A smarty pants scientist makes an easy anaology about our planet - And now I am scared.

This I found just this morning. David Suzuki is an extremely respected scientist. This is a video from him.



With all that has been happening with Fukushima, fraking, the oceans and the life in them, I have come to realize that we are all pretty screwed. IMO Humanity is coming to it's end, maybe sooner than we expect. Could this be the push to colonize Mars? Are we seeking homes in a new test tube? Has humanity nearly run it's course on this planet?

I am posting these links as I think that the Oceans are the Key to life for humans. When we have no seafood left to feed the majority of the world things will disintegrate very quickly.

Whales behaving oddly
Govt fears Atlantic may be contaminated eventually

Toss in the Mass Starfish die off (saw this myself first hand in Bodega Bay last week) and folks, IMO the # has hit the fan. The worst thing of all? There is nothing anyone can do about it. It is time to pack up and head for a new world and give this one a chance to heal. Maybe someday we can come home.

Mamatus

IMO Humanity is coming to it's end, maybe sooner than we expect. Could this be the push to colonize Mars? Are we seeking homes in a new test tube? Has humanity nearly run it's course on this planet?

We won't have any more luck on Mars.

If we didn't succeed in the stable environment Earth provides to us, I really can't see how we would do it on a hostile planet.

I'm always scratching my head over why we are pushing so much towards outer space when we can't even make things right around here in the first place.
Time will tell.

reply to post by Mamatus


We don't have the means to leave the planet enmass yet. We are just now trying to grow plants in little greenhouses on the moon.

We will just have to suck it up. But humanity has been very close to extinction many times in the past, yet here we still are. Like a bad case of herpes.

As much as I would like to rid the world of our species, it will take a lot more than what is happening now.

reply to post by watchitburn


How many test tubes do you think we have? Humanity has been severely reduced in population several times though out history. At one time we were down to 5000 humans world wide. This IMO will be the correction. A severe reduction in population. The seas provide well over 60% of all the worlds food. Once the fish are gone the world will go to war over food. I am gonna have to go with David Suzuki and the other scientists he speaks of. 59 minutes and counting.

Jared Diamond author of Collapse explains the loss of the great fisheries in detail. Our fish populations are exhausted and some species like Tuna take 40 -50 years to sexually mature. The large breeding fish are nearly gone.
The coral reefs and kelp beds are the forests of the ocean. They too have been severely damaged and are dying off like the rainforests.
60% is the correct figure for where our protein comes from - the Oceans.
When the oceans go - most of us will too.
Our inability to co-operate internationally will be our undoing and the UN is not going to stop this catastrophe.

I like his analogies - to help all people grab the concept. I trust him and appreciate his mathematical applications. I only sense it - we cannot continue to grow exponentially. It's nice to have it backed up with science (even though he doesn't break it down I trust he has done the work).

What I want to know is - if we are the the 59th minute what will the next 10 years look like? Does he do a video on that? Does anyone have a theory?

It's hard to imagine anything happening suddenly - food stops growing, things in sea die all in the matter of a few years, disease mutating at unprecedented rates. Would these things happen over a few hundred years so we don't notice it or is he saying they would happen in a lifetime or less?

I've asked for input on this before and no one replies so while I think he and others are onto something no one can say what this looks like. Where is an example of this that applies to actual events? Again - I completely believe it but where can we see it in action?

In the 1800's we know there were about 3 billion people on the planet so can also assume there were more nutrients in the soil, trees in the forest, fish in the seas (more balance). However - here we are with three times the population (his exponential theory - seeing it applied), but we aren't yet seeing too much of a decline in response to this - or maybe we are but where is it written down so we can see it? Do we have 1/3 less nutrients in soils, 1/3 less fish in the sea, 1/3 fewer trees in the forest? Or have those been declining on a more exponential level? Less?

I think we would have to look at a timeline of say 250 years equaling the first 59 minutes. It is in that time that technology evolved into being capable of the type of rampant destruction of environments that is occurring. So could the last minute happen quickly? I suspect so.

Been researching die offs in 2013 all morning. This is what I found for 2013. A lady named Anne who posts on ENE a lot is responsible for compiling the list below.

