Two-thirds of world's resources 'used up'

[swag]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/science/story/0,12996,1447921,00.html

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.

"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.

. . . more

[truthisfreedom]

1. nature will backlash. in its own way.

[sarahlee]

38. Proof that capitalism is not sustainalble n/t

n/t

[info being]

44. Meme: US Capitalism is no more sustainable than Soviet Communism

[rooboy]

2. Just more islamo-fascist, eco-terrorist, culture-of-death, anti-Bush...

rhetoric. I'm going off to buy that Michael Crichton novel so I can convince my friends and myself that everything's A-O-K. With a positive mental attitude and unwavering belief in Jesus, I just KNOW this will all go away. :)

[Carl Yasutomo]

5. No, you see, actually it's a sign of the coming Rapture

The world actually IS going to hell, because as any sensible Christian knows, the Rapture is just right around the corner, and we'd better all become Christian fundamentalists or we're all going to hell while our properly Christian brethren get beamed up to Heaven to watch us suffer and die. ;-)

[swag]

6. yes, yes

moon turns blood red

water turned to wormwood, etc.

[Warren Stupidity]

8. I say bring on that rapture

get them loonies outta here.

[GHOSTDANCER]

84. lol.. Don't they all get snatched up before all hell breaks loose?

[lebkuchen]

33. That's what I like about Australia

its passport holders' subcutaneous way of stating the obvious.

[oblivious]

3. I guess most of this planet's gonna be hell to live in pretty soon.

People have managed to get by with the polluted air, but the water situation is getting desperate in so many places. I can't see a solution to that.

[leftchick]

14. why privitization

of course! :eyes:

[unhappycamper]

4. your reading assignment

If you are interested in discovering the relationship between humans and their environments, I highly recommend "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed" by Jared Diamond.

[Minstrel Boy]

9. The world's future as Easter Island

After all the island's trees were cut down in order to move and erect the Moai, the society collapsed. Migratory birds stopped visiting, the soil eroded, and no one could build boats to find another island.

Good interview with Diamond here:
http://www.earthfiles.com/news/news.cfm?ID=871&category=Environment

[nolabels]

21. The short hand of what un-controlled supply and demand brings

We will eventually get birth control one way another, going the way of mother nature and the petri dish don't sound too smart though.

Thank you Jesus :shrug:

[CrispyQ]

28. My favorite bumper sticker:

Six billion miricles is enough!

Yep, mother nature is gonna be harsh on us.

[mom cat]

76. and: "Overcopulate at your own risk!" n/t

[pauliedangerously]

17. Jared Diamond is awesome!!

I haven't read "Collapse," but I loved "Guns, Germs, and Steel."

I'm doing my part by not reproducing, living in a city, and driving as little as possible. I average under four thousand miles a year. There are lots of things people can do.

Living in denial isn't one of them.

[enough]

7. kick

[shadowknows69]

10. Is Mars ready for colonization yet? n/t.

[MisterP]

73. that, in fact, might only hasten our demise: it'll make it even more un-

likely for the hairless chimp (humans, not Bush) to live within its means, and the pie in the sky is always less than expected.

[mhr]

11. Maybe We Could Use This To Convince The Fundies To Go Ahead

And kill themselves and leave the planet to the rest of us.

[reprobate]

27. Great idea! Self Rapture.

[amazona]

34. yes but fundies don't really believe in the afterlife

You need look no further than the Schiavo case to see that they don't really believe God has a place for them in heaven. This is all there is. Being a fundy is more of a social club and a very restrictive one. Suicide is not considered part of the rules, even when life is intolerable.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[The Stranger]

12. Congratulations, your planet is dying.

[hatrack]

13. Yes, but would you just LOOK at my kick-ass plasma TV!!

WOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOOO!!! :eyes:

[G_j]

15. yea, it must be worth it then

always a bit of a trade off ya know...

[The Stranger]

19. And if I weren't laughing . . .

. . . I'd be crying.

[GHOSTDANCER]

85. I think he's being sarcastic. But seriously check out that picture! Wow!

[fromBrooklyn]

16. What a cheery way to start the day!

I think I agree with all the above replies. The Rapture will arrive by S.U.V.

[dbt]

18. "The Rapture will arrive by SUV." Nice shot!

Welcome, fromBrooklyn! You belong here!

:hi:

[fromBrooklyn]

25. Thanks dbt!

[nolabels]

20. Gee, I wonder why it took so many scientists to figure that out?

So can I give this a big "DUH"? :banghead:

[G_j]

22. good question

.. I'm standing knee deep in shit, a team of scientists tells me: "after careful analysis we have determined you are up to your knees in fecal matter" :think:

[swag]

23. Yeah

unfortunately, such reports are necessary to combat idiots like John Stossel and Michael Crichton who have made it their mission in life to tell you there's no problem at all.

