Posted on 01/17/2006 7:43:06 AM PST by NYer
Renowned scientist James Lovelock says he believes the world has passed the point of no return for climate change, and civilization is unlikely to survive.
Thirty years ago Lovelock conceived the idea that Earth possesses a planetary-scale control system he named Gaia, which keeps our environment fit for life, The Independent reported Monday. But now he believes mankind's abuse of the environment has made climate change insoluble and life on Earth will never be the same again.
In an extraordinarily pessimistic new assessment published in Monday's Independent, Lovelock suggests efforts to counter global warming cannot succeed, and that, in effect, it is already too late.
Lovelock now believes Earth and human society face nearly complete disaster, and sooner than nearly anybody realizes.
He writes, "Before this century is over, billions of us wil! l die, and the few breeding pairs of people that survive will be in the Arctic, where the climate remains tolerable."
To hell with personal responsibility. The Earth will soon be destroyed!! quack quack
Minorities and women hardest hit.
I was about to say "Before the century is over, just about everyone alive today will be dead."
Perhaps, but it will still get too hot. If you take a star like Arcturus, which is about as luminous as the Sun will be as a red giant (Arcturus was probably similar to, or slightly bigger and brighter than the Sun in it's youth), you find that the area where a planet would be comfortable is around the distance of Uranus or so. So if we moved Earth, eventually we'd crash it into Mars or Jupiter, or at least run a major danger as we cross other planets' orbits.
What a tool............
Unless of course medical advances prolong the average lifespan as I think will be the case, in which case a majority of people alive today could very well be alive in 2100, at least in developed nations.
See he's completely nuts. We would survive in the Antarctic, where the presence of land would make it even more tolerable.
"Before this century is over, billions of us will die . . ."
Six and a half billion or so right now. More than 90 years to go before the end of the century. Yep, I bet he's right.
Oh my..I hope I am out of town when the earth is destroyed..
Let's see, 6 billion people alive right now. By the end of the century the youngest of those will be 94 years old. Unless there is a great increase in life span, I think most of those 6 billion will be dead by 2100. So I agree, billions of us will die before the century is over.
But it's too late for the dinosuars. sniff......
Dirt worshiper.
Not only should be drill in the ANWR, we should station plenty of breeding pairs there so we can maintain our lone superpower status. ;)
Maybe they can all go home and attempt more hedonistic pursuits while they wait for the end (and STFU in the process).
Maybe they can all go home and attempt more hedonistic pursuits while they wait for the end (and STFU in the process).
If we moved the earth there would be no reason whatsoever to cross the orbits of other planets. First of all, the planets each orbit at their own unique incline. In order to pass the actual orbit of another planet, we'd have to do it on purpose. Secondly, even in the minuscule chance that we did cross the actual orbit of another planet (the orbit is a ring, not a sphere), there don't see why it'd have to be during the short time that the other planet is at the cross-point, rather than, say, the other side of the sun. But that's irrelevant, because there's an absurdly low chance in the above scenario that we'd move the earth into another planet's incline anyhow. If you were looking at the solar system from the side, the earth would be passing well below or above wherever Mars or Jupiter was orbiting.
And the location that we'd need at the peak of the red giant stage is approximately 2/3 between the current location of Mars and Jupiter. And as I mentioned, the current consensus is that earth will move in any event, and so will the other planets since they're of course subject to the same fluctuations in the sun's gravity.
See, I thought that when the sun expanded to "red-giant" stage, in about 5 billion years, that was when global warming would destroy the earth. I guess the evil SUV's are getting a jump on that bit of bad news.
Sounds like Jimmy needs some Prozac.
Dear DuncanWaring,
One wonders if the fellow realized the obviousness of his "forecast."
LOL.
sitetest
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