Welcome to the 6th mass extinction (which you caused, of course)

Hotair ^ | 06/20/2015 | Jazz Shaw

[SeekAndFind]

The planet is dying. Or at least the animals on it are. That’s the conclusion of “a team of scientist” as reported in the San Francisco Gate. This is some dire news to be sure. With all the animals gone, we’re going to be in a lot of trouble, and it’s really all your fault.

Mammals, birds and reptiles are disappearing from the planet so rapidly that a team of scientists concluded Friday that Earth is in the midst of a sixth mass extinction, one so dire that it could threaten the existence of humanity.

The scientific study, published Friday in the journal Science Advances, determined that animals are going extinct at a rate 100 times faster than normal if nature was on its regular course.

The joint study by scientists from the UC Berkeley, Stanford University and other research institutions said humans are polluting the ecosystem, destroying habitat and killing off species at a rate so rapid that the demise of animals like elephants, tigers, rhinoceros and others could occur within three human lifetimes.

“In real terms, we’re in trouble,” said Paul Ehrlich, a Stanford professor and president of the Center for Conservation Biology who co-authored the study. “This is another indicator that we are sawing off the limbs that we are sitting on.”

You’ll note that a chief member of of that “team of scientists” was Paul Ehrlich, a professor at Stanford. Fairly impressive credentials to be sure, so we should probably give him a listen. Unless, of course, he had some sort of history of not being terribly good at prognostication. Let’s just say, for instance, that he had been spectacularly wrong on some of his previous predictions. Is it possible?

Over at National Review, Wesley Smith takes us for a brief trip down memory lane, to a time when Paul Erlich was writing a wildly popular book (at least wildly popular among the green warriors) titled The Population Bomb. Ehrlich was issuing some dire warnings then as well.

So, let’s take a look at some of his predictions, made in 1968:

1) “The battle to feed all of humanity is over. In the 1970s hundreds of millions of people will starve to death in spite of any crash programs embarked upon now. At this late date nothing can prevent a substantial increase in the world death rate,” he said. He predicted four billion deaths, including 65 million Americans…

What actually happened: Since Ehrlich wrote, the population has more than doubled to seven billion – but the amount of food per head has gone up by more than 25 per cent. Of course there are famines, but the death rate has gone down. I don’t think a significant number of Americans have starved.

3) “By the year 2000 the United Kingdom will be simply a small group of impoverished islands, inhabited by some 70 million hungry people … If I were a gambler, I would take even money that England will not exist in the year 2000.”

What actually happened: I’m not hungry. I just ate. Are you hungry? Were you hungry in 2000, especially? Does England exist?

Let’s be clear… the climate is changing as we’ve said many times here. And some species are going extinct. Considering that many of these examples are taking place because seven billion people take up a lot of room, one wonders what Ehrlich proposes to counter that? Of course, there are other animal populations which are adjusting in the other direction and their populations are exploding. The number of alligators in the American southeast has gotten to the point where people are barricading themselves in their homes. Up here in the northeast, despite two brutally harsh winters in a row, the population of whitetail deer has gone through the roof. I chased two out of my yard in the middle of the suburbs recently and they are wrecking cars right and left.

The climate changes. The animal populations shift in response. As I understand it, the number of species fell off a cliff during each ice age. It’s definitely something to keep an eye on, but I’m not sure if Ehrlich is our go to guy on this one. Unless, of course, England is gone. Has anyone checked recently?

[Senator_Blutarski]

So how do we know which species should survive and which species can appropriately be allowed to go extinct?

Isn't evolution supposed to be a cruel test of fitness for survival?

Don't various species exist only because a certain set of temporarily favorable conditions exist? Are we humans obliged to ensure those favorable conditions last forever?

Who gets to make all of these judgments?

Why do I get the feeling this whole issue is akin to welfare and food stamps for the weakest species?

[SunkenCiv]

Paul Erhlich / Population Bomb keywords, newest to oldest:

