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Earth Extinction 2030

Just came upon this book from 2009. Interesting - aside from the extinction idea - it would be an interesting read based solely on the Table of Contents which one can read if one clicks on the book icon in the Amazon link.


TEXT: "The extensive literature about averting ecological disasters, nuclear catastrophe, and unsupportable overpopulation typically describes dangers, analyzes their implications, and presses for remedial action. It seems that what is taken as too obvious and well understood to mention, let alone to address seriously, is humanity's failure to give global and human survival top priority.

"More careful consideration of this irrational, self-destructive sociocultural negligence shows that it is complex, puzzling, and ensconced and perpetuated by pathological societal defenses. This paradox is Averting Global Extinction's subject; Berger argues that if these psychological defenses were reduced, so would be society's indifference to necessary action.

"The book's clinically informed approach conceptualizes society's self-destructiveness as an analogue to the self-destructive psychopathologies of individuals, identifies society's ubiquitous and destructive psychological defenses (denial, projection, and avoidance) as the chief element in that sociocultural psychopathology, and devises a "sociocultural therapy." This therapy is accomplished by translating a carefully selected individual psychotherapy framework, a subtype of the so-called analysis of defense, into a corresponding societal therapeutic methodology—society becomes the "patient." "
 
In the April issue of 'Scientific American' -

Earth Will Cross the Climate Danger Threshold by 2036 - Scientific American


From March 24, 2014 - a 'moderate' view if there can be such in such a situation - ticking off all the boxes of concern - the 'unknown unknowns' - the man is talking sense -


A YouTube poster puts it this way, it's always nice to get the 'how will this impact my life' scenario: "Though we probably have underestimated the outward radiation increase due to flawed modelling. There will probably be some lag due to the build up of more mitigating cloud cover but those are just short term effects.

"The problem with 'reading the signs' with this sort of issue is the suddenness of spike once all the loops start to add to the loop effect and actually begin reinforcing the loops themselves across the board. It won't merely be a runaway issue. Think of it more in terms of warp speed.

"The ultimate delaying factor is not an increase in cloud cover but the willingness, if you will, of the oceans to take it up the ass, CO2 wise. If predictions are correct, we should see their [the oceans'] willingness to falter as early as 2016 after the the coming El Niño has had its way with them. And if they [the oceans] stop taking up more CO2 or even start to expel that stuff be sure to tune into the Weather Channel on a regular basis. No Brat Pitt movie will be able to top it and it's all in natural 3D!

"In the past, CO2 rise has always been a side effect to warming, never a trigger.

"We better hope we are up for an ice age this century."
 
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I hit 'Like' but seems an odd thing to 'Like' - ya know? One of those moments when it feels like an explanation is in order - I agree that privatized water is insanity - and runaway greed. Shame on them/us! :mad:

Yeah makes you very angry I can understand that, hell it makes me scream in bloody rage!

In the April issue of 'Scientific American' -

Earth Will Cross the Climate Danger Threshold by 2036 - Scientific American


From March 24, 2014 - a 'moderate' view if there can be such in such a situation - ticking off all the boxes of concern - the 'unknown unknowns' - the man is talking sense -


A YouTube poster puts it this way, it's always nice to get the 'how will this impact my life' scenario: "Though we probably have underestimated the outward radiation increase due to flawed modelling. There will probably be some lag due to the build up of more mitigating cloud cover but those are just short term effects.

"The problem with 'reading the signs' with this sort of issue is the suddenness of spike once all the loops start to add to the loop effect and actually begin reinforcing the loops themselves across the board. It won't merely be a runaway issue. Think of it more in terms of warp speed.

"The ultimate delaying factor is not an increase in cloud cover but the willingness, if you will, of the oceans to take it up the ass, CO2 wise. If predictions are correct, we should see their [the oceans'] willingness to falter as early as 2016 after the the coming El Niño has had its way with them. And if they [the oceans] stop taking up more CO2 or even start to expel that stuff be sure to tune into the Weather Channel on a regular basis. No Brat Pitt movie will be able to top it and it's all in natural 3D!

"In the past, CO2 rise has always been a side effect to warming, never a trigger.

"We better hope we are up for an ice age this century."

Personally I do not think we are going to get that far.