Here is a list of just some of the mass deaths from September 1 thru the 16th, 2013

16th September 2013 – Crows and Pigeons dropping out of sky dead has “locals in fear” in Bhaktapur, Nepal.
16th September 2013 – Tens of thousands of honey bees “acting drunk” and dying off this past week in Minneapolis, America.
14th September 2013 – Hundreds of dead fish ‘due to lack of oxygen’ found in Marsascala, Malta.
13th September 2013 – 10 dead whales found washed up along Chukotka Coast in Russia.
13th September 2013 – 41 Swallows found dead along a road in Hyogo, Japan.
13th September 2013 – Hundreds of thousands of bees die off in Ningbo, China.
13th September 2013 – Mass fish kill due to pollution in a reservoir in Donetsk, Ukraine.Fish Kill Ukraine
13th September 2013 – Thousands of dead fish float along 10 miles of river in Huangpu, China.
12th September 2013 – 10 Pilot Whales die after 100 beach themselves in Snaefellsnes, Iceland.
12th September 2013 – Thousands of fish and other sealife dead after molasses spill in Honolulu, America.
11th September 2013 – Mass fish kill found on beaches in Caimanera, Cuba.
11th September 2013 – 950,000+ Birds killed due to avian flu in Bologna and Ferrara, Italy.
10th September 2013 – 800+ fish, 2 dolphins and 2 turtles wash ashore dead on a beach in Carazo, Nicaragua.
9th September 2013 – Massive starfish die off baffles scientists in British Columbia, Canada.

9th September 2013 – 3,000 Antelopes die off in Akmola and Karaganda in Kazakhstan.
8th September 2013 – Tens of thousands of fish die in reservoirs in Hunan, China.
6th September 2013 – 850+ trout die due to pollution in a creek in Montsevelier, Switzerland.
6th September 2013 – 5 dead whales found stranded on the coast in Ghana.
6th September 2013 – 2,000 lbs of fish suddenly die in Atascadero Lake, California, America.
6th September 2013 – 5,000 dead fish found in a lake in New Mexico, America.
5th September 2013 – 1 MILLION bees found dead is “a mystery” in Lantian County, China.
5th September 2013 – Thousands of fish and shrimp found dead in Nosara River, Costa Rica.
4th September 2013 – 100 TONS of dead fish found in a river in Wuhan, China. LinkFish die off in Wuhan
4th September 2013 – Mass fish kill “is a mystery” in a river in Toamasina, Madagascar.
4th September 2013 – Thousands of fish found dead in Lake Ismarida in Greece.
4th September 2013 – Tons of dead fish appear in the waters off the coast of Macau, China.
3rd September 2013 – Tons of dead fish wash up on beaches along the coast of Izmir, Turkey.
2nd September 2013 – Thousands of Cattle have died due to drought in Matamoros, Mexico.
2nd September 2013 – Mass fish die off found in a river in Yekaterinburg, Russia. "

And this. Study: Dead sea creatures covered 98% of seafloor last year about 150 miles off California coast; Unprecedented, had been below 1% prior to event — ‘Major’ changes began in spring 2011

A roommate of mine had a very large saltwater tank. It took but a single mistake to accidentally kill his fish.

Dianec
I like his analogies - to help all people grab the concept. I trust him and appreciate his mathematical applications. I only sense it - we cannot continue to grow exponentially. It's nice to have it backed up with science (even though he doesn't break it down I trust he has done the work).

What I want to know is - if we are the the 59th minute what will the next 10 years look like? Does he do a video on that? Does anyone have a theory?

It's hard to imagine anything happening suddenly - food stops growing, things in sea die all in the matter of a few years, disease mutating at unprecedented rates. Would these things happen over a few hundred years so we don't notice it or is he saying they would happen in a lifetime or less?

I've asked for input on this before and no one replies so while I think he and others are onto something no one can say what this looks like. Where is an example of this that applies to actual events? Again - I completely believe it but where can we see it in action?

In the 1800's we know there were about 3 billion people on the planet so can also assume there were more nutrients in the soil, trees in the forest, fish in the seas (more balance). However - here we are with three times the population (his exponential theory - seeing it applied), but we aren't yet seeing too much of a decline in response to this - or maybe we are but where is it written down so we can see it? Do we have 1/3 less nutrients in soils, 1/3 less fish in the sea, 1/3 fewer trees in the forest? Or have those been declining on a more exponential level? Less?

It that was the case do you really think we would know?

Why do you think companies like Monsanto are allowed to run rampant? Because the governments fear riots… not even the strongest country with the best army will fight off a population that is starving.

Im not sure if its overpopulated but certainly over indulgent.
Worrying though. Are both fixable or are we past a point and not being told? I feel we still have time.
Over populated will need a decision from government or a consensus from people.
Over indulgent will have to come from the people.

reply to post by guidetube


I think David Suzuki just told us......... I do not think there is a damn thing we can do about it except make a move to save humanity by moving to the stars or space. Personally at 48 years old I would not care much for the change. I love nature, animals and the oceans. It has been hard to watch what has been happening. I knew we were on a path to our own demise. I had no idea of Daivd Suzuki's (and apparently other scientists) rather simple math.

This was the single scariest thing I have seen in all my research on what is happening to the oceans. It makes scary sense.

