact of existence is denied.. but unconsciously the suicidal and brutally senseless behavior of humanity is glaringly apparent ,especially on a societal level.


You will never find that life for which you are looking. When the gods created man they allotted to him death, but life they retained in their own keeping. ~The Epic of Gilgamesh

Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live. ~Norman Cousins


Our excessive tolerance of suicide is due to the fact that, since the state of mind from which it springs is a general one, we cannot condemn it without condemning ourselves; we are too saturated with it not partly to excuse it.

-Durkheim, EŁ� mile
Suicide: a Study in Sociology (translated by John A Spaulding and George Simpson,1952).



Suicide is... the sincerest form of criticism life gets. ~Wilfred Sheed, The Good Word, 1978

[eShirl]

31. before the sun goes out it'll expand as a red giant and burn any still-living thing here to a crisp

[truebrit71]

34. Exactly right..there is no "few centuries" timeline..we are already waaaaay past the tipping point..

...it is now a question of trying to lessen the impact and minimize the size of the catastrophe...and I have very slim hopes of that happening until the East Coast is under several feet of water..

[hobbit709]

15. Dr. Leakey once said

"Man first upset the balance of nature when he learned how to use a club"

[defendandprotect]

18. Agree -- violence has generally ruled on this planet -- and continues on even now --

We have never solved the problem of dealing with the violence of the few

among us!!

[undergroundpanther]

26. some have

but it required far less numbers in the grouping,of people and no sociopaths let into places of power,this kind of society would require egalitarian orientation,that no one dominates another without a reason like safety of everyone..the most powerful have to give the most to the community be it time,privacy,material goods..Some tribes like the inuit would observe tribal associates,listen to the victims, observe the patterns of behaviors,find and kill the sociopaths in a very quiet and simple way,that would not glorify the sociopath, take them 'hunting' push them into icy water to die. The abusive dominating bullies were not allowed to rape and corrupt nor were they excused as if they were 'sick'.Psychopaths were seen as a toxic danger and ruiner to the community,which they ARE

A troop of baboons changed thier culture..when they got thier chance to;

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/13/science/no-time-for-bullies-baboons-retool-their-culture.html

[hobbit709]

9. The earth is in no danger from humans.

We as a dominant(?) species may be in danger but the earth has survived greater ecological disasters for over 4 billion years.

[Panaconda]

11. Not much solace

for my children.

[hobbit709]

13. Life is a gamble every day.

[Panaconda]

17. Or

a slogan it seems.

[defendandprotect]

20. As long as we bow to capitalism it is a suicidal "gamble" every day --

with elites winning wealth/power -- while we lose our ability to live on this planet --

[defendandprotect]

19. There is no guarantee that the earth will keep turning ...

no one knows that -- and it is certainly in question --

[greyl]

28. The Earth as life support system is definitely on the decline.

I love George Carlin's quote about shaking off a bad case of fleas, but I think he was really pointing out an error in the wording of the phrase "save the Earth". (unless of course Earth is defined as a life support system for the evolution of intelligent and conscious life instead of just unconscious matter)

[izquierdista]

21. Don't be so glum, cheer up n give a whistle.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlBiLNN1NhQ

[MadHound]

22. It isn't capitalism, it isn't corporatism that is driving self destruction

It is man himself, too many people. We like to think that we are somehow free and independent of nature's laws, but we aren't. Our population has expanded exponentially in recent years, and any population of creatures, be they mice or men, that has a population boom will also suffer a bust, and to some extent or another harm their surrounding environment.

The only difference between men and mice is the level of destruction we will wreak upon our surrounding environment. Being cleverer than mice, mankind has simply increased the amount of destruction we can achieve. But earth will heal itself, other creatures will emerge, and in a few million years we will perhaps be getting drilled out of the earth and refined into gas to power some sentient roach's vehicle.

[Kablooie]

27. Oh goody. Another reason to worry about the future. I should have had a V8!

[DaveinJapan]

29. My feeling is it's already too late, and has been since the industrial revolution

I believe the fact that we've never encountered other civilizations from other planets is strong evidence to the fact that any civilization that reaches our technological heights can not survive for long.

Perhaps there are low-tech, birthrate controlled civilizations out there that were wise enough to figure that out, but we'll never meet them.

Can't put the genie back in the bottle now.

[greyl]

30. Where does the notion that civilization is the greatest achievement/destiny of humanity come from?

Who first said humans were born to build cities, multiply, and consume the Earth as was intended, seemingly forever and without consequence?

One doesn't need to look toward other star systems to discover intelligent life that has figured out sustainable ways to live. There are human cultures right here fitting the bill. As natural selection has resulted in their time-tested lifestyles, so will it demand that our young but arrogant culture someday change. One way or another.

[snooper2]

35. Don't worry D&P, the alien ship (otherwise known as the moon)

Spooked told us about has the capacity to save 1.6 billion of us...

Just trying to figure out how to be first in line :rofl:

[alfredo]

36. The Trilobite was quite diverse. It's diversity did

little to help it survive. It did have a good run though.

The dinosaurs have been very successful. They changed and survived.







Some birds still have claws. The Hoatzin and the Black Vulture chicks have claws too.

[earth mom]

37. This is why I wanted Gore in '08 and am hoping for Gore 2012.

This planet and country needs someone in power who talks the talk and walks the walk.