Experts Say Humanity Faces a Grim and “Ghastly Future” – State of Planet Is Much Worse Than Most People Understand

[watsup]

“Humanity is causing a rapid loss of biodiversity and, with it, Earth’s ability to support complex life. But the mainstream is having difficulty grasping the magnitude of this loss, despite the steady erosion of the fabric of human civilization” Professor Bradshaw says.

“In fact, the scale of the threats to the biosphere and all its lifeforms is so great that it is difficult to grasp for even well-informed experts.”

“The problem is compounded by ignorance and short-term self-interest, with the pursuit of wealth and political interests stymying the action that is crucial for survival,” he says.

“Humanity is running an ecological Ponzi scheme in which society robs nature and future generations to pay for short-term economic enhancement today.”

“Most economies operate on the basis that counteraction now is too costly to be politically palatable. Combined with disinformation campaigns to protect short-term profits it is doubtful that the scale of changes we need will be made in time” Professor Ehrlich says.

“Human population growth and consumption continues to escalate, and we’re still more focused on expanding human enterprise than we are on devising and implementing solutions to critical issues such as biodiversity loss. By the time we fully comprehend the impact of ecological deterioration, it will be too late.”

The experts say their ‘perspective’ paper, which cites more than 150 studies, seeks to outline clearly and unambiguously the likely future trends in biodiversity decline, mass extinction, climate disruption, planetary toxification, all tied to human consumption and population growth to demonstrate the near certainty that these problems will worsen over the coming decades, with negative impacts for centuries to come. It also explains the impact of political impotence and the ineffectiveness of current and planned actions to address the ominous scale of environmental erosion.

Experts Say Humanity Faces a Grim and “Ghastly Future” – State of Planet Is Much Worse Than Most People Understand

The state of the planet is much worse than most people understand and that humans face a grim and "ghastly future" unless extraordinary action is taken soon. A loss of biodiversity and accelerating climate change in the coming decades coupled with ignorance and inaction is threatening the surviva

scitechdaily.com

 

[Geoist]

“Humanity is causing a rapid loss of biodiversity and, with it, Earth’s ability to support complex life. But the mainstream is having difficulty grasping the magnitude of this loss, despite the steady erosion of the fabric of human civilization” Professor Bradshaw says.

“In fact, the scale of the threats to the biosphere and all its lifeforms is so great that it is difficult to grasp for even well-informed experts.”

“The problem is compounded by ignorance and short-term self-interest, with the pursuit of wealth and political interests stymying the action that is crucial for survival,” he says.

“Humanity is running an ecological Ponzi scheme in which society robs nature and future generations to pay for short-term economic enhancement today.”

“Most economies operate on the basis that counteraction now is too costly to be politically palatable. Combined with disinformation campaigns to protect short-term profits it is doubtful that the scale of changes we need will be made in time” Professor Ehrlich says.

“Human population growth and consumption continues to escalate, and we’re still more focused on expanding human enterprise than we are on devising and implementing solutions to critical issues such as biodiversity loss. By the time we fully comprehend the impact of ecological deterioration, it will be too late.”

The experts say their ‘perspective’ paper, which cites more than 150 studies, seeks to outline clearly and unambiguously the likely future trends in biodiversity decline, mass extinction, climate disruption, planetary toxification, all tied to human consumption and population growth to demonstrate the near certainty that these problems will worsen over the coming decades, with negative impacts for centuries to come. It also explains the impact of political impotence and the ineffectiveness of current and planned actions to address the ominous scale of environmental erosion.

Experts Say Humanity Faces a Grim and “Ghastly Future” – State of Planet Is Much Worse Than Most People Understand

The state of the planet is much worse than most people understand and that humans face a grim and "ghastly future" unless extraordinary action is taken soon. A loss of biodiversity and accelerating climate change in the coming decades coupled with ignorance and inaction is threatening the surviva

scitechdaily.com

'Ecological ponzi scheme' sums it up well.

I think about how our politicians and older generation voters could let things get so bad. Then I remember Boomers are nicknamed the 'Me Generation.'

 

[Mr Person]

INB4 people who watched too many movies and feel a twisted psychological need to feel like they can just know more than people who devoted their lives to a field - these would be the AGW deniers; the luddites - start posting random blogs they don't understand, hit pieces about Greta Thurnberg, and calling protesters "terrorists" instead of doing what they claim they can do: disprove AGW in peer-reviewed papers.

ecological ponzi scheme indeed. Our children are thoroughly ****ed, though I suppose not as bad as those in the poorest of nations.

