Earth's tipping point moved forward: 2025?

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Permalink Reply by Ruth Anthony-Gardner on June 8, 2012 at 4:21am

I read about this in Huff Post Green. It's sobering. That article said

"There is a very high possibility that by the end of the century, the Earth is going to be a very different place,"... 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."

Permalink Reply by Sentient Biped on June 8, 2012 at 2:15pm

I have a feeling Barnosky is right, there will be mass starvation, disease, homelessness, war, increased poverty, and increased death.  The problem is the same as Cassandra in Greek mythology.  Of course, her reward for predicting the fall of Troy and the murder of Agamemnon was to be murdered by Clytemnestra and Aegisthus, which Cassandra also foresaw.  As for those who anticipate climate change....  most will die of old age before the effects are fully manifested.  And their children and grandchildren will curse them, "how could you do this to us?  How could you?"

(Via wikimedia commons.)

Image of Casssandra taken from a fresco at Pompeii....  another case of needing to correctly read earth's messages, and in good time.

What is sad for me is looking at the self sacrifice, hard work, and good intent of many people in prior generations, to make the world a better place for future generations, the current generations are saying to hell with their descendents.  If this came to haunt people currently living, it might seem just.  To saddle future people with devastation, for no reason other than to drive SUVs, seems criminal.

Permalink Reply by Joan Denoo on April 13, 2013 at 2:46pm

Daniel, insightful and powerful! I add a quote from the site you offered: 

"In Greek mythology, Cassandra (Greek Κασσάνδρα, also Κασάνδρα)^[1] was the daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy. Her beauty caused Apollo to grant her the gift of prophecy. In an alternative version, she spent a night at Apollo's temple, at which time the temple snakes licked her ears clean so that she was able to hear the future (this is a recurring theme in Greek mythology, though sometimes it brings an ability to understand the language of animals rather than an ability to know the future).^[2] When Cassandra refused Apollo's attempted seduction, he placed a curse on her so that she and all her descendants' predictions would not be believed. She is a figure both of the epic tradition and of tragedy."

"While Cassandra foresaw the destruction of Troy (she warned the Trojans about the Trojan Horse, the death of Agamemnon, and her own demise), she was unable to do anything to forestall these tragedies since no one believed her."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassandra

Daniel, your reference to Cassandra is most apt. I visited the sites in Troy, Turkey where bows and arrows of Greeks and the deceptive Trojan Horse were used. According to the legend:

"Only two people, Laocoon and Cassandra, spoke out against the horse, but they were ignored. The Trojans celebrated what they thought was their victory, and dragged the wooden horse into Troy.

"That night, after most of Troy was asleep or in a drunken stupor, Sinon let the Greek warriors out from the horse, and they slaughtered the Trojans. Priam was killed as he huddled by Zeus' altar and Cassandra was pulled from the statue of Athena and raped."

The Trojan War  http://www.stanford.edu/~plomio/history.html#anchor198894

Permalink Reply by TNT666 on June 9, 2012 at 10:39am

As long as we allow Homo sapiens to outnumber other large mammals, especially large predators, this planet is fucked! There is simply no way around this. An apex predator such as Homo sapiens needs to have the smallest population of all, that is simply the way ecosystems function.

Permalink Reply by Joan Denoo on April 13, 2013 at 2:48pm

Excellent cartoon. Thanks TNT666

Permalink Reply by TNT666 on June 9, 2012 at 10:45am

Environmentalist organisations need to stop thinking in terms of little bandaids and face the real problem in the eye!

Permalink Reply by Joan Denoo on June 9, 2012 at 9:29pm

Oh my goodness! This is a powerful message.

I just returned from a week with my daughter's family who live in a forest in northeastern Washington state, surrounded by wildlife of all kinds, beautiful aromas, spirited bird sounds, refreshing vistas. This time, driving in, an entire side of a mountain and valley were clear cut, stripping the habitat of  many species. Rabbits, squirrels, skunks, raccoons, and coyotes will become the enemy to the clear-cutters and the land will be changed forever. I wonder if anyone cares? 

Permalink Reply by TNT666 on June 9, 2012 at 10:25pm

The music will now haunt me for life! Only this winter did I get to see the Norwegian play it's from, for the first time. An odd play, but the entire soundtrack is amazing:

Peer Gynt
Music by Edvard Grieg

Permalink Reply by Joan Denoo on April 13, 2013 at 3:06pm

Beautiful music, indeed. So powerful and the story so compelling. 

Permalink Reply by Ruth Anthony-Gardner on June 18, 2012 at 5:42pm

What a stark real world experience, to go with this cartoon. I don't suppose you have a photo to share of the clearcut?

Permalink Reply by Ruth Anthony-Gardner on June 18, 2012 at 5:40pm

This all made sense until the glorious happy baby face ending. Using the romanticized stork image was a nice touch.

Videos like this are needed to gt across the message that overpopulation is the underlying problem, at the emotional level.

Permalink Reply by TNT666 on June 18, 2012 at 7:32pm

Which begs the question, How the hell did we get here?

Patriarchy, patriarchal-medicine, pharmaceuticals, religiously-pushed breeding, and bleeding heart liberalism for every single person with an ailment, the religious "life is ALWAYS precious", HypOocrates's oath that all humans MUST be saved.

At some point, since we INSIST on glamourising technology... we must use technology to limit human fertility, instead of increasing it... use technology not to lengthen our lives (fuck the fountain of youth) but to improve our enjoyment of the years we have.

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