Scientists: Humanity's end in sight

Interesting article. Due to pollution, overpopulation, disease, war,and climate change, scientists are giving us just 100 years. And it's probably already too late to do something. So we better get to work on interstlar travel......

jonathanturley.org...

a reply to: openminded2011

McKibben noted that the target temperature has already increased 0.8C, and even if we were to stop all carbon-dioxide emissions today, it would increase another 0.8C simply due to the existing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. That would leave only a 0.4C buffer to hitting 2C.

And who said that those flat 2°C increase will be our end? I´m just not buying this fearmongering. Humanity went through those cycles thousands of years and we´re still here.

The failure to act by humanity has squandered its chance to avert the global catastrophic results. Indeed, as Pope Francis expressly denounced, powerful industrial interests have succeeded in blocking efforts to act and delaying any meaningful reforms.

Although he is not directly responsible for what the roman catholic church did to and more importantly still hides from humanity, he should keep his feet still with such speeches.


Edit: To make it clear I´m not saying we should not take care off mother nature.

a reply to: openminded2011

Um, who is Jonathan Turley? Never heard of him. Anyone can do a blog. So I consider this a non valid source.

More ludicrous doom porn.

The 100 year prediction of demise seems a bit too specific a time frame...

jonathanturley.org...

Obviously, effects are going to cascade and worsen as we count the years down. We have already witnessed, and are continuing to witnessing the mild precursor events, which I feel will eventually conjoin into larger and longer-lasting climate effects. For instance, where a region of a country suffered a drought for only 1 to 2 years every decade, we may see that region experience drought for a decade with only months of relief, and eventually even the relief will peter out.

Of course, climate disruption and climate change will bring about profound sociological changes. People in countries hit sooner than other countries will seek to migrate. Migration will inevitably lead to conflict, so we may not actually reach the end of the 100 year prediction, we may desperately damage ourselves years before then.

The cull of the human race will happen, simply by governments not acting appropriately and accordingly. Countries will simply allow other countries to die. That will be the worse effect and the worse cascade of all brought about by our unwillingness to do the right thing.

It seems the advanced nations would rather die than reduce their lifestyle to save the species? They have chosen the most non-radical option...party like it's the end of the world. A meme that is just too easy to accept and habituate to.

I agree that humanity has survived many things, and will probably evolve to survive many other things. I haven't got time right now to read the article... But I bet it doesn't say why the world is so polluted (BIG OIL) or why the humans are so diseased (Scientists created evolved strains) Or who starts and prolongs wars (Government for profits). The world is suffering because of greed... and I hardly think we simple people living to make ends meet contributed to much of this.

a reply to: openminded2011
My grand mother used to say that there was none of this strange weather until they invented rockets .

maybe her great grand mother said the same thing about bow's and arrow's .

Climate change is normal , the sahara used to be lush grass land once but now it is barren , and guess what the world did not end.
i am not saying that we should not have respect for mother earth and take care of her but i think she is more than capable of looking after herself , after all she has managed ok for millions of years .

originally posted by: tom.farnhill
a reply to: openminded2011
My grand mother used to say that there was none of this strange weather until they invented rockets .

maybe her great grand mother said the same thing about bow's and arrow's .

Climate change is normal , the sahara used to be lush grass land once but now it is barren , and guess what the world did not end.
i am not saying that we should not have respect for mother earth and take care of her but i think she is more than capable of looking after herself , after all she has managed ok for millions of years .

In the mid 1960's, I remember hearing older people saying that the rockets we were sending into space were burning holes in the atmosphere. Not that I believe it, but I do remember them saying that.

a reply to: tom.farnhill

Climate change is normal , the sahara used to be lush grass land once but now it is barren , and guess what the world did not end.

It would be nice if people could stop using this as a point because it isn't. The reason the Sahara is a desert has nothing to do with climate change. It has to do with the orbital shift of our planet a few degrees. While one would argue the orbital shift does contributes to "climate change", I would argue back, not in 8000 years.

originally posted by: openminded2011
Interesting article. Due to pollution, overpopulation, disease, war,and climate change, scientists are giving us just 100 years.

in recent years events seem to indicate (to me at least) that 100 years might be a little optimistic. modern civilization is analogous to a car racing toward a brick wall (or perhaps a cliff edge), whose driver has his/her foot hard down on the accelerator pedal, eyes glazed and staring into the middle distance.

So I sit somewhere in the middle. I think we'll tech out of this. A lot of our efforts seem to point towards funneling funds from the open economy into black projects to get some of us off planet and colonize elsewhere. We see even what's let public points towards the notion of finding an earth-like planet within 100 light years within the next 5-8 years or so. We see pushing to develop exotic tech to harness, store, and use energy and advanced physics towards getting there not much longer after we find this new earth. We see people being let out of prison if only they give their DNA... we're storing genetic blueprints for many species on this planet.

I think perhaps some people in positions to get things done called it game-over for people on this planet sometime last decade, and starting taking action to ensure our survival with a hard-reset elsewhere. That's my take.

originally posted by: ChiefD
a reply to: openminded2011

Um, who is Jonathan Turley? Never heard of him. Anyone can do a blog. So I consider this a non valid source.

More ludicrous doom porn.

Jonathan Turley: "Jonathan Turley (born May 6, 1961) is an American lawyer, legal scholar, writer, commentator, and legal analyst in broadcast and print journalism. He is currently a professor of law at The George Washington University Law School."
en.wikipedia.org...

I say he has a bit more gravitas than you with your three word dismissal of it being "ludicrous doom porn" from an non valid source.

This sounds more like science fiction than science. Humans will adapt to any changes. We may not all survive, but we will survive as a race.

originally posted by: FlySolo
a reply to: tom.farnhill

Climate change is normal , the sahara used to be lush grass land once but now it is barren , and guess what the world did not end.

It would be nice if people could stop using this as a point because it isn't. The reason the Sahara is a desert has nothing to do with climate change. It has to do with the orbital shift of our planet a few degrees. While one would argue the orbital shift does contributes to "climate change", I would argue back, not in 8000 years.

Facts ! OMG. It's like telling a brick wall it's made of bricks..........

a reply to: UnBreakable

Oh, he's a lawyer? Well then of course he should be trusted.

originally posted by: yorkshirelad
Facts ! OMG. It's like telling a brick wall it's made of bricks..........

Crazy right!

Here's another crazy fact:

There are people reading this thread that will be alive when humans aren't extinct in 95 years (Fenner's claim is from 2010, a couple of months before his passing).

a reply to: FlySolo

Not that I would use his example for climate change, but really any event that causes long term climate change is relevant.

If an asteroid hit the earth tomorrow and killed all the life on the planet, starting an ice age that lasted for 50 thousand years, would that not be relevant?

originally posted by: Danke
If an asteroid hit the earth tomorrow and killed all the life on the planet, starting an ice age that lasted for 50 thousand years, would that not be relevant?

Not to humanity.
2nd.

IT'S ABOUT TIME!

a reply to: openminded2011

I seen a interesting interview by various scientist about what they see as the way our planet is heading do to overpopulation in H2O channel, but at the end they were also talking about what the improvements that has been done to reverse the damage.

Now, many of the scientist had links to big corporations and all of them were not all in agreement and also pulling to their side of interest of what it was the best way to pursue to reverse damage, many included as usual profiting, I didn't agree with many of them.

a reply to: peck420

Obviously, but in regards to climate change it would be.