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Our economy has reached a point where it's becoming so harmful to the environment it exploits that it's causing a mass extinction, an event that hasn't occurred

by mslot 11y ago

Our economy has reached a point where it's becoming so harmful to the environment it exploits that it's causing a mass extinction, an event that hasn't occurred for 250 million years. On the timescale of a few decades, things are becoming very, very different.

shoo 11y ago
yup. we're putting CO2 into the atmosphere at a ridiculous and ever-increasing rate. 40 gigatons of CO2 last year -- that's around 5 tons of CO2 / (person * year), assuming a fantasy version of the world where we're all contributing an equal amount of pollution. it's not just "the economy", it is (people) * (polluting affluent lifestyles). that said, it doesn't help that the people with the bulk of the wealth and political power are the ones that perceive they have the most to lose if the status quo changes. it also doesn't help that it is very difficult to stay focused on longer-term problems, while society tends to focus on playing the game for short term wins. invest, speculate, profit. it'll be an interesting few decades. hopefully we realise that ideas that served us well in the past are context-dependent, and the context is changing.
blisterpeanuts 11y ago
Mass extinctions have occurred with much greater regularity than every 250 million years. The ice ages come in pulses, to use the geological term, and both the warming and cooling trends have inflicted vast changes in the species inhabiting the planet. As far as CO2 emissions, the EPA's own statistics suggest a static-to-downward trend since the early 2000s in the U.S. (http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/gases/co2.html http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/gases/co2.html). We're barely above where we were in 1990, despite an increase in population from 250 million in 1990 to 319 million today. 3rd World economies will eventually follow suit, as they adopt the cheap new green tech that we're getting. The trend today is toward more efficient vehicles, cheaper and more available solar for houses, a massive switch in electric power plants from coal and oil to inexpensive natural gas which emits less carbon. Technology, Chinese mass production of green energy products like solar panels, American fracking of natural gas, all will conspire to reduce the carbon emissions. The trends are heartening.
marcosdumay 11y ago
> an event that hasn't occurred for 250 million years Wait, there were some huge bird-like animals here 60 million years ago.

by mslot 11y ago

shoo 11y ago

yup. we're putting CO2 into the atmosphere at a ridiculous and ever-increasing rate. 40 gigatons of CO2 last year -- that's around 5 tons of CO2 / (person * year), assuming a fantasy version of the world where we're all contributing an equal amount of pollution. it's not just "the economy", it is (people) * (polluting affluent lifestyles). that said, it doesn't help that the people with the bulk of the wealth and political power are the ones that perceive they have the most to lose if the status quo changes. it also doesn't help that it is very difficult to stay focused on longer-term problems, while society tends to focus on playing the game for short term wins. invest, speculate, profit. it'll be an interesting few decades. hopefully we realise that ideas that served us well in the past are context-dependent, and the context is changing.

blisterpeanuts 11y ago

Mass extinctions have occurred with much greater regularity than every 250 million years. The ice ages come in pulses, to use the geological term, and both the warming and cooling trends have inflicted vast changes in the species inhabiting the planet. As far as CO2 emissions, the EPA's own statistics suggest a static-to-downward trend since the early 2000s in the U.S. (http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/gases/co2.html http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/gases/co2.html). We're barely above where we were in 1990, despite an increase in population from 250 million in 1990 to 319 million today. 3rd World economies will eventually follow suit, as they adopt the cheap new green tech that we're getting. The trend today is toward more efficient vehicles, cheaper and more available solar for houses, a massive switch in electric power plants from coal and oil to inexpensive natural gas which emits less carbon. Technology, Chinese mass production of green energy products like solar panels, American fracking of natural gas, all will conspire to reduce the carbon emissions. The trends are heartening.

marcosdumay 11y ago

> an event that hasn't occurred for 250 million years Wait, there were some huge bird-like animals here 60 million years ago.