On the Brink
Jun 7th, 2012
If only this were actually coming the day after tomorrow.
Finally scientists are saying what radicals have known for years. The Earth is heading straight for collapse, and it’s our fault. A new report from the journal Nature details some of the indicators of reaching the tipping point, and what might happen after we get there. Although their idea of solutions somehow leave out drastically reducing consumption, and a complete overhaul of our way of life… it’s still worth a read.
“Earth is rapidly headed toward a catastrophic breakdown if humans don’t get their act together, according to an international group of scientists.
Writing Wednesday (June 6) in the journal Nature, the researchers warn that the world is headed toward a tipping point marked by extinctions and unpredictable changes on a scale not seen since the glaciers retreated 12,000 years ago.
“There is a very high possibility that by the end of the century, the Earth is going to be a very different place,” study researcher Anthony Barnosky told LiveScience. Barnosky, a professor of integrative biology from the University of California, Berkeley, joined a group of 17 other scientists to warn that this new planet might not be a pleasant place to live.
‘You can envision these state changes as a fast period of adjustment where we get pushed through the eye of the needle,’ Barnosky said. ‘As we’re going through the eye of the needle, that’s when we see political strife, economic strife, war and famine.’ ”