[G_j]

24. yes, I agree

these reports are essential

[GHOSTDANCER]

87. Even I like to pretend some times, Don't you?

[GHOSTDANCER]

86. Actually you'd be up to your chest.

[hankthecrank]

26. If we don't change nature will do it for us

Not that Dinosaurs did themselves in, but nature or Gia moved on. Some future scientist will study us. Maybe he will say didn't they see it coming. Maybe it will be rat scientist or maybe cockroach scientist or if we change maybe still human scientist.

[nolabels]

30. Don't you think people are the end branch on mammal / large cranium thing

Does it matter anyway? We are just starting to look like another one of natures failed experiments. The inbred get ahead, be on top instinct is how we kind of got here in the first place. In nature somethings strength is often turned into its weakness when it digs too deeply into that rut.

It was really interesting learning about how quite awhile back all them living things that were mostly using carbon dioxide for photostat energy almost choked themselves to death by releasing so much oxygen from the water and all things that were exposed to the gas also became oxidized. It might have happened billion or two ago, but interesting none the less.

[Mr.Green93]

29. 99% of the damage caused by one country.

This can't go on.

[havocmom]

31. Makes me think the old Mayans had the numbers right

Isn't the end of this time (the time of materialism) supposed to end in Dec of 2012? The next Mayan time is, I believe, the time of ether.

[lovuian]

42. I think your right the Mayans had insight on that Capitalism

is on its way out!!!

[Benson]

32. Time to colonize space.

I'm serious, it time to move and utilize resources elsewhere. Every metal known to man floats free for the taking in the asteroid belt.
All we have to do is get there, slice it up with lasers, and bring it back.

[amazona]

35. we're not lacking metals

Metals ain't the problem. It's lack of air, water, plants, and animals that is at issue. The amount of waste products put into the atmosphere by the space shuttle alone is a significant source of air pollution and even ozone destruction. Sorry. I used to believe it too but then I made a mistake and actually studied physics. :-(

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[Gregorian]

37. Lack of air. Not to mention culture.

I hear there are very few places to find a good loaf of sourdough on Jupiter. And forget about provolone. Hopeless!

[Gregorian]

36. Each day, there are about 250,000 babies born.

And if 150,000 die each day, then we are still increasing at an alarming rate. We simply cannot do that in our present state of consumption.

I am starting a company that filed a patent for a product that uses a hydrogen fuel cell, last Friday. If this idea works, we will be saving the planet from a certain meltdown. I only say this so that those who think I just like to whine about overpopulation will know that I am also doing something constructive about it.

It just kills me to see how we are literally burning the candle at both ends- increasing population while cutting down the forests. Without absolutely all of the photosynthesis from forests that we can get, I don't know where that leaves us.

[CrispyQ]

39. A really good book is Thom Hartmann's

"The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight." I couldn't put it down, but of course, I LOVE Thom! Whereas I really liked his solution to the problem, I do think he may be a bit more optomistic about the nature of people than I am. If you check it out, let me know what you think.

Good luck with your company. We all need to wake up & do whatever we can to make a difference.


http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1400051576/qid=1112216716/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/002-2187220-5227244?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

[Gregorian]

40. Cool. Thanks!

I would love to hear what he says.
I made my difference by not having children.
The one thing I find discouraging is that no matter what the future holds, some of us have suffered immensely due to the results of overpopulation. So even if there is hope, some damage has been done. Hell, I mean God created this mess, he can do it again. (Sorry if that is offensive. I happen to believe it didn't all just happen on it's own.)
And thanks for the good luck. We've taken on an extremely complex project. I would love to think I made a significant difference for those who follow.

[pilgrimsoul]

72. Are you looking for investors?

That's an idea I could get behind.

[Gregorian]

78. Yes. But it's still very early.

Yes, we are. When we really get rolling, I'll post more. At the moment we are looking for a limited number of investors. Ie. very large investors. We have several of those in place, already.
Can't post much more than that now- Baking with Julia is taking too much of my attention. :)

[manly]

41. the point of no return

The really frightening thing about the way humanity is using up the earth's resources, and polluting the environment, is that we don't know when the point of no return will be reached, the point when it is no longer possible to reclaim the atmosphere, or the oceans, and when it suddenly happens, it will be too late to do anything about it.All humanity will perish.This will improve the situation.

[info being]

43. The human species is a cancer

A cancer grows until it kills the host upon which it depends. Sound familiar?

[Spinoza]

77. Cancers

are often treated with.....radiation. More Nukes!

[info being]

45. This is why the Green Party is the only party with real answers

Liberalism that is predicated on economic growth and material wealth is only slightly better than Conservatism that is based on the same.

