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105 Comments
- inactive, on 03/31/2009, -1/+24Achievement Unlocked
- davewashere, on 03/31/2009, -1/+18Wasn't there a mass extinction caused by algae releasing massive amounts of oxygen into the atmosphere? Maybe I'm not remembering my History Channel correctly, but I thought there was.
- kp998, on 03/30/2009, -11/+25FTA: The eminent Harvard biologist Edward O Wilson has wisely noted that the time has come to start calling the "environmentalist view" the "real-world view". We can’t ignore reality simply because it doesn’t conform nicely within convenient boundaries and moneymaking strategies. After all, what good will all of our conveniences do for us, if we keep generating them in ways that collectively destroy the necessities of life?
- dreamache, on 03/31/2009, -4/+17"but what’s different about this die-off is that this is the only such event precipitated by a biotic agent: humans. " As if humans are some sort of unnatural entity, like aliens.. Go hug some more trees dailygalaxy.
- anexanhume, on 03/31/2009, -3/+15So, what you're saying is that we're just as cool as asteroids, volcanoes, and huge salt lakes?
Awesome. - bigterguy, on 03/31/2009, -2/+12He is wrong about that. How many species do you think died out when the blu-green algae reformed the earth's atmosphere from ammonia-hydrogen-nitrogen to an oxidizing atmosphere? There have certainly been uncountable examples of one species driving another one extinct, but they aren't well documented.
All of the projections about species extinction is pure speculation. We don't know how many species there are now, or were in the past.
Having said that, as a species we should 'tread lightly' since we clearly have the ability to dramatically modify the planet. While I disagree with EO WIlson's methods, his intentions are honorable. - Draugrdraugr, on 03/31/2009, -15/+23Yeah, you sound so smart calling this the first mass extinction. this will be far from the first.
- Mimeaphone, on 03/31/2009, -1/+9http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen_catastrophe
This is not the first extinction caused by a "biotic agent". - hasslinthehoff, on 03/31/2009, -2/+10Stop building Panera Breads and affordable tract housing out where forests used to be. It's real, real simple: Habitat loss means less animals and less plants. Once we tackle the problem of curbing sprawl and figuring out how to keep wild areas wild we're basically just blowing smoke up our ass with all this guilt trip crap from Gore and his ilk.
- inactive, on 03/30/2009, -6/+13Nice insane rant there.
- mavrick45, on 03/31/2009, -1/+8there was. all the simple organisms that couldn't survive on O2 died
- jamescarl, on 03/31/2009, -1/+8The Oxygen Catastrophe was the first known biologically caused mass extinction. The first bacteria were not oxygen breathers but did produce it as a waste gas. When enough of the gas was produced in the atmosphere, the whole world changed. The iron ore we mine comes from the iron that oxidized in the oceans from the oxygen buildup. Mass extinction happened because Oxygen was a poison to most of these early spieces.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen_Catastrophe
Now we are seeing the opposite effect with CO2 being the poison gas that is building up in the atmostphere. - ironhide, on 03/31/2009, -1/+7Try reading it again - its the first one precipitated by humans.
- PaleoDigger, on 03/31/2009, -2/+8Even if there's a proven linkage between human actions and an extinction of a species, isn't that still natural selection at work (and proof thereby of Darwinian evolution theory of natural selection). I mean, humans are creatures of nature, are we not? Just because a human touches something does not mean it's an "unnatural act". It's time we stop thinking of our species as somehow "above nature". We are part of the natural world, and just as an erupting volcano or earthquake can be responsible for a mass extinction, we can also be the cause. Extinctions will occur whether the human race is on the planet or not. Always have, always will.
However, unlike a volcano or earthquake, we have the ability to recognize and reverse the trend if we deem it necessary. The power is ours, what we decide to do with that power is entirely up to us as a species. - Bots, on 03/31/2009, -3/+9might want to try reading the article. hes saying its going to be the first extinction caused by an actual species - as apposed to random natural events
- deadmoo, on 03/31/2009, -0/+6There is also a theory that disease (bacteria, virus, or other) killed off the dinosaurs.
