Indicators of Ecological Crisis
Read a summary of this article here.
"The problem that confronts us is that every living system in the biosphere is in decline, and the rate of decline is accelerating. There isn't one peer-reviewed scientific article in the past twenty years that's been published that contradicts that statement. Living systems are coral reefs, they're our climate stability, forest cover, the oceans themselves, aquifers, water, the conditions of the soil, biodiversity--they go on and on as they get more specific, but the fact is there isn't one living system that is stable or is improving, and those living systems provide the basis for all life."
- Paul Hawken, author and environmentalist
“It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge the consequences of dodging our responsibilities.” - Josiah Charles, English economist
1) Global warming
a) Climate models predict that the average temperature of the Earth could increase up to 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit by the year 2100.
b) According to NASA, the Earth’s average surface temperature has increased by about 1.2 degrees Fahrenheit (0.7 degrees Celsius) in the last 100 years.1 For some perspective, the last ice age occurred at five degrees Fahrenheit less than the current global temperature.
c) Levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide have increased to 385 ppm2, a 100-ppm increase since the pre-industrial average.3
d) Gaseous methane has recently begun entering the atmosphere after escaping from melting permafrost in many Arctic regions. For comparison, methane is 20 times as effective as carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas.4
e) In a recent conference of climate experts, it was shown that carbon levels are highly unlikely to be restricted to 650 ppm. This would translate to the mentioned increase of roughly 7 degrees Fahrenheit (4 degrees Celsius), enough to “bring extreme food and water shortages in vulnerable countries and cause floods that would displace hundreds of millions of people.” Other experts agree that “we’re at the very top end of the worst case [emissions] scenario.” Unfortunately, carbon levels of 350 ppm or lower are required to “preserve a planet similar to that on which… life on Earth is adapted.”5
f) “It is also important to note at the outset that even reducing emissions 80 percent by 2050 will not eliminate all serious risks and damages.”6
2) Species extinction
a) Nearly fifty percent of all species are disappearing,7 as well as 1 in 3 mammal species, 1 in 8 bird species,8 and 1 in 3 amphibian species being threatened with extinction. Just two years ago, only 1 in 4 mammal species were threatened with extinction.9
b) According to the World Resources Institute, more than 100 species go extinct every day.10 For the past 300 million years, excluding this century, approximately one species went extinct every four years. Today, scientists see one species going extinct every 15 minutes.11
c) Species extinction has increased to rates of 10 to 100 times greater than that of 30 years ago.12
d) Furthermore, current species extinction rates are thought by some experts to be grossly underestimated due to mathematical misdiagnosis.13
e) If nothing is done, one-half of all species will be gone by the end of the century.14
Increases in harmful practices by humans are causing obvious amounts of species extinction. Although we often can’t see the connection, human life is completely dependent on species diversification and its role in creating stable ecosystems, one of the basic foundations of human life. Beyond the moral problem of destroying thousands of different species of life, such practices can only endanger the human species in the near future.
3) Deforestation
a) “In the U.S., 95% of our old growth forests are gone.”
b) “70 countries in the world no longer have any intact or original forests.”15
c) More than 72 acres of rainforest are destroyed every minute (that’s 38 million acres per year).16
d) Every year, enough rainforest is cut down to cover the entire state of Florida.
e) Every hour, more than 1500 acres of land become desert.
f) More than 75% of the topsoil that existed worldwide when Europeans first colonized North America is now gone.
g) Over three hundred tons of topsoil are lost worldwide every minute (it takes an average of 400 years for a forest to create enough topsoil able to sustain crops).17
h) Forests are critical parts of many healthy ecosystems, as they prevent soil erosion and support healthy topsoil. Trees also act as huge carbon sinks, sequestering as much as 10% of the annual carbon dioxide emissions in the United States.18
Forests, who provide us with the majority of our breathable oxygen, are being decimated at unfathomable rates, causing further desertification, global warming, and weaker monocultures as “sustainable replacements”. Like all aerobic creatures, humans cannot survive without forests and the invaluable ‘oxygen’-‘carbon-dioxide’ exchange between us.
