Climate change is destroying our ecosystems and our planet.

[Uncle Joe]

Link to tweet

One million species face extinction, U.N. report says. And humans will suffer as a result.

(snip)


But the global report by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services goes a step further than previous studies by linking the loss of species to humans and analyzing its effect on food and water security, farming and economies.

According to the report, more plants and animals are threatened with extinction now than any other period in human history. Nature’s current rate of decline is unparalleled, it says, and the accelerating rate of extinctions “means grave impacts on people around the world are now likely.”

(snip)

For example, ocean ecosystems are degrading as temperatures rise toward 2 degrees Celsius — 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit — above preindustrial levels, the study warns. Coral reefs lost to warming and acidifying oceans could cause a collapse in commercial and indigenous fisheries, affecting billions of coastal residents who rely on seafood for protein.

“Once you get to basically 2 degrees Celsius, the models show that only 1 percent can survive,” Watson said. “Let’s be quite candid. We’re not on the pathway to 2 degrees Celsius. We’re on a pathway to 3, 3 ½ degrees Celsius. The coral system is truly in trouble.”

(snip)


https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2019/05/06/one-million-species-face-extinction-un-panel-says-humans-will-suffer-result/?utm_term=.545a74805629

[saidsimplesimon]

1. thank you, Senator Sanders and Joe for sharing

I'm not the only one who understands the urgency for action.

[calimary]

2. Seriously frightening.

[zipplewrath]

3. The planet will be just fine

So will the ecosystem. Some of the occupants are in big trouble. We've had mass extinctions before, the system adapts. Humans might not be so lucky. At least they might find huge areas of the planet extremely inhospitable.

The bumper sticker always had it wrong. It isn't "save the planet". The bumper sticker should have said "save ourselves".

[pangaia]

4. Your last line...

[Clash City Rocker]

5. Right. This just means the planet could eradicate a virus called the human race.

[zipplewrath]

6. Sometimes I wonder

I wonder if we aren't part of the larger system in general. The planetary system, and the universe in general seems to be structured around both production and destruction. Floods, forest fires, mass disease, tectonic subduction as well as asteroid impacts, super novas and black holes all seem part of an integral system which relies upon everything that it creates, also getting destroyed. It would seem sometimes that we can't help but participate in our own destruction because the universe demands it.

[Uncle Joe]

8. So if the universe sends a giant asteroid headed to Earth,

Last edited Mon May 6, 2019, 01:22 PM - Edit history (1)

should humanity use whatever technology it could muster to divert or destroy said asteroid or just kick back and accept universal "demands?"

[zipplewrath]

9. Give it the old college try

I suspect however that sooner or later a "rock" too big to handle will come along.

[Uncle Joe]

10. I believe our "old college try" will be greatly enhanced in the future if

our public colleges and universities are tuition free, thus expanding our brain pool.

P.S. Said asteroid may not pose a threat to life on Earth for a thousand, ten thousand a million years or more however the threat from global warming climate change and the mass extinction of species is a much more immediate known threat to our existence.

[zipplewrath]

12. Probably not

There's a statistical reason why that may not work. But furthermore I've never really seen that education in and of itself is a guarantor of actual intelligence.

[Uncle Joe]

14. Colleges and universities are not a guarantor of intelligence but they do

greatly enhance knowledge and mobility.

A college or university degree opens more paths for intelligent people with limited means to rise in our societies to positions of power and influence.

[Baclava]

11. Our destiny is to spread our seed to the stars! we all feel the primordial urge, space calls to us!

Our sky god overlords made us this way, one world is not big enough for us, we are the seething mass of humanity that needs to be freel

All your worlds are belong to us! Just you wait galaxy, we are coming.

[zipplewrath]

13. More planets to destroy?

We turned ours, and low earth orbit to boot, into one big garbage scow. So now it's time to move on?

[Baclava]

16. Mine the asteroids, use them as spaceship habitats, colonize the Moon and Mars for starters

We have to start somewhere, there are just too many of us down here, without any world wars or a big deadly disease to knock off a couple billion or so of us Im afraid our herd we will consume it all, so yes, we hafta leave for the earth to heal

[zipplewrath]

20. Space Colonies

It'll require a moon base for collecting raw materials. But if we build space colonies, we'll gain the knowledge required to understand and control to some extent the delicate balance that is an ecosystem. Right now we really don't have a clue and a few of our near attempts at closed environments ran into serious problems. Then maybe we can go somewhere else and not screw it all up.

[LanternWaste]

19. After this therefor because of this?

[leftieNanner]

7. You beat me to this post

The planet will survive. Us? Maybe not so much.

