Eat, drink and be merry. For tomorrow we die. http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/...ientist+predicts+planetary+wipeout/article.do Controversial scientist predicts planetary wipeout 28.11.06 Billions of people could be wiped out over the next century because of climate change, a leading expert said. Professor James Lovelock, who pioneered the idea of the Earth as a living organism, said as the planet heats up humans will find it increasingly hard to survive. He warned that as conditions worsen, the global population which is currently around 6.5 billion, may sink as low as 500 million. Prof Lovelock also claims that any attempts to tackle climate change will not be able to solve the problem, merely buy us time. Given the dire situation we face, he urged people to drop the phrase "global warming," which has cosy connotations, and instead start to think of it as "global heating." Prof Lovelock, is an independent scientist who first proposed the Gaia Theory, which argues that the Earth, like a body, is a complex and intricately balanced system which all works together to allow life to continue as we know it. However he fears that as carbon dioxide emissions from man and the planet itself soar, the Earth will heat up causing water shortages, destroying life in much of the planet's oceans and making it impossible for plants to grow. Prof Lovelock, who last night gave the 5th John Collier Lecture to the Institution of Chemical Engineers in London, said: "There is very good evidence of what happened 55 million years ago when as much carbon dioxide was put into the atmosphere by geology as is being done by us now. "Temperatures zoomed up by 8 degrees and stayed there for 200,000 years then came back to normal." He fears something similar may happen again, and warned: "if it does it is going to make this an exceedingly difficult century." However Prof Lovelock said mankind has managed to survive previous climatic disasters of the past. "There have been at least seven of these major climate changes before and we have to adapt," he said. "It is going to be tough and there will be some evolution of humans during it. "The survivors will be those humans that can make their way to refuges or Arctic places and survive there. "I think an awful lot of people will die but I don't see the human species dying out. "I would think a hot earth could not support much over 500 million." He warned there are no simple solutions to global heating and there is nothing we can do now to "save the earth." "People will try to do things but the way to really look at them is they are a bit like when your kidneys fail you can on dialysis - and who would refuse dialysis if death is the alternative?" he said. "But we have to remember that all they are doing is buying us time. The problems will go on. "Trying to take the job on of regulating the earth is about as crazy as you can get. "It is something quiet beyond humans at this stage in their evolution." Despite this people should do what they can to reduce their impact on the planet. "There is no point driving around in a Chelsea tractor when you can drive a small car but it does not escape the fact that changes are underway," he warned. Prof Lovelock's dire forecast for the future of the human race is far more pessimistic than the Government's own assessment of global warming. Tony Blair told European leaders at a summit in Finland last month that it was not too late to reverse the effects global warming. In an open letter to delegates he said there was a window of "10-15 years to take the steps we need to avoid crossing catastrophic tipping points." This echoes the findings of Sir Nicholas Stern in his influential report on climate change. In it he says there is still time to avoid the worst impacts of climate change if countries co-operate internationally.
This reminds me of the movie "threads". Although not as "doom-bringer" as the guy quoted above, I do think that overpopualtion will eventually stress the planet too much. When that happens, I have no hope in there being any maintained civility or society.
Many proponents of the Gaia theory say Earth is the actual living organism and humans are like destructive bacteria living off of it. So Global warming is the Earth getting a fever to burn out the infection. It's not so outlandish a theory really when you think about the fact that human beings have several types of autonomous organells and symbiotic bacteria that make our lives possible. We also have billions of nonendemic creatures living in and on us at all times. Maybe it's more like Earth is an organelle, the solar system is a cell, galaxies are organs and the living creature is the universe. If you looked at a human being and zoomed in to the quantum level, wouldn't it look something like the structure of the what we see as outer space? The appearance of the structure could just be a function of the perspective of the observer.