 

[Roadvirus]

Nothing like a good dose of Fear Porn to end one's day.

 

[Geoist]

Nothing like a good dose of Fear Porn to end one's day.

Sorry it's not the typical CRT/trans-sports/brown immigrant fear porn.

 

[watsup]

Nothing like a good dose of Fear Porn to end one's day.

Show that any of it is untrue.

 

[Geoist]

Don't worry, the rightwing populists will get upset about climate change once India and China become the #1 and #2 contributors.

 

[Mr Person]

To append my prior post: and of course it does not help that we also have a ton of people who pretend AGW is a hoax simply because Democrats were the first to listen to climate scientists and think dunking on anonymous "Democrats" on the internet is more important.

Nothing like a good dose of Fear Porn to end one's day.

See, they make comments like the above. It can't be true because it'd be scary if it was; doing what ostriches are rumored to but do not actually do. Do any of you think they'd dare ignore and mock their doctor if that doc said they need a stent placed immediately or they're certain to have a fatal heart attack within a month max? Argue with their neurosurgeon about the best way to conduct a procedure?

Of course not. Those are immediate risks to them. These are farther-off risks to everyone else and, lucky them, they'll probably be dead long before the worst of it. So what do they care?

 

[watsup]

Makes me glad I don’t have any grandchildren. “Aghast” is a good word for the future of the world at this point. This article talks about the environment, but it doesn’t even count the mess that the world is in due to the actions of Putin, which may indeed lead to nukes being dropped at some point, and the hard right turn in American domestic policy due to FOX, far right Repub politicians, a far right extremist Supreme Court, and far right extremist legislatures in many states who are intent on removing certain women’s Constitutional rights and turning the nation over completely to corporate profits to funnel to the top 1 to 10 percent. God help us.

 

[Mithrae]

'Ecological ponzi scheme' sums it up well.

I think about how our politicians and older generation voters could let things get so bad. Then I remember Boomers are nicknamed the 'Me Generation.'

To be fair millennials and zoomers are no better. Most of those I work with seem not to even understand the concept of turning off electrical equipment, water taps etc. when not in use, stuff that doesn't even affect them, let alone which would have a marginal impact on their convenience and comfort decisions like not using cars.

 

[Geoist]

To be fair millennials and zoomers are no better.

The politically active ones are generally better (outside of some of the more annoying Twitter SJWs). The problem is younger generations as a whole are distracted with social media entertainment/drama.

Also, the millennials and zoomers weren't the ones who voted for the destructive policies.

 

[Napoleon]

If Mr. Bradshaw wants people to take him more seriously then he must stop speaking in hyperbole. Earth will not lose its ability to support complex life because of human greenhouse gas emissions. Period. His assertion that it will is patently absurd and contrary to everything we know about the history of life on this planet.

 

[HIP56948]

The whole plan for Doing not much for global warming, was formed years ago in the wealthy and the powerful.
I firmly believe that those two groups above were thinking all the time: Why should I care, I'll be dead before the proverbial shit hits the fan.
Most of us cannot imagine people that inconsiderate and selfishly cruel...believe me, they've had lots of practice

 

[Geoist]

If Mr. Bradshaw wants people to take him more seriously then he must stop speaking in hyperbole. Earth will not lose its ability to support complex life because of human greenhouse gas emissions. Period. His assertion that it will is patently absurd and contrary to everything we know about the history of life on this planet.

If you see a woman's child run onto the traintracks with an oncoming train do you say, "Excuse me ma'am, hope I'm not a bother, but your child seems to be in the path of that train..."

or do you make a huge f***in' scene of it and take action?

 

[Geoist]

The whole plan for Doing not much for global warming, was formed years ago in the wealthy and the powerful.
I firmly believe that those two groups above were thinking all the time: Why should I care, I'll be dead before the proverbial shit hits the fan.
Most of us cannot imagine people that inconsiderate and selfishly cruel...believe me, they've had lots of practice

Sociopaths are attracted to CEO positions like flies on shit.

