Ocean Life Facing Mass Extinction. Is it time to freak out yet?

[Electric Monk]

The oceans are in far worse state than previously thought, according to a prestigious group of scientists. Of course, doom-and-gloom environmental stories are so common they’re almost yawn-inducing. But this one is different, insists Time’s Bryan Walsh. The state of the oceans never gets the coverage it really deserves and a report issued by the International Program on the State of the Ocean reveals things more dire for the marine world than previously thought.

Sure, there’s overfishing and global warming has created dead zones in the oceans. But the truth is far more frightening as we are “at high risk for entering a phase of extinction of marine species unprecedented in human history,” notes the report written by a global panel of experts. In what is the report’s most stark and shocking suggestion, scientists say that the unprecedented loss of species could be directly comparable to the five great mass extinctions of prehistory. Indeed, the panel of 27 scientists say that a “combination of stressors is creating the conditions associated with every previous major extinction of species in Earth’s history.”

Also shocking is how the scientists detail that the speed and rate at which the oceans are degenerating is much faster than anyone had previously predicted, notes the Independent. In fact, the scientists say that the first steps of a mass extinction may have already begun and some entire marine ecosystems may vanish within a generation.

more http://slatest.slate.com/posts/2011/06/21/ocean_mass_extinction_report_warns_of_unprecedented_losses.html

[Speck Tater]

1. A few of us freaking out is utterly pointless.

Nothing can be done with out some kind of consensus, and that will never happen. The human race is a failed experiment and mother nature will try again in another 100 million years with something else. In the mean time all we can do is kick back and enjoy the show.

[sudopod]

3. This post is bad and you should feel bad. nt

[bigwillq]

2. Yes (nt)

[msongs]

4. step one: stop eating ocean caught fish :-) nt

[pansypoo53219]

7. yes.

i only eat land critters. good thing i don't like seafood.

[WinkyDink]

11. Will that affect the corporate trawling of the oceans? There ARE other nations to feed.

[FLPanhandle]

15. Step One: Stop having babies

Probably the most important step.

[Gregorian]

20. Wow. Am I really reading this? Someone pinch me.

Thank you for giving me just that tiny little bit of faith in the human race. 40 years of jumping up and down trying to get people to open their eyes. You and I are in the very smallest of minorities. I'll stop here, but I could go on and on and on and on.

Cheers. You have a brain.

[Webster Green]

5. Yes.

Suzie? Suzie Creamcheeze?



Sorry.

[Maru Kitteh]

6. I went vegetarian years and years ago to reduce my impact on the planet, I've reduced consumption

I recycle, I re-purpose, I try to spread the word as often as possible to family, community and policy makers.

I'm doing what I can so it would be very unhealthy to freak out over that which I can do nothing more about without ending my life as a caretaker, parent, wife and nurse to go what? Hand out flyers? I'm no George Costanza (I'm not a marine biologist.)

[Golden Raisin]

8. Not as important as

where Kim Kardashian & fiance Kris are registered. Get your priorities straight! :sarcasm:

[Enthusiast]

9. There is a parallel.

It is the Permian Extinction event 250 million years ago. Marine organisms were particularly hard hit. The Permian extinction was the greatest extinction event in the history of life on earth. This was before the dinosaurs existed -a very long time ago.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permian_extinction

[WinkyDink]

10. Corporate fishing will not stop; corporate pollution of the seas will not stop; nothing corporate

will STOP.
NOTHING.

I'm glad I have zero off-spring.

[Enthusiast]

12. The best solution?

End corporate person-hood. Then we could achieve legislation goals that would be in the interest of living, breathing human beings and the earth.

[WinkyDink]

14. Exactly. We have been ruled by a corrupt and criminal SCOTUS since 2000.

[FLPanhandle]

13. Too many people for this planet to support

Ever seen the Tokyo fish market? The amount of overfishing we are doing to feed 6 billion people is extreme. We'll be at over 9 billion people in the next 50 years.

We'll be dragging smaller and smaller nets through a barren ocean trying to find something edible before long.

Pollution and Over-Fishing are just the result of over population.

[Enthusiast]

21. There are thousands of

ghost nets out there fishing perpetually. Lost nets drift the high seas indiscriminately catching fish for decades. There should be a moratorium on several key species.

[jimlup]

16. Honestly I believe that serious serious thoughtful action is called for ...

Since we can't get our elected officials or media to take an interest we will have to do "direct action". Recognizing the truth about the environment now helps show what we need to do and it needs to be serious.

[blindpig]

17. No abating this unless we change the organization of production.

A rational organization of production, where human need is the objective of production instead of ever increasing profits is the only way humanity can ever get a handle on this disastrous situation.

[Javaman]

18. I've long passed the freak out stage and have fully embraced our global stupidity.

I'm not your typical doomer and gloomer. I honestly believe that we still have a chance to at least slow down the climate change if not at least limit it's effect, but (and that's a really big but), the world can't even agree to eliminate nuclear weapons, which we know without a doubt, if used, would end the world as we know it.

So do you really honestly believe that there is a snowballs chance that we will actually, as a world, enact measures to mitigate the effects of climate change?

I laugh long and hard through my tears.

Come to the cynical side, embrace the stupidity.

[Marrah_G]

19. People never really care until it is to late

As a species we are like frogs in a pot on the stove.

[Electric Monk]

22. kick nt