[NNN0LHI]

46. Earth has suffered irreversible damage: study

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1112197299985_10/?hub=World

Humans are damaging the Earth at such an unprecedented rate that the strain on the planet may destroy about two-thirds of its ecosystem services, according to a landmark international study.

The consequences of humans' activities are severe and include: new diseases, sudden changes in water quality, creation of "dead zones" along the coasts, the collapse of fisheries, and shifts in regional climate, according to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Synthesis Report.

"At the heart of this assessment is a stark warning," said the 45-member board.

"Human activity is putting such 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 said.

more

[rocktivity]

47. Candidate for this month's "You Call This NEWS?" award

Good thing that rapture thing is due any second now.

:headbang:
rocknation

[crispini]

48. Well, that's depressing.

I'm beginning to be glad I had no kids to be around for the Great Extinction.

It's kind of sad that the human race is probably toast. We have such potential.

[Ripley]

55. I disagree.

The Human race may have had potential a long time ago, but has proven to be a plague upon the Earth and all living things on it including its own kind. World Peace and Cooperation for the Good of all life? Hah!

[dbonds]

57. Greed and the need to dominate

are the bad side of any potential humans have. Not sure if that is a regressive trait or just a segment of the population will always do have those attribute, but either way it only takes a few to screw things up.

[Megahurtz]

49. What does Bush care?

He thinks he will be saved by "the Rapture" before total disaster happens to this earth. He doesn't care what happens to anyone else.

[skip fox]

62. There's also strong ecological movement in the religious right which

doesn'tread the scriptural directives in Genesis as "dominate the earth" and "take what you want" (since the end is nigh anyway) so much as to "cultivate and care for the earth" as the precious gift it is.

Despite our LARGE divisions, such a group might be very important to aid in stopping the damaging effects on the environment. Another "strange bedfellow," but the issue is SO important that to ignore the benefits of alliance would be destructively narrow.

[PleadTheFirst]

64. That's very interesting, Skip, and welcome news.

I was unaware that any of the Religious Right had any care for the environment at all. I agree completely with your "strange bedfellows" suggestion.

Any info about these folks? Ways we could contact them?

[skip fox]

66. Did a Google and found the following. Yes, a useful alliance on an impt.

matter. The group is called the Interfaith Council for Environmental Stewardship (ICES).

Here are some sites:

http://www.stewards.net/

http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/bron/PDF--Christianity/Larsen--Interfaith%20Council%204%20Enviro%20Stewardship.pdf

http://www.cephasministry.com/church_and_state_interfaith_council_for_environmental.html

http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=5023

etc.

[PleadTheFirst]

67. Thanks, Skip!

Looking forward to checking those out tonight. (I'd better get some work done now).

Appreciate the Google legwork. :)

[GHOSTDANCER]

93. Like "the culture of lifers?" They are PROOOO LIFE!!! USA USA USA

[gasperc]

50. the conservatives will complain about the rapture's hellish conditions

and will demand that congress redress thier suffering through legislation. So....they'd be legislating against God's will, hmmm I think they need to re-think their priorities

[ret5hd]

51. well, irreversible might be too strong a term...

earth might just "run a little fever" to rid herself of a few billion self-important parasites...then things would soon return to normal.

[CottonBear]

52. "irreversible damage": that is beyond depressing.

:scared: :cry: :scared: :cry: :scared: :cry: :scared: :cry: :scared: :cry: :scared: :cry: :scared: :cry: :scared: :cry: :scared: :cry:

[KlatooBNikto]

53. The Earth has suffered even greater irreversible damage from the

reign of mighty King George IV.

[RaleighNCDUer]

54. Don't worry. The earth is resisiant. It will survive.

We might not, but it will.

[Minstrel Boy]

63. In some fashion, but possibly not a hospitable one.

If we see a runaway greenhouse effect, which many predict, the Earth's future could be Venusian.

[Xithras]

70. Very unlikely

Thye difference between Earth and Venus is H2O. Venus' closer proximity to the sun, combined with its slow rotational period, kept it from collecting any kind of sizeable H2O content when the atmosphere was forming. On Earth the oceans act as a temperature moderator and prevent that from happening.

The only way that Earth could become Venus-like would be for the oceans to boil off. Well before that could happen, water-vapor would block out the sky, causing a nuclear winter effect in the lower atmosphere.

The end result of global warming will be a deep freeze, followed by a short ice age, followed by normal temperatures again. The odds of humanity (or other large mammals) surviving that are incredibly low.

[asjr]

56. And who knows what we as a planet have been

dumping in the seas.

[The Stranger]

58. Uh, excuse me, your planet is dying.

[SoCalDem]

59. DUH !!!

:)

[slor]

60. We cannot worry about the planet dying...

there is a woman dying in florida to fret about. Not to mention Michael Jackson's career.

