The Earth stands on the brink of its sixth mass extinction and the fault is ours

[Tradesonred]

Just another news piece. Lets change the channel and see who won at football today.

http://www.theguardian.com/environme...P=share_btn_tw

"Life on Earth is in trouble. That much we know. But how bad have things become – and how fast are events moving? How soon, indeed, before the Earth’s biological treasures are trashed, in what will be the sixth great mass extinction event? This is what Gerardo Caballos of the National Autonomous University of Mexico and his colleagues have assessed, in a paper that came out on Friday.

These are extraordinarily difficult questions. There are many millions of species, many elusive and rare, and inhabiting remote and dangerous places. There are too few skilled biologists in the field to keep track of them all. Demonstrating beyond reasonable doubt that any single species is extinct is arduous and painstaking (think how long it took to show – to most people, at least – that Loch Ness probably does not harbour a large monster).

And it’s not just a case of making a head-count of modern extinctions. This needs to be compared with a long-term “baseline” rate of extinctions in our planet’s long geological history. This can only be extracted via the equally painstaking and difficult work of excavating and identifying millions of fossils from the almost endless rock strata. Not surprisingly, different studies made so far on different fossils have yielded different baseline rates.

Caballos and colleagues have thought through these difficulties, and come up with probably the most robust estimate yet of how severe the modern crisis is."

[Tradesonred]

More news pieces on this

http://on.rt.com/5s6ow1

http://blink.htcsense.com/web/articl...cleid=43614378

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-33209548

[Tradesonred]

To me religion (mainly christian) plays a big part in this outcome, as alot of humans view themselves outside of the natural world and think they are taken care of by god and that whatever happens it was god's will.

Then theres the god complex, where some humans are so enamored of their technical proficiency that they think we will find a solution for everything, even something as complex as trying to repair earth's climate when we cant even be arsed in the west to stop putting all these resources into war while we still have a decent fighting chance of shifting that to stop the irreparable from happening. Imagine when this guy is running the show:

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My view is humans dont count for shit in the universe. There must be thousands of worlds out there with intelligent life that wont fail as hard as we are failing right now. Were not special and the faster we get this through our heads, the better chances well have of surviving this crisis.

I gotta say im pretty surprised by the pope taking a piss in apocalyptic christians's Cheerios.

http://www.theguardian.com/environme...climate-change

[Orruar]

Well, the last mass extinction helped pave the way for mammals to take over and eventually humans to come about, so I'm hopeful that this current one is a good chance to shake things up and perhaps push us to the next stage of evolution: The Kwisatz Haderach.

[iruinedyourday]

Originally Posted by Orruar [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Well, the last mass extinction helped pave the way for mammals to take over and eventually humans to come about, so I'm hopeful that this current one is a good chance to shake things up and perhaps push us to the next stage of evolution: The Kwisatz Haderach.

the robot.

[Rhambuk]

Climate change,
It's natural, happens with or without us. Should cull our numbers down a bit though.

[Humerox]

Originally Posted by iruinedyourday [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

the robot.

ah yes the technological singularity

incoming to your town in 5 to 100 years give or take

humans are only a step on the evolutionary ladder
and robots will actually be able to accurately claim they didn't share ancestry with chimps

[Luminari]

Originally Posted by Humerox [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

and robots will actually be able to accurately claim they didn't share ancestry with chimps

We don't share ancestry with chimps either so I don't get your point.

[katrik]

Originally Posted by Tradesonred [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

To me religion (mainly christian) plays a big part in this outcome, as alot of humans view themselves outside of the natural world and think they are taken care of by god and that whatever happens it was god's will.

Then theres the god complex, where some humans are so enamored of their technical proficiency that they think we will find a solution for everything, even something as complex as trying to repair earth's climate when we cant even be arsed in the west to stop putting all these resources into war while we still have a decent fighting chance of shifting that to stop the irreparable from happening. Imagine when this guy is running the show:

[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

My view is humans dont count for shit in the universe. There must be thousands of worlds out there with intelligent life that wont fail as hard as we are failing right now. Were not special and the faster we get this through our heads, the better chances well have of surviving this crisis.

I gotta say im pretty surprised by the pope taking a piss in apocalyptic christians's Cheerios.

http://www.theguardian.com/environme...climate-change

Just walk away.. and we'll spare your lives.. just walk away.

[Magikarp]

Don't get overwhelmed, friend.

The recent Vanuatu crisis (March, 2015) called into action an international movement of relevant and qualified disaster management specialists and elevated the issue of climate change as an agent of increased flood risk potential in remote island nations. This is a very specific aspect of the issue which serves as a solid example of what can occur on a larger scale if unchecked. More examples with price tags and corporate time-lost statistics will help the public understand, but trained professionals are already well aware of what is occurring. Climate change-centric grants are among the easiest to get funded currently.

It's too easy to write scare-stories on this issue, but very difficult to research and report on the multitudinous action being taken and money spent to combat the problems, which must be clearly identified and recoverable for organizations to spend resources on them. Its also a real challenge to measure the success of our mitigation efforts. Its not simple, but the general public should rest assured there are educated people being paid to work on it full time.

Meanwhile just relax, there is absolutely no harm in watching football and enjoying your life. It would be wise to be prepared for a major storm or disaster, but that could be accomplished by spending some time looking up a good list of consumables from a trusted preparedness agency and a couple hours at Wal-Mart. No need to get extreme, though.

As for blaming one's self or including religion in the picture, let me refer you to one of my favorite images:
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