Posted on 03/30/2005 10:29:22 AM PST by jmaroneps37
Two-thirds of world's resources 'used up'
Tim Radford, science editor Wednesday March 30, 2005 The Guardian
The human race is living beyond its means. A report backed by 1,360 scientists from 95 countries - some of them world leaders in their fields - today warns that the almost two-thirds of the natural machinery that supports life on Earth is being degraded by human pressure. The study contains what its authors call "a stark warning" for the entire world. The wetlands, forests, savannahs, estuaries, coastal fisheries and other habitats that recycle air, water and nutrients for all living creatures are being irretrievably damaged. In effect, one species is now a hazard to the other 10 million or so on the planet, and to itself.
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Human activity is putting such a strain on the natural functions of Earth that the ability of the planet's ecosystems to sustain future generations can no longer be taken for granted," it says. The report, prepared in Washington under the supervision of a board chaired by Robert Watson, the British-born chief scientist at the World Bank and a former scientific adviser to the White House, will be launched today at the Royal Society in London. It warns that:
· Because of human demand for food, fresh water, timber, fibre and fuel, more land has been claimed for agriculture in the last 60 years than in the 18th and 19th centuries combined.
· An estimated 24% of the Earth's land surface is now cultivated.
· Water withdrawals from lakes and rivers has doubled in the last 40 years. Humans now use between 40% and 50% of all available freshwater running off the land.
· At least a quarter of all fish stocks are overharvested. In some areas, the catch is now less than a hundredth of that before industrial fishing.
· Since 1980, about 35% of mangroves have been lost, 20% of the world's coral reefs have been destroyed and another 20% badly degraded.
· Deforestation and other changes could increase the risks of malaria and cholera, and open the way for new and so far unknown disease to emerge.
In 1997, a team of biologists and economists tried to put a value on the "business services" provided by nature - the free pollination of crops, the air conditioning provided by wild plants, the recycling of nutrients by the oceans. They came up with an estimate of $33 trillion, almost twice the global gross national product for that year. But after what today's report, Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, calls "an unprecedented period of spending Earth's natural bounty" it was time to check the accounts.
"That is what this assessment has done, and it is a sobering statement with much more red than black on the balance sheet," the scientists warn. "In many cases, it is literally a matter of living on borrowed time. By using up supplies of fresh groundwater faster than they can be recharged, for example, we are depleting assets at the expense of our children."
Flow from rivers has been reduced dramatically. For parts of the year, the Yellow River in China, the Nile in Africa and the Colorado in North America dry up before they reach the ocean. An estimated 90% of the total weight of the ocean's large predators - tuna, swordfish and sharks - has disappeared in recent years. An estimated 12% of bird species, 25% of mammals and more than 30% of all amphibians are threatened with extinction within the next century. Some of them are threatened by invaders.
The Baltic Sea is now home to 100 creatures from other parts of the world, a third of them native to the Great Lakes of America. Conversely, a third of the 170 alien species in the Great Lakes are originally from the Baltic.
Invaders can make dramatic changes: the arrival of the American comb jellyfish in the Black Sea led to the destruction of 26 commercially important stocks of fish. Global warming and climate change, could make it increasingly difficult for surviving species to adapt.
A growing proportion of the world lives in cities, exploiting advanced technology. But nature, the scientists warn, is not something to be enjoyed at the weekend. Conservation of natural spaces is not just a luxury.
"These are dangerous illusions that ignore the vast benefits of nature to the lives of 6 billion people on the planet. We may have distanced ourselves from nature, but we rely completely on the services it delivers."
Maybe the defininition of the various parts would help?
Environ = place you live, abide, Earth, the dirt.
Mentalist= A specific order of, or having to do with the mind, or on the mind.
Put them together, and what do you get?
Dirt for brains.
I'm old enough that I remember when Scientific American was actually about science, and not envirowhacko shilling.
"Do you plan to spend your later years with levi-burn? :o)"
I'm searching for fig leaves right now. But well, perhaps oak leaves will have to do. Got any thread?
i still have the cover of a ramparts magazine from 1970 which declared that the oceans were sick, and within a couple decades there would be no fish!
i thought it was stupid then, so i bought the zine.
Rivers are just the trains the dirt rides on.
That probably doesn't describe anyone who claims to be an environmentalist.
Quote:Water withdrawals from lakes and rivers has doubled in the last 40 years. Humans now use between 40% and 50% of all available freshwater running off the land.