Saw this on the newstands...don't ever read Rolling Stone, so don't know how I came across this, but I thought it was really interesting...here it is:
Meanwhile, Calgary is experiencing their coldest winter in 100 years! http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/2006/11/28/2530545-sun.html Cold set to snap city recordUPDATED: 2006-11-28 03:57:59 MST Environment Canada says such low temperatures unusual for this time of year By TARINA WHITE, CALGARY SUN Dave Koiter bundles up to take on the task of wiping off his windshield yesterday as more snow fell on Calgary. Strong winds combined with blowing snow and frigid temperatures to create treacherous driving conditions throughout the city. (Stuart Dryden/Calgary sun) The arctic deep freeze trapping Calgary is on track to break a 110-year-old weather record today, but the bitter cold is expected to ease in the coming days. With a forecast low of -31C today, Calgary could break the -27C record set on this day in 1896. But factoring in the wind chill, it will feel even colder to people who have to brave the elements, said Environment Canada meteorologist Ross Macdonald. "I wouldn't break out the shorts and go sunbathing right now," he joked. "Bundle up." The recent frigid weather is a far cry from the city's average late-November temperatures. Macdonald said the normal daytime high at this time of year is 0C, with a low of -11C. "The last time it was really this cold in November was about 10 years ago," he said. "We've hit rock bottom." It's even been too frosty to ski, with Canada Olympic Park shutting the hill yesterday in the name of safety. Spokesman Chris Dornan said, to his knowledge, it's the first year the weather has forced a November closure. "It's normally in January or February," he said. Meanwhile, blowing snow likely contributed to a crash near Sylvan Lake yesterday that claimed the life of a 42-year-old motorist. And the icy snap has the Calgary Humane Society scrambling to respond to an avalanche of calls from residents concerned about distressed animals, said spokeswoman Cheryl Wallach. "The Calgary Humane Society is calling on all Calgary pet owners to use common sense and not leave animals outside without adequate shelter," she said. The frigid weather is expected to improve by Thursday, with a predicted high of -7C.
Didn't I read somewhere a few months back that some scientists predicted global warming would spark a drastic correction and put us into another ice age?
the most misunderstood, oversensationalized thing ever. well, maybe Y2K. this would be a close second, though.
actually, if you study the mayans you would probably think otherwise. 2012 isnt some random year they pulled out of their arses. its all based on astromony - planetary movements (venus in particular) and sunspot cycles. their ability to predict astronomical occurences is remarkable, even by todays standards.
You’re darn tootin’ we are, but it’s warming up to 0C tomorrorw. In fact it’s going to warm up 20 degrees F (roughly 10C) in the next 5 hours! http://www.wx.ca/ Back on topic, I think either/any extreme on this topic is likely to be a political position rather than a reasonable one or a scientific one. Do we know for sure that man induced global warming is happening? Do we know for sure it isn’t happening? Do we know for sure that nothing can be done about it? It’s an extremely complicated thing to predict with certainty, or to disprove, and likewise it’s very difficult to say that there is nothing mankind could do about it. I think you can fairly say that the evidence tends to suggest that it is happening, and that the proposed mechanism is reasonable, and that there are things we can do to influence that mechanism. There are more reasons than this to move away from fossil fuels, though, like the fact that we’re running out of them, for example, so switching away from fossil fuels would seem to have multiple benefits not limited to its impact on global warming. There is the little matter of the oil related problems in the Middle East to consider too.
i have studied it. and none of it necessarily means they were predicting the end of the world. but it's interesting and that's what "sells."
they predicted that 2012 would be the end of the earths 5th age, which is the last one. i think the mayans were predicting the end of the world. the way i understand it, the earth is "reborn" with each age. however, we are in the final one. after this, no mas. there are some parallels b/t mayan lore and biblical stories - one of the mayan ages was marked by flood and permanent rain (noahs ark). men were fish in that age. one couple survived (adam and eve) and repopulated the earth for the next age. each age was marked by catastrophic destruction - flood, fire, wind. one of the great tragedies of human history was the spanish/catholics destroying all the mayan libraries and codexes. they had elaborate records going back over 10,000 years. much more tragic than the destruction of the libarary at alexandria, imo. there is so much lost knowledge. did they have records of contact w/ any mediterranian peoples? w/ people from atlantis?