4) Persistent, bioaccumulative, toxic chemicals (PBTs)
a) Studies show that nearly every mother has dioxin, a known carcinogen, in her breast milk.19 Samples from mothers also show contaminants of over 350 chemicals from substances such as perfumes, suntan lotion, and pesticides.20
b) The percentage of girls under eight years old with swollen breasts or pubic hair has gone from 1 percent to over 6 percent in just the last eight years.21
c) Male sperm counts have dropped more than 30% in the past 60 years.22
d) To be specific, below are twelve of the most toxic chemicals that are present in large quantities due to the existence of industrial technology:23
i) PCBs (Poly-chlorinated biphenyls), which are carcinogens
ii) Dioxins, which are carcinogens
iii) Furans, which are carcinogens
iv) Aldrin, which is both a carcinogen and mutagen
v) Dieldrin, which is a carcinogen and linked to Parkinson’s disease
vi) DDT, which is a carcinogen and xenoestrogen (artificial estrogen)
vii) Endrin, which is toxic and adversely affects the nervous system
viii) Chlordane, which damages the nervous system, digestive system, and liver, as well as being highly toxic
ix) Hexachlorobenzene (HCB), which is a carcinogen
x) Mirex, which is a carcinogen
xi) Toxaphene, which harms the lungs, kidneys, and nervous system
xii) Heptachlor, which harms the liver and decreases fertility
Industrial processes are contaminating the bodies of nearly every individual in this culture, as well as many others. Although the levels of toxins found in the body are often deemed as acceptable, their presence is a clear sign of the unhealthy nature of this culture’s practices. We should not be surprised by the enormous increase in cancer rates in the United Sates when nearly every baby is receiving carcinogens from their mother’s breast milk. Ultimately, toxins produced from industrial processes could very well cause male and/or female infertility, preventing humans’ natural ability to create life.
5) Harm to oceanic life
a) Zooplankton (organisms forming the base of oceanic food chains) populations have plunged 70% in four decades.24
b) On a whole, coral reefs are dying.25
c) Oceanic dead zones found all over the world are increasing at alarming rates.26
d) Concerning oceanic pollution, corporations “dump on equivalent, at the smallest, 5,000,000 gallons per day of toxins…everything from benzene, acrylic nitrile, mercury, copper, you name it, they got it.”27
e) “In 1997, the US Academy of Sciences estimated the total input of marine litter into the oceans, worldwide, at approximately 6.4 million tons per year.”28
The oceans help sustain our atmosphere and provide a large portion of the world’s oxygen, caused by the functioning of the vast amount of ecosystems present in oceanic waterways. When the healthy functioning of these systems becomes threatened, as they have been, so does the very health of the biosphere.
References
1 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “Basic Information.” http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/basicinfo.html
2 James Hansen et. al. “Target Atmospheric CO2: Where Should Humanity Aim?” Open Atmospheric Science Journal, 2008.
3 W. L. Hare. State of the World 2009: Into a Warming World. “A Safe Landing for the Climate”. The Worldwatch Institute. 14.
4 Steve Conner. The Independent. “Exclusive: The methane time bomb.” http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/exclusive-the-methane-time-bomb-938932.html
5 David Adam. The Guardian. “Too late? Why scientists say we should expect the worst.” http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/dec/09/poznan-copenhagen-global-warming-targets-climate-change
6 W. L. Hare. State of the World 2009: Into a Warming World. “A Safe Landing for the Climate”. The Worldwatch Institute. 13; M. Parry et al. “Squaring Up to Reality”. Nature Reports Climate Change.2008.
7 “Study: World is Undergoing Mass Extinction.” United Press International. http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2008/10/21/Study_World_is_undergoing_mass_extinction/UPI-86681224612180/
8 “Half of mammals ‘in decline’, says extinction Red List.” Agence France Presse. http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hpftiFBrckhaI_mtTA15UzqTfubg
9 International Union for Conservation of Nature, 2007 Conference
10 “Species Extinction.” Rainforest Web http://rainforestweb.org/Rainforest_Information/Species_Extinction/
11 Richard Leakey, expert on paleoanthropology
12 Paul Roberts. The End of Food. Houghton Mifflin.
13 “Species Extinction Threat Underestimated Due To Math Glitch.” Science Daily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080702132238.htm
14 Edward Wilson, Pellegrino University Research Professor in Entomology at Harvard University
15 Tzeporah Berman. The 11th Hour. Warner Independent Films.
16 Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (study funded by World Bank and United Nations)
17 Thom Hartmann. The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight. Three Rivers Press.
18 “Executive Summary.” Environmental Protection Agency. http://epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/downloads06/06ES.pdf
19 Philip Shabecoff. “Dioxin in Breast Milk is Evaluated in Private Study.” The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9B0DE3DB133AF93BA25751C1A961948260
20 “Breast milk studied for toxins.” BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/391514.stm
21 Gldsmith, Zac. “Chemical-Induced Puberty.” Ecologist, January 2004, 4.
22 Shiva Dindyal. “The sperm count has been decreasing steadily for many years in Western industrialised counties.” http://www.ispub.com/ostia/index.php?xmlFilePath=journals/iju/vol2n1/sperm.xml#r2
23 “The Dirty Dozen.” United Nations Industrial Development Organization. http://www.unido.org/index.php?id=o29428
24“Zooplankton Populations Plunge 70 Percent in Four Decades; Alarming Marine Biologists.” Natural News. http://www.naturalnews.com/024798.html
25 “The death of coral reefs.” San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/07/20/ED93305.DTL
26 “150 'dead zones' counted in oceans.” MSNBC. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4624359/
27 Diane Wilson. The 11th Hour. Warner Independent Films.
28 United Nations Environmental Program
*As Fertile Ground was forming, it was suggested that it would be useful to have a list of statistics regarding decreases in the health of major life systems on the planet. A few of the members spearheaded the project, and after plenty of hours of research came up with the following.
