Dahr Jamail: Mass Extinction: It's the End of the World as We Know It

[GliderGuider]

Mass Extinction: It's the End of the World as We Know It

Guy McPherson is a professor emeritus of evolutionary biology, natural resources and ecology at the University of Arizona, and has been a climate change expert for 30 years. He has also become a controversial figure, due to the fact that he does not shy away from talking about the possibility of near-term human extinction.

While McPherson's perspective might sound like the stuff of science fiction, there is historical precedent for his predictions. Fifty-five million years ago, a 5-degree Celsius rise in average global temperatures seems to have occurred in just 13 years, according to a study published in the October 2013 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. A report in the August 2013 issue of Science revealed that in the near term, earth's climate will change 10 times faster than during any other moment in the last 65 million years.

In fact, a recently published study in Science Advances states, unequivocally, that the planet has officially entered its sixth mass extinction event. The study shows that species are already being killed off at rates much faster than they were during the other five extinction events, and warns ominously that humans could very likely be among the first wave of species to go extinct.

So if some feel that McPherson's thinking is extreme, when the myriad scientific reports he cites to back his claims are looked at squarely and the dots are connected, the perceived extremism begins to dissolve into a possible, or even likely, reality.

Those who mock, ridicule, dismiss and ignore McPherson's blunt conclusions are doing so not from a foundation of countervailing science, but are being driven by their own unresolved, unacknowledged fears and insecurities. IMNSHO.

It's well past time to begin getting our affairs in order. The party is already over.

[Mnemosyne]

1. The worst is yet to come, sadly. nt

[sue4e3]

2. just too many happy thoughts out there for you ln one day

[GliderGuider]

5. I don't actually find the notion of extinction all that disturbing any more.

Of course it took me a dozen years of working through existential agony to get to that point. Now it's just "que sera, sera."

[sue4e3]

6. I'm happier not knowing but if I have to think about , it's easier now

but que sera sera will never come to mind , I think I'm too empathetic and everyone and everythings pain and suffering is very close to unbearable

[GliderGuider]

10. I sympathize - my response won't work for everyone.

Over the last decade I have actively chosen and worked to release expectations, blame, regret and hope. In their place I have cultivated equanimity, living in the present, and personal meaning.

This kind of shift is very hard for a socially conscious western technophile to make, but for me it has been intensely rewarding - and it may have literally saved my life. As part of "paying it forward" I put the possibility out there for others in similar situations to consider. I have no expectation that such an approach will meet everyone's emotional needs, since our psyches and circumstances are all different. But if the ripples from my small pebble prompt just a few others to move out of a place they are now stuck, it's enough.

[Duppers]

16. I've been where you are

and know how damn hard it was. How can you expect children, teenagers, young adults to find the psychological or spiritual nirvana? How about all the higher thinking species, some of whom may already acknowledge the degradation of their environment is not getting better, nor will it.

I acknowledge my mortality and the coming extinction yet I still hope the timeline can be ameliorated.

We all die and we atheists have a special burden in coming to terms with our mortality, however it causes me the greatest sorrow to know the hell my near 30yo son will have to feel/endure. I've tried talking with him, because at his age I was finding what you have and have retained. He's an atheist, a thinking person and a PhD physicist but plugs his damn ears when it comes to the 2 greatest issues. Mothers must just have more empathy. You don't have children, do you?

I find the "I've got or found my _____(anything)" position troubling.



Nonetheless, I appreciate your posts, all the while empathizing with Sue.


Pass the pipe.

[tularetom]

3. When it happens I hope it happens in a way that makes all the religious wackos

realize that all that stuff about Armageddon and "rapture" was total bullshit and that they wasted their entire lives and lots of money believing in a scam.

[sue4e3]

4. in the midst of such great suffering that's what you hope for? how sad

[tularetom]

8. What's sad is that we did it to ourselves

Or at least we sped up the process. And whether or not that's what I hope for, it isn't going to change it one iota.