- Mimeaphone, on 03/31/2009, -0/+5The real title of the article, FTA: "The Planet's First-ever Mass-Extinction Precipitated by a Biotic Agent: Humans"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen_catastrophe
Humans aren't the first species to cause global mass extinctions. - plainOldFool, on 03/31/2009, -0/+5Wow, now that was an obscene assumption you threw down there. Global Warming deniers != Creationists and Creationists != global warming deniers.
- slapded, on 03/31/2009, -0/+5Everything Bagel FTW?
- shutaro, on 03/31/2009, -5/+10OM NOM NOM NOM!
- Floodle, on 03/31/2009, -1/+6They might do better if they evolve before they become extinct, otherwise it's a bit late.
- marx2k, on 03/31/2009, -0/+5Mass extinction is an extinction rate much greater than normal background extinction
- ironhide, on 03/31/2009, -0/+4moot, not mute
- gatorfree, on 03/31/2009, -0/+4The Late Pleistocene Extinctions (around 11,000 years ago) were supposedly caused by human hunters killing all the North American big game.
Either that or the comet that's coming back in 2012. - bhuntsbarger, on 03/31/2009, -0/+4I thought this would be something to do with Ginger-kids again
- ironhide, on 03/31/2009, -0/+4Mass extinction is the extinction of a large number of species fairly close together.
- thefangedrabbit, on 03/31/2009, -5/+9If I'm not mistaken, aren't humans a species? What makes us not part of the natural order of things?
- bigterguy, on 03/31/2009, -0/+4One species poison is another's food.
By the time it is proven that human produced CO2 is a problem (hundreds of years) we will have moved on to non-CO2 producing energy sources. - Rivfader, on 03/31/2009, -1/+4Yeah really, what in God's name is he blabbering about?
- vat0r, on 03/31/2009, -1/+4Sentience is a product of evolution so your point is mute.
- MrSlumberjack, on 03/31/2009, -0/+3@ bigterguy,
The extinctions caused by the Native Americans can't really be considered a mass extinction. A mass extinction is considered to affect almost all taxonomic groups- birds, mammals, reptiles, fish, amphibians and invertebrates. - TsuruchiBrian, on 03/31/2009, -0/+3Your moot point is a product of your sentience which is a product of evolution. So even your moot point is part of the natural order.
- CSimonds, on 03/31/2009, -0/+3I know they had said some years back that frogs and salamanders were being destroyed by runoff from people using pesticides and herbacides on their yards. At the time, these pesticides claimed to be safe for everything BUT the bugs or weeds it meant to eradicate. Then some years later the truth came out that it was killing, maiming, harming, and screwing up everything else. By then it was too late. So, sure, we can blame in on we-the-evil-humans. BUT....if we use something that explicitly claims to be SAFE and then find out later that it was not...then which humans are to blame? The simple folks who TRY to do right or the huge corporations that are merely in it for a buck? What it usually boils down to is how ALL of us are to blame for everything -- when it is actually a few. Then who pays the price? WE do. Just like all these new "save the planet" taxes they are hinting at. Who is going to pay them? WE will! NOT the big corporations that pollute the environment!
- GroundLifter, on 03/31/2009, -0/+3WOW! There are so many detractors here. Since when is it unfashionable to care about our planet? This article isn't saying something new. Scientists have been saying that humans have been negatively effecting the planet for well over a hundred years. It's just that now we're really starting to see it.
- jawshoeuh, on 03/31/2009, -2/+5I've never had a guilt trip from any of Gore and his ilk, maybe I'm not getting the same information you are. Why do some people get so defensive about environmental articles like this? Is this article singling you out and persecuting you for eating off paper plates or driving an suv or something? No? Settle down then, jeez. And to counter your point there, the article mentioned species that have died off by 95-98% in protected areas like Yosemite not where that new shopping center went up.
