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Up to one million species are on the verge of extinction, U.N. panel says

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Up to one million species are on the verge of extinction, U.N. panel says

#111

Post by MiroF »

fcarraldo wrote: post #102
navigatesol wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What a bunch of bullshit. I'm not a vegan, even though I'm sure you'll label me as having an "anti-meat agenda." I have substantially cut down on my own meat consumption due to the environmental impact. Do you fly less? Drive less or carpool? Recycle? Live in a small home? Did you decide to not to have children? Wear only used clothing? Do you track your trash and food waste? Do you eat less? Shower less? Do you do…

You can continue to enjoy your meat, but still ensure your diet contains a responsible amount of it. A diet with proportionally less meat is both healthier and more environmentally sustainable. I will never understand why Americans are personally affronted by the idea that they should eat less meat. What makes it such an insulting proposition?

> What makes it such an insulting proposition?

People are bred and raised with this axiomatic, individualist "you against the world" attitude from birth. There's a huge cultural divide.

"Why the fuck should I have to ever give anything up that I don't want to, to help you? And fuck you for guilt-tripping me" is pretty much the standard fare.

Re: Up to one million species are on the verge of extinction, U.N. panel says

#112

Post by hak8or »

navigatesol wrote: post #86
MiroF wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What a bunch of bullshit. I'm not a vegan, even though I'm sure you'll label me as having an "anti-meat agenda." I have substantially cut down on my own meat consumption due to the environmental impact. > industrial agriculture as a whole is not sustainable, not just meat, and switching to a plants-based diet won’t save the planet. Just because two things both cause emissions doesn't mean one isn't much, much worse t…

> What a bunch of bullshit. I'm not a vegan, even though I'm sure you'll label me as having an "anti-meat agenda." I have substantially cut down on my own meat consumption due to the environmental impact. Do you fly less? Drive less or carpool? Recycle? Live in a small home? Did you decide to not to have children? Wear only used clothing? Do you track your trash and food waste? Do you eat less? Shower less? Do you do…

The reaosn people don't take climate change seriously is because they are severely lacking in science education, grossly misinformed (both of which cause said opinions to be "bullshit"), or selfish.

Re: Up to one million species are on the verge of extinction, U.N. panel says

#113

Post by matz1 »

java_script wrote: post #69
matz1 wrote: post #62

The article wasn't very clear, how does extinction of one million species affect my well being?

They majorly buried the lede in this article and species #536,112 is "human".

But referring from the title, human is not among the one million species.

Re: Up to one million species are on the verge of extinction, U.N. panel says

#114

Post by TheRealDunkirk »

So? Isn't this just evolution in action? Isn't this what's supposed to happen? We kill off 1M species, we eat the planet, humans eventually go through a winnowing process, from lack of resources, or nuclear war, or AI, and in a couple hundred million years, everything adapts to fill out the prevailing ecology again. What makes us think we're so special?

I'm only being partly sarcastic here. With 500 MILLION years of change and adaptation -- to a climate we know to have been WILDLY different in times past -- through SEVEN mass extinction events -- why is RIGHT NOW the PERFECT moment in planetary evolution which must be preserved exactly, no matter the cost?

To me, it's all Horizon Zero Dawn territory.

Re: Up to one million species are on the verge of extinction, U.N. panel says

#115

Post by tehlike »

TheRealDunkirk wrote: post #114

So? Isn't this just evolution in action? Isn't this what's supposed to happen? We kill off 1M species, we eat the planet, humans eventually go through a winnowing process, from lack of resources, or nuclear war, or AI, and in a couple hundred million years, everything adapts to fill out the prevailing ecology again. What makes us think we're so special? I'm only being partly sarcastic here. With 500 MILLION years of…

Because we like to believe we are intelligent animals that can prevent its own extinction.

Re: Up to one million species are on the verge of extinction, U.N. panel says

#117

Post by TheRealDunkirk »

tehlike wrote: post #115
TheRealDunkirk wrote: post #114

So? Isn't this just evolution in action? Isn't this what's supposed to happen? We kill off 1M species, we eat the planet, humans eventually go through a winnowing process, from lack of resources, or nuclear war, or AI, and in a couple hundred million years, everything adapts to fill out the prevailing ecology again. What makes us think we're so special? I'm only being partly sarcastic here. With 500 MILLION years of…

Because we like to believe we are intelligent animals that can prevent its own extinction.

It's becoming increasingly clear that greed is beating intelligence. And, like, badly. Looks to me like nature will (eventually) have to balance the scales for us.

Re: Up to one million species are on the verge of extinction, U.N. panel says

#118

Post by uptown »

matz1 wrote: post #62

The article wasn't very clear, how does extinction of one million species affect my well being?

Ecosystems are all interconnected. As an example, see "How Wolves Changed Rivers":

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8448929

Now, imagine the impact of a million species being wiped from the earth.

Re: Up to one million species are on the verge of extinction, U.N. panel says

#119

Post by _Microft »

emptyfile wrote: post #57
perfunctory wrote: post #11

We keep hearing that individual actions don't matter and that we need a system change instead. I used to hold the same opinion for the very long time. However, since recently I started to turn around. For the last 30 years governments and politicians have proven incapable to do anything about global heating. What makes us think it will be any different in the coming years. Scientists keep producing report after repor…

>- Reduce your meat consumption as much as you can. Don't go all the way vegan, but make meat a special treat not a commodity. Why? How will this help the environment? Real sources please.

Reason is biology/physics. You need ten times the biomass to create an equivalent biomass at a trophic level that is one higher. It HAS to be more inefficient to eat meat instead of crops because it raises your trophic level by 1.

(Worst case is eating what were apex predators like e.g. tuna fish)

About trophic levels:

Level 1 are producers like plants. Herbivores are level 2, carnivores eating herbivores are level 3, carnivores eating carnivores are level 4 and then there's the apex predator that is not eaten by anything, usually.

Some links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trophic_level#Biomass_transfer... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecological_efficiency#Ten_perc...

Re: Up to one million species are on the verge of extinction, U.N. panel says

#120

Post by kilroy123 »

I have a theory, and I have no evidence to back this theory up.

The increases in anxiety in the general public over the last decade or so is in large part to people knowing we're on an unsustainable path. We're all collectively marching towards the edge of the cliff to jump off together. More people than ever have anxiety because we subconsciously (or consciously) know this.

We're unsustainable with how we pollute and how we treat the environment. How we overfish the oceans. Income inequality rising. Political and cultural polarization widening.

It's all so unsustainable.

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