Earth has suffered irreversible damage: study

[donsu]

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.
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I think the whole world of women should agree to have a moratorium on getting pregnant. the world of women should agree to not getting pregnant for one whole year.

and during that year we should decide how to test our bodies for fetus harming toxins; how to deal with future pregnancies where the fetus is degraded; how to care for degraded live babies; debates on toxic free women getting preg. vs. toxic women getting preg.

and so on and so on.

the time has come to get deadly serious.

[zalinda]

1. Which is weird, because

Readers Digest just has an article that says all in all we're doing pretty good with the environment.

zalinda

[indepat]

3. My God, is RD a right-wing rag or just plain eaten up with ignorance?

[pop goes the weasel]

2. time to get serious?

That was about 50 years ago. Curiously enough, the US government under Lyndon Johnson, with Stewart Udall as Sec. of the Interior, was getting serious. Congress was getting serious. The American people were getting serious. Even Richard Nixon was getting serious.

Then the most obvious problems were resolved. At the same time, the big pollutors and the commercial sector as a whole got hold of the government and media. They managed to convince formerly pro-conservation conservatives that The Club of Rome's Limits to Growth was a commie lie. They managed to convince rightwing relgionists that God wants humans to destroy the environment and thus bring on the Apocalypse.

What should we do now? I think that rationing needs to be imposed, and faster than the market will do it. I am not looking forward to it, though, and I think we will end up with calamitous unrest. But trying to avert what may now be inevitable has got to be the number one issue of all future elections.

[Kablooie]

4. Does this mean the earth is in a permanent vegetative state?

Doesn't sound so bad, acutally.

[0rganism]

5. "irreversible damage" is a relative assessment

From the point of view of the mammals and most of the reptiles, amphibians, and many plants, we may be doing irreversible harm. The insects and microbes, on the other hand... oh, the insects would be wearing little party hats if they only knew. We are paving the way for the future of evolution whether we like it or not, and for the last 10,000 years it's always been our choice to be a part of it or to opt out. Our imminent departure opens up a largish niche for the other animals; it's a pity we'll be taking so much of the biosphere with us in our race to self-destruction.

The Earth will keep on spinning with or without the participation of certain of its surface-dwelling inhabitants, and life is still diverse enough to find something else to evolve in our absence.