[LanternWaste]

18. I think when most people refer the health of the planet...

part and parcel of that premise is the implication that we are an inherent part of it and desire to remain as such; I doubt they're referring to the planet's continued existence lacking life as we currently know it.

Saving the planet as is saves ourselves as is.

[zipplewrath]

21. It's the thought that counts

I agree, the people printing the bumper stickers understood that. It's more about the person reading the sticker. It makes a bit more personal when the threat is to oneself, not by association. When we were trying to "save" the bald eagle, I don't think alot of people understood that it wasn't really about the eagle. The eagle is at the top/end of the food chain. What was killing it was what we were doing at the bottom of that food chain. We're at the top of that food chain too. It was in our interest as much as the eagles that we "fix" the food chain.

[MH1]

27. Yes and no. "The ecosystem" - as we know it - WILL NOT be "just fine".

The occupants - including especially the non-human ones - are part of the ecosystem.

I don't expect that humans will end up extinct. Worst case there will be a massive die-off, but some will survive to continue the species.

Lots of other amazing and beautiful species that make up this wonderful creation (however one thinks it got created), will not survive.

For those of us with a spiritual connection to nature, that is a tragedy. We hear the anguished cries daily.

[bloom]

15. It is not just Climate Change which is destroying our ecosystems/planet

It is our system of consumption.

Bernie may have come to terms with this better than other candidates (except for himself - with his 3 houses).

Is anyone brave enough to suggest rationing / limits? (The writer Wendell Barry does).

It is insane that super-large houses continue to be built -because of the resources each one requires at the outset - as well as the resources it will take to heat/cool in the future.

While I appreciate Warren's desire that young people be able to buy houses - part of the deal should be to encourage any new houses to be designed and built with a more sustainable footprint than what people have been about.

There continues to be too much status around having large houses and large cars. That needs to stop ASAP.

[Uncle Joe]

17. Yes and "Al Gore lives in a big house," that never took away from the message

nor the movement.

One of Bernie's houses is a one bedroom condo in D.C. where he works and the third was purchased from the sale of an inheritance.

(snip)

However, the original Seven Days report included information on how the Sanders’ afforded the summer home. O’Meara Sanders said that she had inherited a vacation home in Maine, but the family was unable to make use of it due to its distance from their primary residence in Vermont, so she sold it and used the proceeds to finance the purchase of a more suitable vacation home in North Hero:

(snip)


https://www.snopes.com/news/2016/08/10/bernie-sanders-buys-summer-home/

[WeekiWater]

23. Wow. How many houses does he have?

Good on Sanders.

[bloom]

25. I think Gore's house does take away from his message - if it's wasteful.

I take people more seriously when they set an example of what they are talking about.

It is the wealthy who generally waste far more resources than most people - but who do have the resources to build more energy efficient places, buy the most energy efficient cars, etc.

We need people who don't just talk about the problems - but care enough to change their own lifestyle.

Of course, Trump sets the worst example of just about anyone - but that should not give others a pass to be way more wasteful than is reasonable.

[Uncle Joe]

26. Al's house was an existing energy hog built in the early 20 century.

The Gores updated it to the second highest certification that the TVA's green program recognizes.

I try to keep a focus on the forest or macro that being actual policy proposals versus the trees the individual's home or homes.

George W. Bush actually lives in a very energy efficient house more so than Al's but does anyone seriously believe he did anything substantive in regards to global warming climate change from a policy perspective?

Did Bush ever buck the fossil fuel industry?

[bloom]

29. Jay Inslee has the most going on - regarding focus on the environment

https://jayinslee.com/issues/100clean?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=100clean&sc=fb_tr&fbclid=IwAR1jxpsV0Mwe4Ee0gjqPjWqAhqE1sPAd0hyP96eKhyqv6GwYO7ovqC_GuSs

[zipplewrath]

24. Population size

It's the combination of our population size and our consumption. If we were a more "normal" population size for a medium size mammal, our consumption wouldn't be a big deal. But we've passed that by whole integer multiples at this point and as such, we need to be vastly more "efficient" than most mammals. (and yes, it pains me to say there are probably too many cows too.). When we stopped being hunter gatherers, and started our agrarian life, it was the beginning of alot of troubles.

[MH1]

28. THIS. A THOUSAND TIMES, THIS.

The root problem is mostly population related.

Deforestation and other habitat destruction might still need to be curbed even with a more reasonable population. But we wouldn't be going over the cliff so fast.

[WeekiWater]

22. I believe Biden was one of the first Senators to pass legislation...

Directly involving climate change.

Lets get him to the White House.