Wednesday, June 6, 2012

I'm sure this is likewise little if anything to worry about: "Earth Is Headed for Disaster, Interdisciplinary Scientific Review Concludes"

Earth Is Headed for Disaster, Interdisciplinary Scientific Review Concludes

An interdisciplinary group of 22 scientists, combining paleontological evidence with ecological modeling, has concluded that the earth appears headed toward catastrophic and irreversible environmental changes.

Their report, in the June 7 issue of the journal Nature, describes an exponentially increasing rate of species extinctions, extreme climate fluctuations, and other threats that together risk a level of upheaval not seen since the large-scale extinctions 65 million years ago that killed off the dinosaurs.

...

Their conclusion is that the damaging effects, when combined, appear even worse than each of the experts has seen in his or her own field, Mr. Barnosky said. "These are all driving forces that in fact are greater than what we saw in the past," he said.

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But for others, the warning contained in the Berkeley-led report may not be strong enough. "I suspect it's a little too optimistic," said Paul R. Ehrlich, a professor of population studies at Stanford University known for his 1968 book The Population Bomb.

Mr. Ehrlich said he foresees a series of dire threats to humanity, many virtually untouched by political leaders, including climate change, water shortages, and the widespread use of man-made toxins. Even a single repercussion of one of those, such as water scarcity leading to nuclear war between India and Pakistan, could devastate populations worldwide, he said.

"Generally the scientific community has spoken many times," Mr. Ehrlich said, "but nobody's paying any attention."

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