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Mass extinction?

Is our earth heading towards another mass extinction with hotter and dryer summers and wetter winters?

AJimboShep82 7 Apr 2
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24 comments

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4

A mass extinction is already happening, as humans relentlessly supplant other major species. Excess human population is also the root cause of global warming, causing the extremes in climate.

3

Quite a few people believe that a mass extiction is currently underway.

See [thenation.com]

Whether it is connected to climate change or not is open to question ,but it seems most likely.Whether human ingenuity will be sufficient to deal with the problems that climate change will bring the next generations remains to be seen. But they are already condemning us as the most selfish generation ever.

The stubborn persistence in our country with single use plastic is simply horrifying. Every damn thing should be thrown away. Often when I preach reusable bags and glass containers I am met with disinterest or denial. People think things are being recycled. The garbage revealed from under our recent snow melt is disheartening. I used to listen to music and pick up garbage in my neighborhood to distract me from my migraines. I need to get my knee surgery done and do that again. Small part I can play. I am not well traveled..I don't know what happens elsewhere but I believe our country especially under this administration totally disrespects our environment.

@Serenityseeker While it is good to clear litter and reduce, reuse,recycle, on a personal level, we need to be aware that the greatest polluters are big business. Nothing will change unless they do.

@CeliaVL I am also politically involved and worked corporate before and I know what's happening. Corporations control more than our own government unfortunately..all hail "Citizens United". All of our individual actions are more important than ever. Whether it be at your local city council meeting or answering someone who asks me why I pick up garbage..and they do.

@Serenityseeker I was not disagreeing with you! Just saying that individual action while valuable is not enough. It is a great encouragement to me that young people are getting more and more involved. They are the future and seem determined to do more.

3

A small mass extinction is already happening. We are loosing species at several orders of magnitude faster than the normal rate.

Yes, we already lost the Dodo bird due to poacing from the Portuguese.

3

We are already in it. Insects and amphibians are disappearing at alarming numbers. It's just going to work it's way up from there.

As an animal lover, it sucks.. but I'm also not too concerned. Apart from the planet crumbling, there isn't much that will kill off 100% of the life on Earth. We are putting a hurting on it, but at this point have have to push forward and hope we can develop the technology to balance the planet. Once we do, the remaining life will have population booms and then we will get back into biodiversity.

And to think the population of Komodo Dragons are pretty close to being an endangered species.

2

Gawd, I sure hope they get rid of high mass.

godef Level 7 Apr 3, 2019

Hahaha

Your speaking out of mass as material whereas im referencing life as we know it as in multiple speciation.

2

We are not heading towards, we are in the middle of it.
Mass extinctions happens in thousand of years, take time for a species to decline and disappear.
The number of species that went extinct by human arrival (practically all big mammals outside africa), all small insects and rodents extinct by the domestic cat (yes, the kitten is one of the worst hunters that we introduced in many environments), then the agriculture etc. The climate change will be the cherry on the top. Plus the animals that we don't even know we extinguished. There are whole species that lives in one curve of one river in a rain forest, any change on that or polution kills the entire species before we even know it.

2

I sure fucking hope so.
As long as it's just the humans that go extinct.

2

I think so but I also think that humans will survive. Might be quite a bit fewer of them but that's certainly not a bad thing.

2

I think we are in the process of it now. We might not see the 22nd century.

I believe it

2

I won't mourn our passing

I couldn't agree more.

Our species is not only destructive but a violent one as well.

2

I believe we are heading towards another ice age and we need as humans to get along with each other more so we can share the little livable peace of land that would be the safe zone "if there was any left"

Nader Level 6 Apr 2, 2019

What you "believe" is not all that interesting unless you can provide, at the minimum, a logical rationale (or links to scientific data) for that actually happening.

ice age? i'm with you but we are very few.
very few realize that we are now in an interglacial period.

@dahermit with the Dragons correct?