[skip fox]

61. More junk science by foreign liberal scientists made soft

by a Dr. Spock-cushioned socialist world. Why worry?


(yikes!)

[GoddessOfGuinness]

65. Puts a different twist on "Blessed are the meek,

for they shall inherit the earth."

[RayOfHope]

68. This makes me so sad

for my children that I can barely express it :-(

[Catchawave]

69. And the Bushies are trying to fix Social Security....

...of course there's no profit for the financial industry in fixing the EARTH. :nuke:

[nolabels]

83. Has anybody figured out why " * " is so worried about Social Security?

Like why isn't he off preparing for the rapture or something?




Bush-Lay letters suggest close relationship

February 17, 2002 Posted: 7:46 AM EST (1246 GMT)
Former Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay, right, had a friendly relationship with George W. Bush when the president was governor of Texas, correspondence indicates.


Former Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay, right, had a friendly relationship with George W. Bush when the president was governor of Texas, correspondence indicates.


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Newly released documents suggest that President Bush's relationship with embattled former Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay was once chummy and that Lay often asked him to act on Enron's behalf when Bush was governor of Texas.

Some two dozen letters written by Lay to then-Gov. Bush were among the 350 pages of Bush documents released Friday by Texas archivists in response to requests by news organizations and the nonprofit government watchdog group Public Citizen.

The correspondence includes holiday greetings, birthday notes and get-well wishes. In one 1997 note, Bush teases Lay about his 55th birthday, adding "Laura and I value our friendship with you."

In another one, Lay thanks Bush for a Christmas ornament depicting the Texas Capitol, saying: "It was a thoughtful gift and one our family will enjoy hanging on the tree every year."
(snip)
http://edition.cnn.com/2002/US/02/17/bush.lay/

Hell, I can still remember the day when CNN was still partly legit

[LiberallyInclined]

88. he's not-

he's worried about wall st., especially with the coming demise of GM.
he wants to get his mitts on all that SS cash to give his corporatist buddies a nice taxpayer-paid infusion of greenbacks.

[nolabels]

89. It was a loaded question with your obvious answer fitting how a FRAUD.....

operates. The guy is more phony than a $3 bill. Trashing everything he get his hands on. What ever semblance of rationality that could be shaken out the federal government left when this huckster took office.

I don't even think it's about any real principles anymore. They just have the agenda to win at any cost at whatever consequence and on how ever this click in the cult can sell it.

Trash what we have left Bushco, you and your kind will find out it why it was so wrong in the end x(

[LiberallyInclined]

90. the worst part of that-

us and our kind will be there too when they find out...

[nolabels]

92. Yea, but them people in them gated communities shouldn't rest so easy.....

I believe they invented this tool quite awhile back

[FlaGranny]

71. As unnatural as all this seems,

it is really quite natural and has been going on since the beginning of time - when any species overpopulates and destroys its environment, it dies off. It is depressing, though, as we should be intelligent enough to care for our environment, but I guess we're not.

[govegan]

74. Well we have billions of animals to feed annually......

so we can EAT them.

"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."

Really, anyone with basic math skills should be able to determine that most of the demand of agriculture and water is to grow and water other species, not genuine food.

BUT, no need to worry. The chimp's buddies at Monsanto are hard at work on genetically engineering another planet.

[indepat]

75. We have no fear for a word to the wise neocons in power is sufficient

[struggle4progress]

79. kick

[Moderator]

80. kick to combine

[redacted]

81. The state of the world? It is on the brink of disaster

An authoritative study of the biological relationships vital to maintaining life has found disturbing evidence of man-made degradation. Steve Connor reports

The Independent (UK)
30 March 2005

Planet Earth stands on the cusp of disaster and people should no longer take it for granted that their children and grandchildren will survive in the environmentally degraded world of the 21st century. This is not the doom-laden talk of green activists but the considered opinion of 1,300 leading scientists from 95 countries who will today publish a detailed assessment of the state of the world at the start of the new millennium.

The report does not make jolly reading. The academics found that two-thirds of the delicately-balanced ecosystems they studied have suffered badly at the hands of man over the past 50 years.

The dryland regions of the world, which account for 41 per cent of the earth's land surface, have been particularly badly damaged and yet this is where the human population has grown most rapidly during the 1990s.

MORE

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/story.jsp?story=624667

[jojo54]

82. And Kyoto is too expensive

and would cause an economic drain to this country?!?!?!?!

Good grief where is this man's head??? If we don't join the Kyoto agreement, there won't be ANYBODY left in this country to give a damn about the economy!

[eek MD]

91. Pollution overpopulation and the raping and pillaging of natural resources

Yet heaven forbid we promote birth control.....gotta save every precious embryo. This is part of the reason i never want kids. I want to say i'm doing my part at trying to curb overpopulation. (I guess killing myself would help too, but that wouldn't be as fun)