The World as We Know It Is About to End, Say Some Really Frightened Scientists

The Atlantic ^ | Jun 7, 2012 | Alexander Abad-Santos

[presidio9]

A new study by 22 biologists and ecologists has found that environmental changes on our planet are reaching a point of no return that leads to mass extinctions and harms human welfare. The situation, said one scientist, “scares the hell out of me.” That would be James H. Brown, one of the authors of alarming paper published by Nature, talking to New York Times Green blogger Justin Gillis. Brown is not one of your everyday cranks predicting raptures and the end of days. He is a macroecologist at the University of New Mexico. And as The Atlantic's James Fallows, who pointed out this terrifying study to us, writes, this could be the most important news of 2012. How soon do these scientists expect the world as we know it to end? Gillis writes, "within a few human generations, if not sooner." The most frightening thing is that this finding isn't about what will come if we do not act, but that our effects on the planet's environment -- global warming, population growth, and overall resource extraction -- means that we've already passed a "tipping point." This isn't a plea for change. These are things scientists have been warning us

[Domestic Church]

Black snakes here are rat snakes and they are very long with a white bottom.

The frogs and salamanders will die off faster than many other critters from pollution or other environmental stresses. Hopefully it is just a transitory stress and your froggies rebound in a couple of years.

What is the usage history of your 2 acres - was it farmed or logged?

[publius911]

I remember when biology and ecology were actual sciences. Not that they have ever been exact sciences like mathematics or physics but, until now, they had not sunk to the disgrace of, say, East Anglia politically-motivated fraud.

[ConservativeMind]

Well said!

[Donkey Odious]

I graduated from high school with James Fallows - who plays Chicken Little in this most current production of the Kabuki Theater presents “The Sky is Falling”. He was class valedictorian and went on to be a speech writer for Jimmy Carter. I thought he was smarter than this......

[QT3.14]

In the 70's it was the coming Ice Age.....in other words:

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed
by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins,
all of them imaginary.

~ H. L. Mencken (1880 – 1956)
Journalist – magazine editor

[publius911]

This scared the bejeebers out of us in 1972. The "Limits to Growth" guys had it all figured out. They actually didn't put time scales on the problems in the original edition, but saw population collapse as inevitable due to having already reached the "tipping point." We're all still waiting...

Cut the guys some slack, will you? Tiny errors of transposition happen all the time/

They meant 9172.

But they need billion$ now, to head it off.
Sounds reasonable to me.

< /sarc >

[sockmonkey]

The World as We Know It Is About to End, Say Some Really Frightened Scientists Economists

The World as We Know It Is About to End, Say Some Really Frightened Scientists Democrats

The World as We Know It Is About to End, Say Some Really Frightened Scientists Harold Camping Followers

[HeartlandOfAmerica]

Yeah, they can't predict the weather the day after tomorrow, but they can predict the end of the Earth in 100 years, after these low-grade morons are safely dead and they can't be called to accounts for all the money and political influence they've gathered out of this hokum.

[milemark]

[tet68]

Hahaha. “I didn’t tell him about the Manta Bats,
I figured he’d see them for himself soon enough.”

Never saw the movie but the book cracked me up.

[3catsanadog]

“It’s the end of the world as we know it. And I feel fine” - REM

[ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas]

Ho hum. None of these perverts will tell you that "extinction" to them does not mean what you think it means. To them "extinction" means some salamander may disappear from some brook somewhere, even though it has millions of relatives in other brooks. It will be listed as 'extinct' in the local ecosystem. This is a well-known fact of gubmint-speak as it is utilized and defined in the ESA. Just omne of the many ways the left screws you over day by day..

They think their way leads to a kind of scientific enlightenment, but really what they advocate takes us back to primitive, superstitious ways that were practiced thousands of years ago. "Tornadoes? Omens of doom, warnings to stop your sinful ways!" And yes, there are Marxists who pretend to believe in all this to accomplish their goals.

[norwaypinesavage]

"Is anyone out there rational? Hello?"

You're the only one.

[norwaypinesavage]

"Is anyone out there rational? Hello?"

You're the only one.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Except that there is no global warming.

Sounds like a bunch of crackpots.

[Mamzelle]

Oh wow...A macroecologist at UNM!! Something tells me that he icky-shudders could be quieted with a nice government grant and a promise of tenure.

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

Percentage of CO2 in the earths atmpshere: 0.04%..zero point zero. Percentage of methane in the earths atmosphere: 0.00017% zero point zero zero zero. ‘Nuff said.

[supremedoctrine]

I remember one day I was standing out in the sun, and in a matter of minutes there was a sudden downpour.
I said to myself “The world “as I know it” has just ended”.

[ully2]

That would be James H. Brown, one of the alarmist’s paper published by Nature, fixed.

[Diggity]

Looking for grant money