Starred and flagged. Highly respect David and will watch the vid when I have more time.

SO per his theory we are all ready doomed/dead. We just have not yet laid down.
So if this is true... Then what do we do if anyting?

Yep, we should all be scared, but a lot humans are too stupid to even realize there is anything wrong.

I agree with what the video says, but believe things to be worse than that still. A lot of the damage caused by our careless management of our biosphere has yet to manifest itself.

reply to post by Mamatus


If you really believe you're going somewhere, travel well.

Or you can try to understand this is why we have been promised a new
Heaven and a new Earth. Words written long ago must have known, that by the time we
were done. We'd need them. It's what I'm wait'n on.

One of my very first OP's on the subject at ATS...over three years ago.

And WOW did I get shouted down by the the naive masses.

"Course I'm no smarty pants scientist.

...For me there will be no joy in saying 'I told you so'...not this time.

Coming Global Crisis, Population Reduction, Sustainability

reply to post by DogMeat

What do we do? Live, love and try to enjoy what time we have on this planet. I am so glad I am not a kid any longer. The environmental window humans can survive in is surprisingly small.

It does sure as heck explain the push to the stars we are seeing nearly every capable nation pushing for. The really smart and well informed people already know we screwed up. The rest? Well we will continue to do what we do best as a species. Stay completely self involved until we die.

reply to post by flice


That's my assumption as well. We do actually have issues with soil depletion and so "our" response has been to genetically modify crops in order to increase production levels within these new parameters. Soil depletion is basically the stripping of the nutrient base within the soil to the extent where the soil loses its fertility. Historically, farmers would rotate crops to allow overworked fields to go fallow in an attempt to prevent soil depletion but the introduction of fertilizers in combination with genetic modification has made it so that we no longer need to rotate crops. It looks kind of like this: Lessened nutrients in the soil can lead to problems with disease --> GMO. Monoculture also leads to disease and issues with pests --> pesticides and GMO. Overdrafting (too much uptake of ground water supplies) and shifting weather patterns leading to drought conditions --> GMO. So, yes, you're spot on as to why Monsanto has such inordinate power.

I somewhat, however, respectfully disagree with Suzuki in that the key root to the problems that we're facing is simply due to over population and I also suspect that at some point, our population will begin declining. Currently, most of the world has a total fertility rate at replacement of 2.33. To explain what this means, a TFR at replacement close to 2.0 would mean a zero population growth. Unlike bacteria, we actually can and do look out at the world around us and make a choice as to whether it's a good time to have a child or not. During the Great Depression period in the 1930's, the US total fertility rate dropped to 2.1. It wasn't until the "golden era" of booming capitalism in the 50's that we spiked all the way up to 3.7 (nearly doubling). However, enter the 70's and recession and again, the TFR drops to levels that are even lower than the lowest point in the Great Depression--1.8. I suspect that there is a very strong correlation between economic conditions/resource availability and birth rates. We've been in another recession yet again and what has occurred with our fertility rates? They've declined again and that's happening world wide. In 2009, the EU's TFR was 1.59. That's negative population growth. The only thing that is keeping us bumped up to 2.33 is Africa.

More information on Total Fertility Rate: en.wikipedia.org...-6

Where our biggest problem is in terms of sustainability on this planet is our levels of waste and consumption. Quite frankly, we need to stop acting like ignorant bacteria that need a new iPhone the moment one comes out and start actually living, collectively, within our means in the truest of senses. On some level, it's like we all know that things are not good enough to have babies but we also have to really start comprehending that what we are drawing from this little test tube of ours is more than what our current population needs.

This is the Club of Rome philosophy, a book written by their scientists to warn about just what this guy is saying. en.wikipedia.org...

Of course the COR is one of the conspiracy theorists top bogymen.

This idea though is not accepted by many people particularly conservatives who don’t want to limit growth, though only when applied to minorities and government spending.

In other words there is much political opposition to this theory of this scientist, such as the Global warming fight, so nothing gets done.

reply to post by WhiteAlice


TFR only works when you have an educated populace capable of making rational decisions , unfortunately a huge% of our population is neither rational or educated ... which ends up in a family having 6-7 children which was very common in my country 15-20 years back and also common in some remote villages ....

But eventually i predict within my lifetime am sure there will reach situation when the planet and its resources are incapable of sustaining us , that is when population reduction will begin . There has been several massive Extinction level events , only next time it will be man made and it will definitely come in a couple of years or decades ...

Eventually when the dust settles , life will go on ....
remember 90% of our sea's are unexplored , maybe nature has a good reason to keep it that way

Thats what it's all about..the biosphere is FIXED AND FINITE...

That's why we are invading and dominating what resources remain, oil, lithium, drinking water who has the resources has the real power..and so the wars will continue.