And after use, all that water is teleported to another galaxy? The hydrologic (renewal) cycle no longer exists?
I'm not sure if you really read this article or just making light of it. There is no problem with using water. Even if humans used 100% of it-I would have no problem with it. The problem in most countries-(read third world or communist) is that that water is not being treated when it is dumped back into the rivers from either human or factory use. Also like china where environmental concerns are nil the factories just dump their waste contaminants back in. If these countrie are only using say 5-10% that would be o.k. but they are using way more and more each year and not cleaning it and it's having a bad effect on their environment.
I live near the cuyahoga river and remember when it actually caught on fire and I also remember the creek that runs next to our farm when it was flourescent orange. Today it is clear and the fish have come back.
Too many people on FR make fun of these articles because they are so anti/rapid environmental due to percieved politics. It also has alot to do with in the US we have cleaned up our act and people don't see or rememeber what pollution is doing or how bad it can get. I've talked to people that have gone to china and in some towns you go outside and the air pollution is so bad when you blow your nose it's black and you get an acrid taste in your mouth. I'm not a environmental wack job but want to drink clean water and not have to worry about my health. BTW I think there is global warming but also only think humans have maybe only 10-15% part of it. Mostly it is cyclical or caused by the sun etc.
BTW: The same people that make fun of these articles are the most rapid at city council meetings if a dump is being built next to their house or want to file a lawsuit against some factory for making their kids weird.
No offense to true environmentalists. I should not have left that out.
There are, as you say, roles, jobs, positions doing exactly what you describe. They are the ones that go unnoticed, but perform one of the most important tasks to our health and well-being.
Politicians are great, sometimes, but Meat inspectors have more value.
There are probably more 'environmentalists' in the logging industry, with more experience,more education, more knowledge of the facts, than in most of these 'gov't funded research groups', or 'greenie orgs'.
Companies pay them well, to ensure there are always trees to fell. They plan and ensure proper clearing for maximum growth of new forests.
Anyway, I was having fun with the term, but I agree,as I hope you can see too.
John Glenn's UFO sighting.
Who knew "Soylent Green" was PROPHECY?
Scientific American has become very political and partisan in recent years. You should read the current issue's letter from the editor. I think it says it all.
It has been a few years since I bought one, but yes, I've seen the general look and feel.
I'm a big fan of Jerry Pournelle's, and when he started noting its decline, and I verified by looking at a couple issues, I then pretty much quit paying any attention to it.
I'm sorry, you are slurring your words. : )
I got it.
Of course, I grew up around many retarded children and friends and that made it easy to ....... wait a minute.
Depends. Which Prophet?
God save the Queen!!! She really needs it!!!
All liberals and elite watermelons in America and around the world should just stop eating and enjoy the euphoria of starvation and dying for something they believe.
I'm 66 years old, and I have been hearing this bs about the resources being gone, used up and disappearing since I could read these gloom and doom bs stories.
While the oysters were nearly wiped out by a parasite (Dermo), the Chesapeake Bay is a good example of what the report is talking about. Losing oysters, overfishing menhaden, reducing the vegetation buffers around the shore, and excess nutrients entering the Bay have significantly degraded the water quality. And this is in a country where the environment is pretty well-protected. Imagine what it's like in countries (like China) where they don't have the environmental protections. It's really, really bad in China.
The problem in most countries-(read third world or communist) is that that water is not being treated when it is dumped back into the rivers from either human or factory use. Also like china where environmental concerns are nil the factories just dump their waste contaminants back in. If these countrie are only using say 5-10% that would be o.k. but they are using way more and more each year and not cleaning it and it's having a bad effect on their environment.
Reduction in the mass of mountain glaciers (Andes, Alps, Himalayas) mass is also seen as a threat to the fresh water supplies that many countries rely on.
Quote: I'm 66 years old, and I have been hearing this bs about the resources being gone, used up and disappearing since I could read these gloom and doom bs stories.
I'm sorry. You don't have a clue what's going on in the rest of the world. Your biggest concern in life is probably waiting on your SS and pension checks to be delivered by the mailman and what time your going to walmart after that. We in the US have it pretty good and are insulated.
Read my post above about the guy I know that came back from china. The pics you see of people wearing face mask is not all about SARS. The stuff he has told me about what's going on in other countries you could not fathom. I don't mean western countries but 3rd world ones mostly....the ones with out of control populations that can't manage themselves
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