4 ms·

> > "Let this be a historic moment when realising that whales are in danger sparks a powerful wave of action from everyone: regulators, scientists, politicians

by sawjet 6y ago

> > "Let this be a historic moment when realising that whales are in danger sparks a powerful wave of action from everyone: regulators, scientists, politicians and the public to save our oceans," said Mark Simmonds. > Even our own extinction doesn't seem to spur much effort, I'm not sure why there is an expectation whales would. > > "Let this be a historic moment when realising that whales are in danger sparks a powerful wave of action from everyone: regulators, scientists, politicians and the public to save our oceans," said Mark Simmonds. > Even our own extinction doesn't seem to spur much effort, I'm not sure why there is an expectation whales would. Considering the human population is at an all-time and expected to increase significantly in the next 20 years, especially in locations with poor healthcare. What are your arguments that the human population has to worry about going extinct?

cableshaft 6y ago
If we wipe out the vast majority of the animal and plant life and drinkable water on the planet, how likely do you think we will keep our population at an all-time high? I think it's certainly possible you're right that population will keep increasing for the next, well, 10 years at least, maybe not 20, but meanwhile we're cratering our biocapacity, and we are not going to have anywhere near enough resources left on the planet to sustain that population if we keep going on our current trajectory. There's quite a few experts that say it's already too late, we've already depleted our biocapacity too much, the only way to correct for it is to undergo some form of rapid decline at some point in the future (collapse). I found this video incredibly illuminating on that point (I honestly thought we were still under the limit before watching it, not way past it already): https://youtu.be/qPb_0JZ6-Rc https://youtu.be/qPb_0JZ6-Rc Extinction may be a bit extreme, humans might be able to survive somehow, but the vast majority will not. Here's one article that discusses the possibility of human extinction. Key quote: "I don’t want to claim that we can’t survive the loss of many, many species. We’ve already proved that we actually can. We’re very adaptable. But I think the bottom line is, you wouldn’t want to find out." https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/environment-and-conservation/2017/10/will-humans-survive-sixth-great-extinction https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/environment-and-conserv...

by sawjet 6y ago

cableshaft 6y ago

If we wipe out the vast majority of the animal and plant life and drinkable water on the planet, how likely do you think we will keep our population at an all-time high? I think it's certainly possible you're right that population will keep increasing for the next, well, 10 years at least, maybe not 20, but meanwhile we're cratering our biocapacity, and we are not going to have anywhere near enough resources left on the planet to sustain that population if we keep going on our current trajectory. There's quite a few experts that say it's already too late, we've already depleted our biocapacity too much, the only way to correct for it is to undergo some form of rapid decline at some point in the future (collapse). I found this video incredibly illuminating on that point (I honestly thought we were still under the limit before watching it, not way past it already): https://youtu.be/qPb_0JZ6-Rc https://youtu.be/qPb_0JZ6-Rc Extinction may be a bit extreme, humans might be able to survive somehow, but the vast majority will not. Here's one article that discusses the possibility of human extinction. Key quote: "I don’t want to claim that we can’t survive the loss of many, many species. We’ve already proved that we actually can. We’re very adaptable. But I think the bottom line is, you wouldn’t want to find out." https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/environment-and-conservation/2017/10/will-humans-survive-sixth-great-extinction https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/environment-and-conserv...