We Are Writing the Epilogue to the World We Knew

[G_j]

https://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/08/31#.UEDdtWWFSjo.facebookPublished on Friday, August 31, 2012 by Common Dreams

We Are Writing the Epilogue to the World We Knew

by John Atcheson

The data continue to roll in, and they are telling us we are in the process of bringing an end to the world we evolved in, and creating a new, harsher world. We will be forced to devote more and more of our resources trying to adapt to this new world, and less on development.

While politicians fiddle, the world burns. While the press plays he-said, she-said, the ice melts, the seas rise.

In 1990 we could have averted this disaster and saved money doing it. As late as 2010 we still had a shot at avoiding it. But now, the die is cast, the future foretold. What follows will be an epilogue to civilization, as we knew it.

Hyperbole? Let’s look at the facts.

Arctic sea ice hits lowest extent ever measured (and it’s still melting) – check.


.. much more..

[Vincardog]

1. I am beginning to believe that the planet will be a better place without the human parasites.

[randome]

2. Everything living is a parasite. Self-hate is not a valid position, IMO.

[Vincardog]

5. The planet has and will, survive mass extinctions. This is the first time IMO the extinction will

be caused by one of the (soon to be) extinct species.
Speaking as one who has done everything in my power to prevent afore mentioned outcome
please reconsider your "self-hate" opinion.

Any "hate" I have is for those who value money above our Mother Earth.

parasite |ˈparəˌsīt|
noun
an organism that lives in or on another organism (its host) and benefits by deriving nutrients at the host's expense.
• derogatory a person who habitually relies on or exploits others and gives nothing in return.
Parasites exist in huge variety, including animals, plants, and microorganisms. They may live as ectoparasites on the surface of the host (e.g., arthropods such as ticks, mites, lice, fleas, and many insects infesting plants) or as endoparasites in the gut or tissues (e.g., many kinds of worm), and cause varying degrees of damage or disease to the host.

[hunter]

10. Bluegreen algae did a pretty good job of messing up the earth...

Eventually, as photosynthetic organisms generated oxygen, the available iron in the Earth's oceans was precipitated out as iron oxides. At the tipping point where the oceans became permanently oxygenated, small variations in oxygen production produced pulses of free oxygen in the surface waters, alternating with pulses of iron oxide deposition.

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

One theory, anyways...

In those days oxygen was poisonous to most living things.

In our own time I suspect large areas of the U.S. will become uninhabitable owing to power failures and 100% humidity, 100^oF+ night time temperatures.

[Vincardog]

12. Evolution is a process on a cosmic time scale.

[ErikJ]

18. Buy real estate in PNW where the weather is perfect.

The weather here is perfect 75 degrees and sunny every day and 60 degrees every night.

I suppose there will be a mass exodus from the east to the PNW. Luckily I own a house here which may skyrocket in value, thanks to GWarming. Little consolation though. THe long term looks dire.

[freshwest]

3. Oh, don't worry. The Job Creators will still be here.

[TahitiNut]

14. Cockroaches can survive anything.

[freshwest]

16. Spell check alert! Kochroaches! Just kidding. Good one.

[Flashmann]

6. better place without the human parasites.

It will be......Too bad they'll take the rest of us down with them.....

[Egalitarian Thug]

4. K&R There are still some sane people in other parts of the world, and life will go on.

I'm resigned to our fate for about 15 years now and am thankful I didn't breed and probably only have another 20 - 30 years to watch it unfold. I hope that those of us that acknowledge reality and see where we are destined to go are making adjustments to get through this time.

[alterfurz]

7. "The earth is an organism, and that organism has a skin; that skin has diseases...

...and one of those diseases is man." -- Nietzsche

As social critic/global doomsayer James Kunstler phrases it, We'll keep doing what we do until we can't, and then we won't. It's how our short-sighted species has always operated--same as it ever was, though lately even more so. And then even when a crisis does get us up off our asses, any short-term fix is enough to lull us right back to sleep. Recently seen bumpersticker: The Mayans were optimists!

[G_j]

8. "We'll keep doing what we do until we can't, and then we won't"

ouch... how very true..

[Octafish]

9. Heartbreaking.

Because it's true.

Thanks for the heads-up, G_j. Outstanding read and writer.

[G_j]

30. meanwhile..

oil co. profits soar like there's no tomorrow.. oops, unfortunate choice of words...

[Ichingcarpenter]

11. So meet me at midnight, baby Inside the Sad Cafe

We thought we could change this worl
With words like "Love" and "Freedom"

We were part of the lonely crowd
Inside the Sad Cafe


So meet me at midnight, baby
Inside the Sad Cafe

[Romulox]

13. Why should we save something so dysfunctional? The planet will survive. It doesn't need us. nt

[TahitiNut]

15. My only solace is that I didn't spawn anyone in the "next generation" to inherit

... the results of our incompetence.

[G_j]

17. I hear you nt

[FiveGoodMen]

19. Same here

[mike dub]

20. same here as well

[Skittles]

22. OOH I HEAR YOU

[BlancheSplanchnik]

23. yeah, me too...I also take solace in knowing I kept my carbon footprint small

by not breeding.

But it's too sad to see the continued rapaciousness of the "selfish genes" all around.

This thread is too sad.

The truth is too sad.

[Javaman]

24. Ditto. I couldn't morally do that to my own off spring. nt.

[patrice]

21. World-boss archipelagians are on the horizon, no matter who our President is. The questions

are about what our jobs will be: WAR? - or - U.S. working for and investing in ourselves.

Romney is their brainless heartless puppet.

Obama will be in some measure what WE make him and what measure that is is up to us.

[G_j]

27. think 99%

the planet is our home. Will we stand up for it?

[patrice]

28. I am and acting accordingly. I think it can be done, really, by the young and it would be nice if

we older ones could give them a little help with sustainable health care and a couple of other things.

[G_j]

29. solidarity never ages

I also have faith in the young.

[redqueen]

25. K&R

[redqueen]

26. kick

[Overseas]

31. Sad K&R. And still drilling. Still pretending.

Taxpayer billions in R&D only brought us millions of gallons of toxic chemicals dumped into our oceans to improve the optics of oil spills and poison our groundwater to get more "clean natural gas."