• The sixth mass extinction on Earth has officially begun and could threaten humanity's existence [2015]
• Sixth mass extinction is here: US study [2015]
• Mankind will be extinct in 100 years because of climate change, warns expert [2015]
• Whatever Happened to the "Population Bomb"? [2015]
• Einstein Memorial Refutes White House Environmentalist [2015]
• Epic Fail: Seven Big Failed Environmentalist Predictions [2015]
• Sixth extinction, rivaling that of the dinosaurs, should join the big five, scientists say [2015]
• Obama's Science and Tech Adviser, Holdren, laid foundation for understanding environmental probs [2014]
• NYT had 0 right-leaning books on its top 100 list -- here are 15 bestsellers they could've included [2014]
• It seems The End is to come. (We'll all be extinct by 2030) [2014]
• Paul Ehrlich, of 'Population Bomb' infamy, now predicts we will be eating our dead [2014]
• Movie for a Sunday afternoon: "Kiss The Girls And Make Them Die"(1966) [2014]
• Alarmist Population Controller Paul Ehrlich Suggests Cannibalism to Control "Overpopulation" [2014]
• Alarmist Paul Ehrlich Predicts Need to 'Eat the Bodies of Your Dead' [2014]
• Paul Ehrlich: "Nobody Has The Right to Have 12 Children -- Or Even 3" [2013]
• Cut world population and redistribute resources, expert urges (Says Stanford Prof. Paul Ehrlich) [2012]
• Obama Adviser: 'References to Size, Power or Sexual Potency... Could be Banned From Automobile [2012]
• Population control: the rich controlling the poor? [2011]
• With 7 billion on earth, a huge task before us [2011]
• White House Science Czar Says He Would Use 'Free Market' to 'De-Develop the United States' [2011]
• Prince Charles warns of human extinction [2011]
• LA TIMES: The world's biggest problem? Too many people. [2011]
• Agenda 21 -- What Is It? Apparently is is a plan to reduce the population [2011]
• The War Against Girls (Unintended Consequences of Abortion) [2011]
• Report Offers Surprises on Muslims' Growth (We Are Doomed) [2011]
• Population bomb still a fizzer 40 years on [2010]
• Loaf of wheat bread may soon cost $23 due to skyrocketing food price inflation. [2010]
• The -- Population Bomb -- Has Fizzled [2010]
• Global food prices plummet, UN reports [ 3 June 2010 ] [2010]
• Taiwan: Birth rate continues to decline (Birth Rate of 1.03) [2010]
• Climate of fear [2010]
• Paul "Population Bomb" Ehrlich: Fight the Climate Skeptic Conspiracy! [2010]
• E-mails from National Academy of Sciences plot attacks on AGW skeptics [2010]
• Failed "Scientist" Paul Ehrlich Among AGW Alarmists Swiping at Skeptics [2010]
• Boxer, Holdren Defend Motley CRU [2009]
• Cap And trade For Babies: One Child Policy Coming to USA? (Limbaugh/IBD) [2009]
• Cap-And-Trade For Babies? Holdren, Cal Your Office) [2009]
• The New Scientist? (30 years after losing the bet to Julian Simon, Paul Ehrlich is at it again) [2009]
• Get Green, Go Sterile? [2009]
• Obama's Science Czar Said a Born Baby 'Will Ultimately Develop Into a Human Being' [2009]
• Obama's Science Czar Considered Forced Abortions, Sterilization as Population Growth Solutions [2009]
• Czar 54, Who Are You? [2009]
• Obama's Science Czar: Traditional family is obsolete, punish large families [2009]
• 1970s The Population Bomb ... 2009 Global Warming. Settled Science Then and Now? [2009]
• John Holdren, Obama's Science Czar: Forced abortions and mass sterilization needed to save planet [2009]
• Obama's Science Czar: Forced abortions and mass sterilization needed to save the planet [2009]
• Global Crisis 'to Strike by 2030' [2009]
• Obama's Science Advisor [2008]
• MSM Shuns Embarrassing 'The Population Bomb' Anniversary [2008]
• The coming population bust [The Malthusian Overpopulation Hysteria] [2008]
• Overpopulation [2008]
• Population Implosion [2007]
• Don Feder: How to Take the Chill Out of Demographic Winter [2007]
• The Population Time-Bomb Fizzles [2007]
• COMBAT CLIMATE CHANGE WITH FEWER BABIES -- OPT REPORT [2007]
• The Left's Global Warming Solution: No More Children! (Ben Shapiro: Leftist Eco-Nazism Alert) [2007]
• The Don Imuses of Environmentalism [2007]
• Alarm sounds on US population boom [2006]
• Overselling Climate Change [2006]
• Wager between Julian Simon and Paul Ehrlich [2005]
• Population as a resource, not a bomb [Paul Ehrlich was wrong. Julian Simon was right.] [2005]
• Aliens Cause Global Warming (MUST READ) [2004]
• Feeding the World Man behind 'Green Revolution' turns 90 [2004]
• Exploring the 'Singularity' [2003]
• Tampa Bay tapped as new source of drinking water [2003]
• Please Freep my amazon.com review of Bjorn Lomborg's book "The Skeptical Environmentalist." [2002]
• Bono is Deaf on Africa (If not for Marxism, Africa would be the world's breadbasket) [2002]
• Bjorn Lomborg's critics have ignored 95% of his book, "The Skeptical Environmentalist." [2002]
• PAT Answers -- It's time to stop taking the likes of Paul Erlich seriously. [2002]

[GreyFriar]

If it is written or endorsed by Paul Erlich, it can be safely ignored. We are still waiting for his “Population Bomb” predictions to happen! Not.