Do you remember this TV commercial?
Butter became a sinister artery clogging agent of death!
Fortunately we no longer care about what we eat.
Now margarine is evil and butter is back.
Back in the 70s the only thing that butter was good for was demonstrated by Marlon Brando in Last Tango In Paris.
Thiry years later we are still quite glib about the whole Mother Nature/Gaia thingamabob...
'In James Lovelock's latest book, The Revenge of Gaia, he argues that the lack of respect humans have had for Gaia, through the damage done to rainforests and the reduction in planetary biodiversity, is testing Gaia's capacity to minimize the effects of the addition of greenhouse gases in the atomosphere.
This eliminates the planet's homeostatic negative feedback potential and increases the likelihood of positive feedbacks associated with runaway global warming.
Similarly the warming of the oceans is extending the oceanic thermocline layer of tropical oceans into the Arctic and Antarctic waters, preventing the rise of oceanic nutrients into the surface waters and eliminating the algal blooms of phytoplankton on which oceanic foodchains depend.
As phytoplankton and forests are the main ways in which Gaia draws down greenhouse gases, particularly CO2, taking it out of the atomosphere, the elimination of this environmental buffering will see, according to Lovelock, most of the earth becoming uninhabitable for humans and other life-forms by the middle of next century,
with a massive extension of tropical deserts.'
DESERT ANYONE?
'According to James Lovelock, by 2040, the world population of more than six billion will have been culled by floods, drought and famine. The people of Southern Europe, as well as South-East Asia, will be fighting their way into countries such as Canada, Australia and Britain.'
He says that "By 2040, parts of the Sahara desert will have moved into middle Europe.
We are talking about Paris - as far north as Berlin. In Britain we will escape because of our oceanic position."
Lovelock believes it is too late to repair the damage.
"If you take the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predictions, then by 2040 every summer in Europe will be as hot as it was in 2003 - between 110F and 120F.
It is not the death of people that is the main problem, it is the fact that the plants can't grow - there will be almost no food grown in Europe."
"We are about to take an evolutionary step and my hope is that the species will emerge stronger. It would be hubris to think humans as they now are God's chosen race."
Like I said, it's not nice to f*ck with Mother Nature.
Thanks for this INVALUABLE lesson.
ReplyDeleteNow go, wash your mouth for using the F word. Twice.
I have had a lot of eye openers this week. I don't know why I hadn't before.. but it took my five year old asking questions that she heard from school, to make me see what we are doing.
ReplyDeleteI have decided to do try and turn a new leaf. hopefully others will too. and hopefully we will not irradicate our species (and all the others too).
Interesting what Xmichra said because yesterday I overheard a young child (about 5) asking a cashier what SHE was doing for Earth Day.
ReplyDelete*returns to recycling empty booze bottles*
I sprayed ants to death for earth day.
ReplyDeleteYOU ARE WRONG! I still cling to the ice-age theory from 40 years back. The sun now is going into its cool 'period' will give us a mini ice-age like the one 100 years ago.
Besides if you ask Mother Nature she isn't going to say its all about us. Why do humans take it so personal? they will be dead but nature will continue such is the way of things.
Look at Mars, no humans but its 100% natural with poly saturates.
Have all the theories of what might happen been used yet? someone is bound to be right some time.
ReplyDeleteOld Knudsen again says.
ReplyDeleteIn biblical times they thought the world was going to end hence the bible.
666 and the Romans etc, also every start of each century, Y2K.
I like sand but not in my sandwitches.
I have a theory about humanity as a species. Like it or not, we are a small part of a larger organism, the Earth. It's rivers and streams are it's blood; and when we pollute, we infect mother nature. And like any organism under attack, it's immune system kicks in an effort to eradicate the poison (us). We've gone from a symbiotic relationship with our host to a parasitic one.
ReplyDeleteThe Earth has survived the extinction of many species, caused by venting of internal poisonous gases and geothermic forces or crashes from outer space. It'll survive our passing as well.
That being said, I am still an optimist. I do believe that humanity is an organism, still has the innate instinct to survive. And to do this, it self regulates, controls it's own growth when it exceeds the resources available in it's environment. It's all ready started the process.
ReplyDeleteCell apoptosis is when the organisms cells initiate a program to commit suicide, usually for the benefit of the whole organism; it kills off the infected and compromised cells for the better survival of the organism.
The human organism has initiated apoptosis. I think that's why people are getting obese, so they'll be less likely to live longer and reproduce; more people are compelled to move the coastlines, where hurricanes are getting stronger and rising water levels are killing many more year after year. Many have become addicted to ingesting poisonous substances, knowing full well they'll die from repeated use. The human organism is trying to adapt to a changing world. Get smaller or smarter and survive the changes; or fail to adapt and become extinct.
Mother Nature?????
ReplyDeleteTypical Bloody Woman!
The more I experience my fellow man, the more I would just as soon see another mass extinction, only a very narrowly targeted one. Every other species except us has evolved to work synergistically with it's environment, and all we do is simply poison it, pave it over, or wipe it out. We never should have happened.
ReplyDeleteLike other commenters, I, too, am not necessarily worried about the planet as it will survive. It will be different, but it will survive. It's us and the process of what it will be like for my grandkids that makes me sad.
ReplyDeleteIf Clive Owen says "pass the margarine" then I'll be passin'! (And it'll be damn sexy.)
ReplyDeleteWorld Environment day's on June 5th.
ReplyDeleteThe all government tip brass are meeting in Denmark at the end of the year to discuss reducing carbon emissions.
But onto the serious stuff: one of my pals got a girl back to his gaff and wanted to (how shall I say this), take the tradesman's entrance. Not having any KY Jelly, he used good old margerine to help him in.
Old Lovelock sounds I right little bundle of fun.
ReplyDeleteIf global warming is true , why have you been up to you man dumplings in snow in Winterpeg for the last 6 months
I know Gore et al suddenly realised they were talking b*ll*cks and sneakily changed the name to Climat Change.....but still , sounds a load of old cobblers to me
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ReplyDeleteGAUTAMI
ReplyDeleteOh-yeah!
You can't pull that %#$@ Teacher $%#*& on me!
I can %#$@ say @%#$ or *#%@ or ^%#$ or ##** or #&@% or ###% whenever the $%#^ I ^$%# feel like it! :)
How spooky. Crabtree's last post was about storks. And I couldn't resist mentioning Last Tango in Paris.
ReplyDeleteDo all bloggers have filthy minds?
Also Mother Nature says Margarin you say it Margareen.
ReplyDeleteIts fargin scary!!!
ReplyDelete