 

[Binary_Digit]

Do any of you think they'd dare ignore and mock their doctor if that doc said they need a stent placed immediately or they're certain to have a fatal heart attack within a month max? Argue with their neurosurgeon about the best way to conduct a procedure?

Of course not.

That's a point I've made too. AGW deniers wouldn't have the brass balls to try and tell Bill Gates how to write code in C++, yet they fancy themselves as experts who somehow know better than climatologists who've spent the better part of their lives studying this stuff.

 

[Mithrae]

The politically active ones are generally better (outside of some of more annoying Twitter SJWs). The problem is younger generations as a whole are distracted with social media entertainment/drama.

Also, the millennials and zoomers weren't the ones who voted for the destructive policies.

They would have if they'd been alive, and they largely still are supporting the destructive policies and habits which will screw them over. There are plenty of young right-wing activists, and plenty of young left-wing activists who place all blame on 'the system' while denying any responsibility for or implementing any changes in their personal habits; likewise there's plenty of boomers who are environmentally conscious. Longer-standing habits and having a bit more to lose from major economic reforms might make boomers on average a little less likely to support good environmental policies, but it's hardly a big gap and those circumstantial factors don't make the younger generations any better by any stretch of the imagination.

 

[WillyPete]

Of course not. Those are immediate risks to them. These are farther-off risks to everyone else and, lucky them, they'll probably be dead long before the worst of it. So what do they care?

This is true, but it's also the natural response from our primitive minds.

If it's not a spear plunging towards our chest we can't see it.

Not sure how you can fight that. The ideas that come to me are not encouraging.

 

[Binary_Digit]

If Mr. Bradshaw wants people to take him more seriously then he must stop speaking in hyperbole. Earth will not lose its ability to support complex life because of human greenhouse gas emissions. Period. His assertion that it will is patently absurd and contrary to everything we know about the history of life on this planet.

We should listen to you instead of a University professor of Global Ecology. Makes perfect sense!

 

[WillyPete]

I'll also toss in that, masterful rationalizers that we are, many/most have at least partially set the world's problem aside, because they believe in magic in one form or another, and apparently are counting on the magic to resolve everything they don't understand or makes them nervous.

 

[longview]

Is this the same Paul Ehrlich who in 1970 said?
“The death rate will increase until at least 100-200 million people per year will be starving to death during the next ten years."

 

[longview]

The reality is that we need to find a way to replace the energy we get from oil, that works the same way as fuels made from oil do,
i.e. a high energy density package. If we do not do that, then as much as 80% of the population will starve as the oil runs down.
Thankfully, we can store surplus solar and wind based electricity as carbon neutral fuels, as part of a sustainable energy future.

 

[Jezcoe]

There are plenty of young right-wing activists, and plenty of young left-wing activists who place all blame on 'the system' while denying any responsibility for or implementing any changes in their personal habits;

This is how insidious the people who perpetuated the lie that AGW wasn’t happening are.

They convinced the individual that they are responsible for the destruction of the environment so the corporations would not be subjected to Regulations from government action.

 

[Mithrae]

If Mr. Bradshaw wants people to take him more seriously then he must stop speaking in hyperbole. Earth will not lose its ability to support complex life because of human greenhouse gas emissions. Period. His assertion that it will is patently absurd and contrary to everything we know about the history of life on this planet.

Do you understand that when smaller numbers and diversity of complex organisms are supported (and can be supported) on the planet, that is a loss in its ability to support complex life? That is happening now, and has been for decades.

By a conservative estimate (B below, as opposed to the very conservative estimate of A) almost 1.5% of mammal species have gone extinct since 1900, over 2% since 1500, with similar numbers applying to all vertebrates; dozens of times higher than the expected natural background rate:

Accelerated modern human–induced species losses: Entering the sixth mass extinction, Ceballos et al 2015

Among those species that are not yet extinct, population numbers on average have plummeted by around 68% in less than fifty years from 1970 to 2016:

9 facts about wildlife extinction and how we can save species | World Economic Forum

There'll always be animals and even humans around, no doubt, but human civilization as we know it depends on earth systems and ecological systems which are looking very shaky, and still getting worse decade by decade despite everything we know about these crises.

 

[watsup]

Is this the same Paul Ehrlich who in 1970 said?
“The death rate will increase until at least 100-200 million people per year will be starving to death during the next ten years."

Prove that he said that.