Posted on 06/08/2012 7:16:05 PM PDT by 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
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlanticwire.com ...
In order to stave off the end of the world, one must be prepared.
The following items will be needed, and I have a huge inventory for sale at a good price.
Left-handed screwdrivers.
Tent-strechers.
Skyhooks.
It's not surprising that he and the Atlantic have lent their names to this latest doomsday piece.
What Fallows has always missed, and what these writers miss is the resilience and adaptability of the U.S., and over time of humanity.
I got ya beat. In 1982, Hubby and I were gardening on a clear, sunny, cloudless day, when a huge, drenching downpour drove us into the house.
Yep, right out of a clear, blue sky.
The perpetrating clouds never did show up.
“Tipping Point...” Makes you kind of imagine the green, oozy letters they used on the old movie posters for “Vampires...”
When civilization has collapsed, when all sense of the old orders has been hollowed out and is the stuff of lore and when barbarians rule the streets it will look like.....
New Mexico
Add to the list:
Syria
Iraq
Most Muslim countries
All of Africa
Iran
Downtown Detroit
The world as i knew it culturally has already ended in total degradation
Well there ain’t no time to wonder why,
Whoopee! we’re all gonna die.
I would argue that the world as we know it ends every day and the world begins anew when the sun comes up (we hope) once again.
Perhaps we should emulate previous enlightened cultures and start cutting off the heads of our fellow villagers and toss their carcasses down the stairs. Maybe we can re-start that benign practice of tossing virgins into bottomless chasms to appease the earth gods...
If only we could reduce our footprint, perhaps return to binding our women’s feet will do the trick, eh? Maybe we should strap on “tiny shoes” on our overgrown feet to reduce our “footprint’?
No, you say? That’s not the answer? More money is the answer? Well the way I figure it, we have to rape the planet more to come up with the “Earth Rape Tax” filed twice monthly.
I guess I could keep going, but I got some Melvin Seals on the stereo and it has a much finer groove than worrying about how the world as we know it is all about to end, (only to be replaced with a new, improved, day)
HA! Sounds like a biblical plague to me! Time to buy up MRE's and ammo!
“There has been a population explosion of bullfrogs this year.”
Tons more snakes here in TN, too. Milder-than-normal winter; that’s probably all it is.
I’m much more terrified of a second Obama term than plagues of frogs, locusts, snakes, etc.
Lots of bunnies too.
The February thaw brought the mosquitoes out and they were killed by the April freeze.
Oh my gosh!
You mean I’ve been singing it wrong all this time?????
I’d love to have these people in a situation in which they can’t run away, and have to answer my questions.
Your face is about to end. ;)
Some scientists are really frightened that Evil Republicans will take away their research grants.
Wrong! Time to research recipes for frog legs!
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.