"We're going to have to create some. We must create a desperate need for global control of resources by the UN.
Posted on 04/07/2005 7:48:48 PM PDT by lafroste
Humanity is heading for ecological disaster if instead of foreseeing and preventing environmental degradation we just react to it. This is the conclusion of a United Nations report compiled by 1300 leading scientists from 95 countries.
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Synthesis Report previews the ecological state of the world in 2050. It lists 24 essential "ecosystem services," such as timber, clean air, and fresh water, and finds that 60% of them are being degraded or used unsustainably.
This degradation obstructs the UN Millennium Development Goals, set in 2000, the most ambitious of which was a halving of the world's population existing on less than a $1 (£0.53; {euro}0.78) a day or threatened by hunger or lack of clean water. Among the gravest threats to the environment are excessive "nutrient loading" from agricultural fertilisers and the progressive disappearance of biodiversity. The extinction rate of species is already a thousand times higher than the average rate shown by the fossil record and is set to increase 10-fold in the next 50 years.
"Humans are fundamentally and to a significant extent irreversibly changing the diversity of life on earth," says the report, noting that this could harm pharmaceutical research and development.
The scientists warn of possible "accelerating, abrupt, and potentially irreversible changes." These include the collapse of fish stocks, such as North Sea cod; rapid growth of marine algae, creating oxygen depleted dead zones in the sea; and emergence of disease.
In Africa, growing pressure on water supplies combined with regional climate change has the potential to greatly enlarge the areas in which cholera is a threat. The range of malaria bearing mosquitoes is also likely to increase.
The release of carbon into the atmosphere and the leaching of nitrogen based fertilisers into water pose serious risks for chronic disease, the report finds. Increases in ultraviolet B radiation, ozone and other air pollution, and pollen production are also predicted.
The report gives four sets of predictions for 2050, based on the approach currently adopted to counter ecosystem degradation. "The scenario we are closest to now is the one we call order from strength," said Dr Reid. This describes a world in which international cooperation is lacking, economic competition is fierce, and environmental threats are faced only after they emerge. This is likely to deliver the fastest population growth, the lowest economic growth, and the most environmental damage of the four scenarios, he said.
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Synthesis Report is available at www.millenniumassessment.org//en/Products.Synthesis.aspx.
I'll always find it interesting how my backyard grill or lawnmower is so dangerous to the environment while a bunch of people are repeatedly trying to break the earth's crust in the name of science is simply non-damaging research....
http://www.livescience.com/technology/050407_earth_drill.html
By now, I should have died more times, and in more varied ways, than Bill Murray did in 'Groundhog Day'.
"We're going to have to create some. We must create a desperate need for global control of resources by the UN.
Sorry to have taken up your time, editor-surveyor.
For anyone else, it's a great little science lecture about population, not global warming, and makes some really interesting points. You'll learn a little about the real-life application of the "miracle of compound interest" and a few other worthwhile things. If you have children or grandchildren you might just find that you care about what's said by Professor Bartlett.
thanks
The solution, of course, is social and economic equity. We all raise the living standards of those living on a $1 a day in third world countries, by lowering our standards of living to theirs. That is what is known as having a sustainable footprint on the ecosystem. Then we can all die at 45 and the population will level to within the carrying capacity of the world./sarcasm
Banning DDT prevented all this, remember?
All of you remember this, okay? I won't be around to go, "Nyah nah"!
I didn't know you could buy shares of the French navy.
"Sustainable" is one of those words that should make you reach for your revolver.
BTTT!!!!!!
-"miracle of compound interest"_
If he is pinning his math on compound interest in relation to population growth, he is guilty of the scientific error of assuming a static universe and omitting variables.
This kind of reasoning was around in the 50's and said we would be out of everything by 1976 (they always pick great dates) because of population growth. But most developed nations are in decline and world overall population growth has slowed. Plus, the best estimate of what the earth could sustain for population is 36 billion. So we have a way to go.
If there is anything to worry about, it is the UN trying to "redistribute wealth" and make everyone into poor socialists instead of rich capitalists.
Did you know that the UN has revised their future population estimates downward several times? The rate of population growth slowed in the last 50 years.
Yeh - isn't it funny that they want to eliminate the fertilizer technology that allows us to provide food for all the world's people? There actually is enough - people starve because of distribution problems, mostly caused by their own governments. No if we went back to the agricultural techniques of even a 100 years ago, using less fuel and "nutrients", millions would starve and it would be more than a distribution problem,,,
Just a "the sky is falling" alert!
Here we go again.
They received a book in the mail entitled ...
"To Serve Man"
Whew! We really owe the UN for pushing us out of the way of the train!
</sarcasm>
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.