Earth's ecological debt crisis...

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

By Martin Hickman, Consumer Affairs Correspondent
The Independent

http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article1822171.ece

<snip>

In other words, assuming that the world has a certain quantity of natural resources that can sustainably be used up each year, today is the date at which this annual capacity is reached. And environmentalists warn that just as a company bound for bankruptcy plunging into the red or a borrower " maxing out" on credit cards must face the consequences, so must man.

The biggest problem relating to the over-consumption of resources is climate change, but its other effects include deforestation, falling agricultural yields and overfishing.

Overfishing is one of the most easily understood examples of the abuse of nature. Catching too many fish has left species that were once common, such as cod in the North Sea and bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean, struggling to survive.

Although it is possible to make ever-increasing catches for a while, eventually only small, juvenile fish are left, and stocks become unviable. Similarly, emissions of greenhouse gases are rising, exacerbated by the growth of China and India, but the climate is poised to wreak its revenge. Already polar ice caps are melting at a rate that is startling scientists, and examples of extreme weather, such as Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans in August last year, are being attributed to global climate change. In February, when he was Defence Secretary, John Reid revealed that British military planners were already preparing for conflicts arising from the scramble for resources in 20 to 30 years' time...

[opihimoimoi]

1. Sadly, not too many peeps out there are concerned....maybe 7%

maybe 8....

Pathetic

[RC]

2. This planet is well past the point of sustaining

the population of the human race. Just because we currently have the food to feed most of us does not mean there are the resources needed to sustain us, let alone continuing our rabbit like multiplying of our numbers.

By the time the next intelligent beings evolve on this planet, even the planet's scars caused by our existence will be gone, as will be the resources required for them to follow in our technological footsteps to evolve to their extinction.

[depakid]

3. Without low entropy fossil fuels

The present population is already well beyond its carrying capacity.

We've overshot- and we're due for a collapse (just the same as any other population of animals or plants that exhusts its resources).

[The2ndWheel]

4. We're too successful as a species

We're not stopping voluntarily now though. It would kill billions if we did. Unfortunately, it's endless growth or bust at this point.