@dahermit happy to oblige

@dahermit <a href="https://www.google.ca/amp/s/amp.livescience.com/9726-origin-komodo-dragon-rev@dahermit:" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="forumlink">[google.ca]: Merry Christmas, mate.

@dahermit this enough evidence?

@dahermit i don't usually look for informations online or on TV .. Especially when its about global warming and weather changing . im lucky to be able to travel the world and see things with my own eyes and then decide what my idea about "it" but here's a link you may find interesting !

@AJimboShep82 No...the link you provided was broken..."page not found".

1

Yes, climatic change due to mankind's love for burning fossil fuels has been underway since the beginning of the Industrial Age.
Mankind has also been most sadly and steadily pushing innumerable other species to extinction ever since 'civilisation' came into being.
We ARE going to be the cause of the GREATEST by far Mass Extinction ever to occur on this planet IF we don't soon wake up, learn and do something positive and world-wide.

That hole in the ozone layer is not getting any smaller allowing for harmful UV rays from the sun to get in and cause multiple health risks including melanoma a type of skin cancer.

@AJimboShep82 Yes, and we are responsible for much of the degradation of the Ozone layer with our obsession for using CFC based aerosols in our 'spray-on' deodorants, etc.

1

Already underway, climate change is just another phase.

1

Whilst only a fool would argue that climate change is obviously just random variation, it is a possibility (it takes a specially virulent strain of imbecility to label it a hoax though). So what were left with is an educated gamble. We could throw enough (all possibly?) assets at the problem, worst case outcomes are we couldn't do enough in time and everyone dies, best case is we survive and the world's wealth has been converted into a massive investment in the future. There are plenty of examples out there of the results of technological investment. Or we could ignore the 'hoax'. Best case is the wealthy stay wealthy, the poor stay poor, the hungry, thirsty and sick keep dying. Worst case is everybody gets hungry, thirsty, sick and dead. Ive given it my consideration and decided to give it a go. Somebody tell the rich guys.

Salo Level 7 Apr 3, 2019

Only a factor amongst other variables that contribute to the decline of not only our species but also millions of other species residing on planet Earth.

1

.I have plugged his book on here before "The ends of the World" by Peter Brannen. he writes in detail about previous mass extinctions and the reason for them and discusses the likelihood of another. He makes what could be a dry subject fascinating.
As far as I remember we are a long way from another mass extinction but it is possible in the future.

1

Not enough data to say. I'm more concerned about being able to feed and provide energy for the rapidly increasing world population (and shrinking coastlines). When that bubble bursts some serious shit is going to go down, and I fear it could lead to a mass extinction of some sort.

[en.m.wikipedia.org]

@KevinMR there's never enough data to say, until it's historical data to help explain why. If there's anyone to ask the question.

@Salo historically speaking we're doomed unless the world can come together and prepare for the potential causes. But I think we have some time yet. I hope.

@KevinMR but the world will fail to come together and prepare unless/until they have irrefutable data. Otherwise the shortsightedness and ignorance behind the money argument will continue to veto any significant progress.

@Salo I agree. Only debate seems to be how much time we have left. Maybe we need aliens?

1

I'm kinda sure that we're already in the middle of one.

1

Yes.

1

If you wait long enough, that property in Arizona really will have a beachfront.

Hey doesn't Florida already have them?

0

No, mass cannot be destroyed. It can be converted to energy in certain circumstances. So mass extinction seems out of the question.

0

The Komodo Dragons as scientists discovered survived one already hopefully they could survive another.

The Komodo Dragons, as scientists discovered, survived one already hopefully they could survive another.

@dahermit The Komodo Dragons, as scientists discovered, survived one already. Hopefully they could survive another.

@FatherOfNyx if so I'm glad you asked.

0

Yep.

0

But if the earth becomes as it was when it first formed then I wouldn't give much hope of survival if the planet is a ball of lava and fire and that's not including Co2 in the atmosphere.

0

And what species would survive if any?

Cockroaches and Tardigrades.

[en.wikipedia.org]

@dahermit I can see that being a possibility.

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