- IHopeHeFails, on 03/31/2009, -2/+5"What’s different about this die-off is that this is the only such event precipitated by a biotic agent: humans. "
Unprovable statement. There is no way of knowing if another biotic agent caused a previous extinction. - nathanbutnet, on 03/31/2009, -1/+4You are onto something, but are missing one key point: we need to stop building humans. Our population growth is in fact the root of the problems we are seeing.
- jawshoeuh, on 03/31/2009, -0/+3jeez, to not read the article is one thing, but to not even read the summary up there?
"What’s different about this die-off is that this is the only such event precipitated by a biotic agent: humans." - inactive, on 03/31/2009, -0/+3Don't blame us animals haven't evolved to order their food at Panera Bread.
- Crazyredivan, on 03/31/2009, -0/+3The point is to stem the tide now- use what is there. Fix infrastructures and existing cities rather than build in the middle of nowhere, where people have to drive 25 miles to get to work. We need to start to use what's already available to us instead of ignoring it because it isn't pretty, new, and in a suburb.
And, yes, I live in a city and I take the train to work. - IHopeHeFails, on 03/31/2009, -1/+3"We can’t ignore reality simply because it doesn’t conform nicely within convenient boundaries and moneymaking strategies."
FYI - The environmental agenda is a money making strategy. Check out Al Gore's net worth after leaving office as VP and his current net worth (after being Mr. Environment). If you think that being a Nobel prize winner (which is a joke these days) affected his income, then feel free to research what it was before that. Environmentalism is big business. Carbon trading alone is huge. - Fudgefactor7, on 03/31/2009, -4/+6We hare Human beings, native to Earth, right?
We are in the Animal Kingdom, right?
Therefore, Humans are Animals.
Any action taken my an animal in predatory manner against another animal is something that nature has dealt with for more time than we can possibly imagine.
To truly think that we are going to screw things up by our presence is to be filled with self-hate. Those who suffer from it can "save the world" by offing yourself. The rest of us will go along and keep on keepin' on.
We cannot undo our existance just to please a species that apparently is too stupid to GTFO of the way. Just because I happen to kill insects all the time, does not make me Pol Pot or Hitler. - jawshoeuh, on 03/31/2009, -2/+4Well he did say it was the first precipitated by humans... not the first ever... since you want to get technical.
- marshalkowski, on 03/31/2009, -0/+2Mass Effect is a video game where you can play a biotic agent.
- FearlessFreep, on 03/31/2009, -4/+6Yes!!! We Win Life!!! Suck it all you loser species that couldn't hack it
- inactive, on 03/31/2009, -0/+2Keep having more brats folks.
- jaymzdean, on 03/31/2009, -1/+3"Oh *****, Bob, this by-product is toxic!"
"Who care's, we'll bury it!"
"Cool."
"Oh *****, Bob, we're producing too much wast to manage!"
"Who care's, we'll run a pipeline into the ocean."
"Cool."
Edward Bernays' irrational collective mind can't escape ***** on it's own drinking fountain and picnic table.
"Oh *****, Bob, the peoples are getting uptight about the ***** on the drinking fountain and the picnic table."
"Who cares, manufacture some creature comforts, advertise them in HD, and reap the profits...they'll forget about the *****."
"Cool." - bobburn1, on 03/31/2009, -2/+4az long az I can haz cheezburger I duz not care
- Rapter09, on 03/31/2009, -0/+2I don't know why he's being dugg down.
American car companies are basically the prime example of this.
They made their money, but then didn't care about anything else because they were still making money (and i'm not talking about the pollution here, I'm more talking about the frame of mind.) Then foreign countries came in with intelligence and banked off efficient design, engineering and construction while American car companies were still on the same old status quo. They didn't want to change because it would cost money, and they didn't want to stop making so much money, so they put their blinders on and now they're going bankrupt.
We don't want to make change now to save the environment because its too difficult, will cost too much money, or innovation is being stifled by competition for money. We'll be bankrupt as a species before you know it. - KSUdesigner, on 03/31/2009, -0/+2What went extinct from the black plague? I don't think you know what the word "extinction" means.
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