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Scientists: Human activity has pushed Earth beyond four of nine ‘planetary boundaries’
WAPO ^ | Jan. 15, 2015 | Joel Achenbach

Posted on 01/15/2015 8:14:22 PM PST by PROCON

At the rate things are going, the Earth in the coming decades could cease to be a “safe operating space” for human beings. That is the conclusion of a new paper published Thursday in the journal Science by 18 researchers trying to gauge the breaking points in the natural world.

The paper contends that we have already crossed four “planetary boundaries.” They include the extinction rate; deforestation; the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere; and the flow of nitrogen and phosphorous (used on land as fertilizer) into the ocean.

“What the science has shown is that human activities — economic growth, technology, consumption – are destabilizing the global environment,” said Will Steffen, who holds appointments at the Australian National University and the Stockholm Resilience Center and is the lead author of the paper.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: erf; globalwarming
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To: MaxMax
Deforestation:firewood for those -20 degree F nights in NW PA like 2 nights back.

Carbon Dioxide: Byproduct of fermented cereal grains. Mmm beer.

Nitrogen: key ingredient in many fun compounds like Nitrocellulose, TNT and Nitrous Oxide.

Phosphorous:You want clean dishes or not?

21 posted on 01/15/2015 8:33:32 PM PST by Rodamala
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To: PROCON

These people are partisan idiots spreading propaganda.


22 posted on 01/15/2015 8:34:25 PM PST by TBP (Obama lies, Granny dies.)
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To: Kirkwood
Whatever happened to those pesky ozone holes?

We plugged 'em with a bunch of styrofoam boxes that Neil Young found.

23 posted on 01/15/2015 8:35:22 PM PST by Rodamala
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To: PROCON

Just another way to scare the folks out of their money.


24 posted on 01/15/2015 8:37:07 PM PST by Maelstorm ("I would rather die standing than to live on my knees" Stephane Charbonnier cartoonist Charlie Hedbo)
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To: PROCON

only 1 thing for liberals to do— self-termination....


25 posted on 01/15/2015 8:37:30 PM PST by freebilly (How about this-- we stop trying to elect the unelectable)
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To: PROCON

26 posted on 01/15/2015 8:38:38 PM PST by seawolf101
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To: PROCON

Libs, hold your breath till we tell you to breath.


27 posted on 01/15/2015 8:40:39 PM PST by Huskrrrr
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To: Rodamala

Funny how the ozone hole problem went away when ozone hole grants went away too.

Hey! I found out what causes global warming... Global warming grants! Now I need a grant to study how to stop global warming grants.


28 posted on 01/15/2015 8:49:21 PM PST by Kirkwood (Zombie Hunter)
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To: PROCON

Hmmmm. What to do?

Ground AF1?


29 posted on 01/15/2015 8:54:18 PM PST by Kickass Conservative (If you think the Mulatto Marxist is bad, just wait until the Menopausal Marxist shows up.)
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To: PROCON

Scientists are funny creatures. They love extinction in the past (evolution), but they hate extinction in the future. Fact: 99% of all species that have ever existed... are dead.


30 posted on 01/15/2015 9:01:31 PM PST by HMS Surprise (Chris Christie can STILL go straight to hell.)
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To: Kirkwood

They were wrong. Oops


31 posted on 01/15/2015 9:06:59 PM PST by MaxMax (Pay Attention and you'll be pissed off too! FIRE BOEHNER, NOW!)
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To: lee martell
Yes, there are billions and billions of human beings on earth right now, but we still only inhabit a small percentage of the earth.

If you gave every man, woman, and child on earth a 1/10 acre allotment (about 20 yds by 20 yds, so a family of 5 gets a spacious half acre for a nice modern western residence and good yard for mowing), you would be able to place the Earth's entire population into...

ARGENTINA.

Now go look at a globe. Now look at the land area that is NOT Argentina.

We are a long, long away away from overpopulation.

(SF has a population density of 17,246 people per sq mi... which gives each person around 1/30 of an acre each... only 1/3 of what I alloted above. If we lived with the population density of SF, we could fit the entire earth's population into Texas.)

32 posted on 01/15/2015 9:09:17 PM PST by Teacher317 (We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men)
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To: Rodamala
Phosphate has already been banned. Everybody is wearing dirty clothes and washing in
smelly washers because of it. But ONLY banned in the USA!!!!!
33 posted on 01/15/2015 9:09:57 PM PST by MaxMax (Pay Attention and you'll be pissed off too! FIRE BOEHNER, NOW!)
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To: PROCON

They have been saying this kind of stuff for decades and decades and have always been wrong.


34 posted on 01/15/2015 9:12:00 PM PST by GeronL
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To: PROCON

We all need to shut up...this is “settled” science.


35 posted on 01/15/2015 9:16:54 PM PST by Ouchthatonehurt ("When you're going through hell, keep going." - Sir Winston Churchill)
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To: Teacher317

The school kids of today are being taught the exact opposite. I would like more to at least contemplate the facts you just presented. Some college professors would lose their positions if they ‘came out’ as NOT being in a panic about ‘Man’s Footprint’ on the earth.


36 posted on 01/15/2015 9:26:46 PM PST by lee martell
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To: PROCON

Evolution is quite robust for a changing world, whatever the cause. There have been a few times when most of the species on Earth was wiped out. Life came back each time. The biggest difference is you now have one species capable of saving and reintroducing species. It’s not the problem they claim it is. The technology to bring back a species gone extinct is even emerging.


37 posted on 01/15/2015 9:43:59 PM PST by Nateman (If liberals are not screaming you are doing it wrong!)
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To: PROCON

Klatu barado nikto


38 posted on 01/16/2015 12:04:52 AM PST by itsahoot (55 years a republican-Now Independent. Will write in Sarah Palin, no matter who runs. $.98-$.89<$.10)
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To: itsahoot

You can say that again :^’)


39 posted on 01/16/2015 1:59:53 AM PST by BlueDragon
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To: PROCON

How much of our tax dollars funded this exercise in stupidity?


40 posted on 01/16/2015 3:34:07 AM PST by Amagi (Lenin: "Socialized Medicine is the Keystone to the Arch of the Socialist State.")
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