Why I think that is the state of Geopolitics and the condition of the worlds economy, as such I really think things are going to overheat on the aforementioned fronts well before the 2036 date.
China has a property bubble right on the edge of going bang as well as Australia both of which spell doom for my little nation as we have a property market that is 70% over is real value right now and if either of those bubbles go New Zealand is in deep trouble as will many other nations around the world.
That is just one situation and there are many more both political and financial that I really do think will pull this civilization to its knees in the very near future.
 
I 'liked' but same ambiguity - I just appreciate what you're saying @stonehart. :(

As far as what I know from my own experience - I do know that planting cycles are being impacted - that means local food production. But I think I am in a sufficiently vigorous local milieu that we will figure it out as it happens, as individuals and as a municipality - even as a state. I do not anticipate a societal breakdown - we will just have to 'adjust' far more rapidly than anticipated. I'm in California and we already have systems in place for catastrophe (earthquakes). Los Angeles has factored in a rise in sea level in its civic planning - though the plans have 2040 as the target date to be ready for.

As I'm writing this it occurs to me to get involved in some local planning. Has to be incredibly complex as so may people are not making choices with 'extinction' as the background narrative. Would be interesting to be involved in, though.
 
I 'liked' but same ambiguity - I just appreciate what you're saying @stonehart. :(

As far as what I know from my own experience - I do know that planting cycles are being impacted - that means local food production. But I think I am in a sufficiently vigorous local milieu that we will figure it out as it happens, as individuals and as a municipality - even as a state. I do not anticipate a societal breakdown - we will just have to 'adjust' far more rapidly than anticipated. I'm in California and we already have systems in place for catastrophe (earthquakes). Los Angeles has factored in a rise in sea level in its civic planning - though the plans have 2040 as the target date to be ready for.

As I'm writing this it occurs to me to get involved in some local planning. Has to be incredibly complex as so may people are not making choices with 'extinction' as the background narrative. Would be interesting to be involved in, though.

Sorry for the late reply I was down in a little place called Wanaka here in New Zealand over night for work.

Good to see your local government has some things in place as I can tell you when they don't it creates a hell of a mess as I experienced here with our series of earthquakes.
 
LINK: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/07/s....html?emc=edit_na_20140506&nlid=54852892&_r=0

TEXT: "The effects of human-induced climate change are being felt in every corner of the United States, scientists reported Tuesday, with water growing scarcer in dry regions, torrential rains increasing in wet regions, heat waves becoming more common and more severe, wildfires growing worse, and forests dying under assault from heat-loving insects.

"Such sweeping changes have been caused by an average warming of less than 2 degrees Fahrenheit over most land areas of the country in the past century, the scientists found. If greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane continue to escalate at a rapid pace, they said, the warming could conceivably exceed 10 degrees by the end of this century.

" “Climate change, once considered an issue for a distant future, has moved firmly into the present,” the scientists declared in a major new report assessing the situation in the United States.

" “Summers are longer and hotter, and extended periods of unusual heat last longer than any living American has ever experienced,” the report continued. “Winters are generally shorter and warmer. Rain comes in heavier downpours. People are seeing changes in the length and severity of seasonal allergies, the plant varieties that thrive in their gardens, and the kinds of birds they see in any particular month in their neighborhoods.” "
 
LINK: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/13/s...0140513&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=54852892&_r=0

TEXT: A large section of the mighty West Antarctica ice sheet has begun falling apart and its continued melting now appears to be unstoppable, two groups of scientists reported on Monday. If the findings hold up, they suggest that the melting could destabilize neighboring parts of the ice sheet and a rise in sea level of 10 feet or more may be unavoidable in coming centuries.

Global warming caused by the human-driven release of greenhouse gases has helped to destabilize the ice sheet, though other factors may also be involved, the scientists said.

The rise of the sea is likely to continue to be relatively slow for the rest of the 21st century, the scientists added, but in the more distant future it may accelerate markedly, potentially throwing society into crisis.

“This is really happening,” Thomas P. Wagner, who runs NASA’s programs on polar ice and helped oversee some of the research, said in an interview. “There’s nothing to stop it now. But you are still limited by the physics of how fast the ice can flow.”

Two scientific papers released on Monday by the journals Science and Geophysical Research Letters came to similar conclusions by different means. Both groups of scientists found that West Antarctic glaciers had retreated far enough to set off an inherent instability in the ice sheet, one that experts have feared for decades. NASA called a telephone news conference Monday to highlight the urgency of the findings.

“Today we present observational evidence that a large sector of the West Antarctic ice sheet has gone into irreversible retreat,” Dr. Rignot said in the NASA news conference. “It has passed the point of no return.”
 
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