Top scientists warn of 'ghastly future of mass extinction' and climate disruptio

Top scientists warn of 'ghastly future of mass extinction' and climate disruptio(theguardian.com)

79 points by axihack 5 years ago | 45 comments

pmx 5 years ago |

> “ghastly future of mass extinction, declining health and climate-disruption upheavals” that threaten human survival because of ignorance and inaction

The pandemic has taught me that humans will roundly ignore even the most glaring evidence to avoid accepting bad things are happening. I can't see how we're ever going to be able to avert climate disaster when we can't even get everyone to take basic precautions against a global pandemic.

oakpond 5 years ago | |

Some nations are handling the pandemic a lot more effectively than others. Evidently it's possible to do something right. Also, these guys are arguing that population growth and high levels of consumption in wealthy nations are the key factors. Not even everybody has to do something.

robbyking 5 years ago | | |

I agree; I wouldn’t say “humans” are the problem, but “cultures that value capitalism more than human life.”

listenallyall 5 years ago | |

> the most glaring evidence

what evidence? "in 1968, Ehrlich warned of imminent population explosion and hundreds of millions of people starving to death"

Wrong, wrong, wrong. Food has never been more abundant, plentiful and inexpensive https://www.wfdd.org/story/food-growing-more-plentiful-so-wh...

Pardon me for ignoring what this fear monger and crackpot has to say.

ridewinter 5 years ago | | |

I believe that species loss is inversely proportional to wealth. The poorer the country the faster its loss.

And due to advances in agricultural technology, since the Population Bomb book was published, global population has doubled while hunger has greatly diminished.

So wouldn’t the answer be more technology & wealth, not less?

ncmncm 5 years ago | | |

Things changed in direct response to the warning. That is exactly how it is supposed to go.

People who don't know insist too that Y2K was a big nothing, but it was nothing only because of $billions spent to ensure that it would be.

People who don't know say the same about whales, acid rain and stratospheric ozone. Same thing: global effort, crisis reduced, although further effort needed.

2038 still looms, but much has been done already.

kristopolous 5 years ago | |

It's a culture thing.

Some cultures, as it turns out, are better than others at dealing with stresses like this.

Changing culture is a big project. We can try though because we don't actually have any other option.

gmuslera 5 years ago | | |

Changing culture runs on money, and the most efficient use for it is to put a feedback loop: you put money, and you get even more money in the short term to put even more on it.

And in this you are competing with a few donations without a feedback loop against the oil industry that have plenty of money and that kind of feedback loops, for just one culture that need to be changed.

And to make things even more unfair, they can use all the dirty tricks they want (plain lies, exploiting bias, pushing disinformation, bribing politicians, etc), while you can only use the, sometimes hard to get for the uneducated, truth.

smitty1e 5 years ago | | |

> Changing culture is a big project

For my buy-in, change agents are encouraged to:

- begin with absolute truth

- develop an unambiguous, existentially complete solution

- let that solution sell itself through its inarguable superiority

Anything less than that risks coming off as so much bullying.

michaelbrave 5 years ago | |

Some places are handling the pandemic ok, I've felt like the larger problems have been: politicizing the problem, those living in denial and propaganda that minimized the threat. Regrettably climate change faces those same issues.

freebear 5 years ago | |

Are you saying that the ones who take this pandemic serious also take the "ghastly future of mass extinction" serious?

I oppose this 100%, I take the "ghastly future of mass extinction" very serious and my solution would be to introduce a close to zero birthrate of the extremely overpopulated species of Homo Sapiens. I do not however take this pandemic serious at all and it is NOTHING compared to what is and will happen in the "ghastly future".

We are living in a planetary wide human farm, they told us this was gonna happen! And it will happen again and again until we have devoured the planet.

jhanschoo 5 years ago | | |

Zero fertility would introduce an aging crisis.

ojhughes 5 years ago | | |

Zero population growth would be a terrifying dystopia. Have you read /watched the Handmaid's Tale or Children of Men?

o-__-o 5 years ago | | |

Similarly one could take “election fraud” seriously but not the pandemic or climate change.

perfunctory 5 years ago |

> The report comes months after the world failed to meet a single UN Aichi biodiversity target, created to stem the destruction of the natural world, the second consecutive time governments have failed to meet their 10-year biodiversity goals. This week a coalition of more than 50 countries pledged to protect almost a third of the planet by 2030.

Hm. How serious should we take this pledge now?

ehnto 5 years ago | |

As another empty promise. That isn't to say nothing will happen, and no good will be done, but it certainly remains to be seen and this "pledge" is empty. I am getting really tired of the regurgitated weasel words of world leaders in the headlines. It's like watching a big company meeting full to tue brim with Synergy, Roadmaps, Directions and Initiatives. Less talk, more action. We are on a tight timeline here!

imtringued 5 years ago |

I don't know how effective scare stories are. At some point people just stop caring. Instead of worrying, you should focus on the things that can be done because there is an endless supply of people who refuse to do things but those who want to do even a little still should know what to do.

frugalrusk 5 years ago |

By this point I guess it should not surprise anyone. There is just not enough happening. The current situation could be a great opportunity to change things, but nothing is happening really. Current corona grants could be coupled to ecology protecting endeavors. This would also increase investments, especially the building industry could be transformed a lot by that.

isoblvck 5 years ago |

*ghastly present of mass extinction

anewaccount2021 5 years ago |

I never see HN readers taking personal responsibility in any thread regarding climate change. Every comment just damns other people. If you are a techie in North America, you are in the top 1% of all-time polluters, if not the top 0.1%. Me too. I admit it. Stop wagging your fingers at other people.

cryptica 5 years ago |

Over the last 20 years and having traveled back and forth all over the world, I have not noticed any changes in temperature at all. In fact, local temperature records over several decades seems to be flat in pretty much every place I've looked up. On the other hand, I have observed widespread deception within professional environments and scientific communities... I was a climate believer for a long time, but these days it seems more like a religion than a science so I'm now a skeptic. The authorities keep preaching the climate change mantra with increasing urgency and certainty but it doesn't stand up to scrutiny. I'm more concerned about microplastics and air pollution.