Humanity has wiped out 60% of animals since 1970, major report finds • Hacker News Board

Re: Humanity has wiped out 60% of animals since 1970, major report finds

#11

Post by Cthulhu_ » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 10:13 AM UTC

montenegrohugo wrote: post #10

Human Population has more than doubled in the same timespan (from 3.7 billion to 7.7 billion today). This is not sustainable. We only have one small planet to live on, and we are destroying it. We are overfishing the oceans, cutting down entire forests to make way for pastures, warming up the planet and acidifying the plastic-filled ocean. Even insect populations are plummeting. The consequences of this will not be f…

I'm afraid the problem will fix itself soon enough. WW3 could be around the corner according to the people behind the Doomsday Clock. Climate change will cause famine, natural disasters and mass migrations. Poverty, overpriced health care and a lack of common social structure (every man for himself) will lower the life expectancy again after decades of increase.

Re: Humanity has wiped out 60% of animals since 1970, major report finds

#12

Post by Cthulhu_ » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 10:15 AM UTC

pmontra wrote: post #4

Human population skyrocketing, animal population crashing, not a surprise. Even not taking into account pollution and exploitation of natural resources, it's a competition for space.

There's a lot of space to go around though, most of it undeveloped for e.g. agriculture, and a lot of developed space is under-utilized due to focusing on livestock.

Re: Humanity has wiped out 60% of animals since 1970, major report finds

#13

Post by albertgoeswoof » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 10:15 AM UTC

montenegrohugo wrote: post #10

Human Population has more than doubled in the same timespan (from 3.7 billion to 7.7 billion today). This is not sustainable. We only have one small planet to live on, and we are destroying it. We are overfishing the oceans, cutting down entire forests to make way for pastures, warming up the planet and acidifying the plastic-filled ocean. Even insect populations are plummeting. The consequences of this will not be f…

What’s not sustainable? The human population doubling again? Or maintaining the current population?

Clearly we have to address climate change but it’s not a growing population that is unsustainable, if anything the progress over the past 50 years has indicated the exact opposite.

Re: Humanity has wiped out 60% of animals since 1970, major report finds

#14

Post by snailletters » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 10:17 AM UTC

FriedPickles wrote: post #5

If this headline feels overwhelming to you, I highly recommend this article by Stewart Brand: https://aeon.co/essays/we-are-not-edging-up-to-a-mass-extinc... Note that it’s animal populations that are decreasing rapidly, not species.

Stewart Brand recently hosted Chris D. Thomas to talk at the Long Now Seminar about anthropocene speciation [0].

The premise is that current wild species are under severe duress due to changing environments, however nature is thriving in the age of extinction.

0. http://longnow.org/seminars/02018/jun/19/are-we-initiating-g...

Re: Humanity has wiped out 60% of animals since 1970, major report finds

#15

Post by cbkeller » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 10:18 AM UTC

betageek wrote: post #3

Is this true? It is hard to believe that killing off 60% of animals on the planet would leave us with a functioning ecosystem. It's also very hard to work out what the facts are here without finding yourself in climate change denial land, a place I do not want to visit.

Geologist here! The report in question [1] and supplement [2] seem pretty think-tank-y, but I would say they pass the sniff test to first order (if we have a biologist or ecologist around, they could probably say better). The focus on animals makes it relatively plausible -- these are charismatic and easy to observe, but a lot of the ecological heavy lifting / biogeochemical nutrient cycling is really carried out by microbes, which are are probably doing better. Microbes also represent most of Earth's genetic diversity, and will pretty certainly survive any mass extinction we throw at them.

In any case, the Guardian article is correct in claiming that

>Many scientists believe the world has begun a sixth mass extinction

This is pretty well accepted among geologists and paleontologists, as far as I've seen. Here's one relatively recent perspective on the issue, which covers some of the back-and-forth: http://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6393/1080.2

[1] https://s3.amazonaws.com/wwfassets/downloads/lpr2018_full_re... [2] http://awsassets.panda.org/downloads/lpr2018_technical_suppl...

Re: Humanity has wiped out 60% of animals since 1970, major report finds

#16

Post by Cthulhu_ » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 10:20 AM UTC

expertentipp wrote: post #2

> “We are rapidly running out of time,” said Prof Johan Rockström, a global sustainability expert at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany. “Only by addressing both ecosystems and climate do we stand a chance of safeguarding a stable planet for humanity’s future on Earth.” This is what happened the last time European bison crossed Polish-German border. Bison is under strict protection in both c…

You say that but local development has to keep it in mind. There's a similar tale about wolves in my side of Europe (more to the west), they've been spotted on occasion. They feed on local livestock though, which is causing direct economic damage (not to mention cleanup). Of course, sheep will also fall into the water and drown on occasion, or end up on their backs and die.

Re: Humanity has wiped out 60% of animals since 1970, major report finds

#17

Post by ivanhoe » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 10:21 AM UTC

60% of animals or 60% of animal species?

Re: Humanity has wiped out 60% of animals since 1970, major report finds

#18

Post by anoplus » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 10:21 AM UTC

Some companies are willing to harm humans and the environment for profit. I am active against a gas processing project in Israel, planned to be built near residents. Thousands of people joined the battle to protect their water and air against the blind tycoon greed. Government hands are tied by threats and bribe. Press are under incredible pressure to keep silent about the protests.

We demand building the rigs 120km off shore at original drilling spot, without at least harming people directly.

Unfortunately, demands for renewable clean energies have no chance the near future. It would be best to avoid polluting the sea all together

Re: Humanity has wiped out 60% of animals since 1970, major report finds

#19

Post by feistypharit » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 10:21 AM UTC

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #11

montenegrohugo wrote: post #10

Human Population has more than doubled in the same timespan (from 3.7 billion to 7.7 billion today). This is not sustainable. We only have one small planet to live on, and we are destroying it. We are overfishing the oceans, cutting down entire forests to make way for pastures, warming up the planet and acidifying the plastic-filled ocean. Even insect populations are plummeting. The consequences of this will not be f…

I'm afraid the problem will fix itself soon enough. WW3 could be around the corner according to the people behind the Doomsday Clock. Climate change will cause famine, natural disasters and mass migrations. Poverty, overpriced health care and a lack of common social structure (every man for himself) will lower the life expectancy again after decades of increase.

Sadly, I think this is right. The "fix" involves one group of people telling another group of people what to do. That never goes over without a fight. Especially when it will involve land, life and death, and reproductive rights.

I think what we're seeing with government's moving more right wing is the first step of this. These people are already operating on this assumption and plan on being the ones doing the telling.

Re: Humanity has wiped out 60% of animals since 1970, major report finds

#20

Post by cyberpunk0 » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 10:22 AM UTC

albertgoeswoof wrote: post #13

montenegrohugo wrote: post #10

Human Population has more than doubled in the same timespan (from 3.7 billion to 7.7 billion today). This is not sustainable. We only have one small planet to live on, and we are destroying it. We are overfishing the oceans, cutting down entire forests to make way for pastures, warming up the planet and acidifying the plastic-filled ocean. Even insect populations are plummeting. The consequences of this will not be f…

What’s not sustainable? The human population doubling again? Or maintaining the current population? Clearly we have to address climate change but it’s not a growing population that is unsustainable, if anything the progress over the past 50 years has indicated the exact opposite.

Uhh our population is also a huge problem driving that climate change.. wtf?