Environmental doom news stories

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Helmerroids

Helmerroids

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Environment in multiple crises - report

They’re pretty much a daily thing now. How much do they bother you?

Must admit I’m pretty fatalistic about it all. I don’t think we have a chance in hell of coordinating as a planet to rectify the situation. I was watching a 99 yo environmental scientist the other day who viewed the planet very much as a holistic living entity. I think humans as the current dominant species will be largely expunged when a tipping point does arrive, the question as I see it when, not if we get a visit from Captain Trips.
 


Helmerroids said:
Environment in multiple crises - report

They’re pretty much a daily thing now. How much do they bother you?

Must admit I’m pretty fatalistic about it all. I don’t think we have a chance in hell of coordinating as a planet to rectify the situation. I was watching a 99 yo environmental scientist the other day who viewed the planet very much as a holistic living entity. I think humans as the current dominant species will be largely expunged when a tipping point does arrive, the question as I see it when, not if we get a visit from Captain Trips.
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The report gives a pretty bleak outlook and I don't think we can turn it around in time. I would say we have 20 years at the most before the human systems we've created start to fall apart. There is unlikely to be any real affect we will can initiate due to out dependence on what drives the global economy.

As the report points out:

They say since 2005, the number of floods across the world has increased by 15 times, extreme temperature events by 20 times, and wildfires seven-fold....

Topsoil is being lost 10 to 40 times faster than it is being replenished by natural processes

Since the mid-20th Century, 30% of the world's arable land has become unproductive due to erosion

95% of the Earth's land areas could become degraded by 2050...

The IPPR says many scientists believe we have entered a new era of rapid environmental change.

The report warns: "We define this as the 'age of environmental breakdown' to better highlight the severity of the scale, pace and implications of environmental destabilisation resulting from aggregate human activity."

The problem is that even if we could act now it would be decades before there wasd an effect due to the inherent latency in the global system.


Rather than give up we still need to apply the brakes and mitigate the disaster, give us time to prepare for the inevitable. It would still be too little, too late. We've known about this for 50 years.

It's if the human race has a collective cancer but when we go to the GP we don't want to face the reality and instead moan about a boil on our arse.
 
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Eeeee do you remember ten or so years ago when all those people on here would argue that it was all made up by the vested interests of climate scientists, whilst paradoxically swallowing wholesale the propoganda produced by the vested interests of the oil industry.

You don't hear as much from them these days
 
Harry Angstrom said:
Probably need a few major disasters to sort out the balance of the earth.

We are just too successful as a species.
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How quaint Harry. Just a few major disasters?

I agree though, the planet will survive.

However, as a human being and I know it's a bit selfish like but not sure how mass extinction will affect us.

When migration will be counted in hundreds of millions at the least, the crisis will be global rather than a few major disasters dotted around the globe in relative isolation.
 
Mercia Blackcat said:
How quaint Harry. Just a few major disasters?

I agree though, the planet will survive.

However, as a human being and I know it's a bit selfish like but not sure how mass extinction will affect us.

When migration will be counted in hundreds of millions at the least, the crisis will be global rather than a few major disasters dotted around the globe in relative isolation.
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Quaint? I would say realistic. We need lots of disasters to affect humans because all the disasters so far have been for our benefit and affected most of the planet.

Edit, not we as a human race just the rest of the stuff living on the planet.
 
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When I first predicted 2040 a few years ago as the start of serious global problems, I was being a bit conservative and really thought maybe the 2050s or 2060s. Now I think 2040 is optimistic. By quaint I meant that the situation will be worse than a few major disasters. Mass migration, economic instability and political aggression will manifest.
 
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Mercia Blackcat said:
When I first predicted 2040 a few years ago as the start of serious global problems, I was being a bit conservative and really thought maybe the 2050s or 2060s. Now I think 2040 is optimistic. By quaint I meant that the situation will be worse than a few major disasters.
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What are you predicting?
 
Harry Angstrom said:
What are you predicting?
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Mass migration, economic instability and political aggression will manifest.

We worry about a few thousand trying to cross the channel but there will be hundreds of millions on the move. The need for fresh water and food will dominate rather than a vision of a better life in stable well off economies. The global economy will become critical and countries will fight each other over resources. At the same time our food production will be under serious long term threat. Our human systems wont be able to cope. We are facing the most serious threat to our existence as a species on this planet.
 
Teed said:
Agenda 21.
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Which led to the the 2030 Agenda in 2015.

Good luck with that.

Mountain glaciers could be gone by 2040. Those account for 70% of the World's fresh water supply.

It's not even safe to bathe in the Ganges never mind drink from it.

Do you see that agenda being achieved in 10 years?
 
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Mercia Blackcat said:
Mass migration, economic instability and political aggression will manifest.

We worry about a few thousand trying to cross the channel but there will be hundreds of millions on the move. The need for fresh water and food will dominate rather than a vision of a better life in stable well off economies. The global economy will become critical and countries will fight each other over resources. At the same time our food production will be under serious long term threat. Our human systems wont be able to cope. We are facing the most serious threat to our existence as a species on this planet.
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How quaint. I was talking a few billion deaths as a good thing. Obviously it will be a little inconvenient for people who are alive at the time.
 
Agenda 21 [1] is a non-binding action plan of the United Nations with regard to sustainable development.[2] It is a product of the Earth Summit (UN Conference on Environment and Development) held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992.

Agenda 21 - Wikipedia

How successful has we been in the 27 years since its inception?

Harry Angstrom said:
How quaint. I was talking a few billion deaths as a good thing. Obviously it will be a little inconvenient for people who are alive at the time.
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Well a few billion deaths seems a bit more dramatic than a few major disasters.
 
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Mercia Blackcat said:
Which led to the the 2030 Agenda in 2015.

Good luck with that.

Mountain glaciers could be gone by 2040. Those account for 70% of the World's fresh water supply.

It's not even safe to bathe in the Ganges never mind drink from it.

Do you see that agenda being achieved in 10 years?
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Well lets hope not eh! because reducing the population down to 500 million is gonna take a few huge catastrophic events.
 
Mercia Blackcat said:
That could turn out to be a sound estimate of how many will remain by the end of the century.
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Maybe, maybe not, who knows?

How successful has we been in the 27 years since its inception?
Agenda 21 may have been introduced 27 years ago, but you can bet it was talked about long before that, one things for certain, if it is being implemented, you, me or anyone on this board won't be one of the 500m that survive...;)
 
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