If I were you, I'd be a little more concerned that once these nut cases are liberated from their fear of offending some big bearded invisible dude in the sky, they will revert to some unfortunate and ugly behavior which will make the remainder of humanity even more miserable in its final days.

And anyway, even if he is correct, this won't happen tomorrow. We're probably talking about a millennium.

[sue4e3]

12. I think all suffering is sad even if we brought it on ourselves and enjoying it is worse.

I can also emphatically assure you that no matter what comes to pass not all of us that believe in the rapture and the second coming in Christ will unhinge. I should know I am one

[tularetom]

14. When did I say I was enjoying the extinction of mankind?

Actually, I'm rather dismayed at the prospect and especially that it becomes widely known and accepted. Once people come to terms with the fact that human life on earth, or the earth itself, is finite, it is likely to lead to a general degradation in civility and a reversion to brutality. People will rationalize bad behavior: Why bother to obey the law or act in a moral fashion if the world is going to end anyway?

I share your belief in a deity, and I believe he provided the spark that eventually led to the coming of humans on this planet. But I also think it is egotistical to think that this deity holds us in any higher regard than any other species that derived from his creation.

You seem sincere in your concern for human suffering. In my experience, many who share your beliefs do not exhibit that same concern.

[sue4e3]

15. I think I knew you were just being a little sarcastic , I know it can be fun to watch "karma "

bite thoughtless , silly people in the backside, but this particular tale of woe is going to wrought great suffering and I have seen to much suffering and death lately . I think I took your comment a little too seriously and there you have it. A little foot note It's a shame that you haven't met nicer Christians, but there is all kinds of people

[GliderGuider]

7. As I've come to terms with what is happening in the world

One of the things that has fallen away completely is the whole concept of blame, and the associated desires for punishment, revenge, or comeuppance.

So they have stupid beliefs. So what? They wasted their lives? According to who? If extinction is in the offing would it have made any difference to the outcome if they'd all been atheists?

Compassion is far more productive than blame.

[tularetom]

9. I'm not interested in pointing fingers

And I'm not naive to believe that anything that mankind (or any sub group thereof) did or didn't do, would change the ultimate result, namely that the world would end at some time. It was eventual going to happen and it could not have been prevented.

I just want people to realize that it isn't happening because we pissed off God. Who, by the way, I believe in. I simply think he has more important things to do than worry about us.

But I will confess to enjoying saying "I told you so" to some very annoying people.

[Binkie The Clown]

11. I guess there is a qualitative difference between everyone dying...

... one at a time as individuals, or all at once as a group. Everyone dies eventually either way. I guess I would be a lot more upset if I believed in reincarnation. If that were the case then I have no world to be reborn into.

One mistake people tend to make is in thinking that "human mass extinction" means everyone will die at once, when the reality is that birth rates will fall, and populations will shrink one individual death at a time until there aren't enough humans left for the species to be viable. Not with a bang, but a whimper.

[sue4e3]

13. I think the Idea that we all die at once is so profound because

There is peace to be had in living through your children and family. Some small piece of you gos with them. I think maybe I believed that perhaps if i was very fortunate that my spirit could maybe see my children , grandchildren ..ect... For lack of wanting to sound over-sentimental "holes in the floors of heaven". I understand that kind of thing has no place here, but I know I'm not the only one who feels this way. The idea of everyone dieing at once means chaos and terror before dieing and not being able to comfort or protect the ones you love during and after. That prospect is much more terrifying because dieing for yourself is easy

[NeoGreen]

17. I take solace in my belief in the tenacity of life...

...and ideas of recovery and remediation as expressed in stories such as found in: The Man Who Planted Trees

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Planted_Trees


These form the foundation of my bulwark against despair in light of what I see happening to our beautiful blue marble.

Despite what we have done and are doing.

[GliderGuider]

18. Doing something helps a lot, doesn't it?

Taking actions that will be good no matter what (r)evolutions the biosphere and societies go through.

That's solid ethical ground, and a great way to respond. My focus now is more inward, but the outer focus is on life with my partner. Everyone benefits from doing the rightest things they can think of at this point.

[NeoGreen]

19. Kind words. (nt)