"The problem that confronts us is that every living system in the biosphere is in decline, and the rate of decline is accelerating. There isn't one peer-reviewed scientific article in the past twenty years that's been published that contradicts that statement. Living systems are coral reefs, they're our climate stability, forest cover, the oceans themselves, aquifers, water, the conditions of the soil, biodiversity--they go on and on as they get more specific, but the fact is there isn't one living system that is stable or is improving, and those living systems provide the basis for all life."
- Paul Hawken, author and environmentalist
“It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge the consequences of dodging our responsibilities.” - Josiah Charles, English economist
1) Global warming
a) Climate models predict that the average temperature of the Earth could increase up to 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit by the year 2100.
b) According to NASA, the Earth’s average surface temperature has increased by about 1.2 degrees Fahrenheit (0.7 degrees Celsius) in the last 100 years.1 For some perspective, the last ice age occurred at five degrees Fahrenheit less than the current global temperature.
c) Levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide have increased to 385 ppm2, a 100-ppm increase since the pre-industrial average.3
d) Gaseous methane has recently begun entering the atmosphere after escaping from melting permafrost in many Arctic regions. For comparison, methane is 20 times as effective as carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas.4
e) In a recent conference of climate experts, it was shown that carbon levels are highly unlikely to be restricted to 650 ppm. This would translate to the mentioned increase of roughly 7 degrees Fahrenheit (4 degrees Celsius), enough to “bring extreme food and water shortages in vulnerable countries and cause floods that would displace hundreds of millions of people.” Other experts agree that “we’re at the very top end of the worst case [emissions] scenario.” Unfortunately, carbon levels of 350 ppm or lower are required to “preserve a planet similar to that on which… life on Earth is adapted.”5
f) “It is also important to note at the outset that even reducing emissions 80 percent by 2050 will not eliminate all serious risks and damages.”6
2) Species extinction
a) Nearly fifty percent of all species are disappearing,7 as well as 1 in 3 mammal species, 1 in 8 bird species,8 and 1 in 3 amphibian species being threatened with extinction. Just two years ago, only 1 in 4 mammal species were threatened with extinction.9
b) According to the World Resources Institute, more than 100 species go extinct every day.10 For the past 300 million years, excluding this century, approximately one species went extinct every four years. Today, scientists see one species going extinct every 15 minutes.11
c) Species extinction has increased to rates of 10 to 100 times greater than that of 30 years ago.12
d) Furthermore, current species extinction rates are thought by some experts to be grossly underestimated due to mathematical misdiagnosis.13
e) If nothing is done, one-half of all species will be gone by the end of the century.14
Increases in harmful practices by humans are causing obvious amounts of species extinction. Although we often can’t see the connection, human life is completely dependent on species diversification and its role in creating stable ecosystems, one of the basic foundations of human life. Beyond the moral problem of destroying thousands of different species of life, such practices can only endanger the human species in the near future.
3) Deforestation
a) “In the U.S., 95% of our old growth forests are gone.”
b) “70 countries in the world no longer have any intact or original forests.”15
c) More than 72 acres of rainforest are destroyed every minute (that’s 38 million acres per year).16
d) Every year, enough rainforest is cut down to cover the entire state of Florida.
e) Every hour, more than 1500 acres of land become desert.
f) More than 75% of the topsoil that existed worldwide when Europeans first colonized North America is now gone.
g) Over three hundred tons of topsoil are lost worldwide every minute (it takes an average of 400 years for a forest to create enough topsoil able to sustain crops).17
h) Forests are critical parts of many healthy ecosystems, as they prevent soil erosion and support healthy topsoil. Trees also act as huge carbon sinks, sequestering as much as 10% of the annual carbon dioxide emissions in the United States.18
Forests, who provide us with the majority of our breathable oxygen, are being decimated at unfathomable rates, causing further desertification, global warming, and weaker monocultures as “sustainable replacements”. Like all aerobic creatures, humans cannot survive without forests and the invaluable ‘oxygen’-‘carbon-dioxide’ exchange between us.
4) Persistent, bioaccumulative, toxic chemicals (PBTs)
a) Studies show that nearly every mother has dioxin, a known carcinogen, in her breast milk.19 Samples from mothers also show contaminants of over 350 chemicals from substances such as perfumes, suntan lotion, and pesticides.20
b) The percentage of girls under eight years old with swollen breasts or pubic hair has gone from 1 percent to over 6 percent in just the last eight years.21
c) Male sperm counts have dropped more than 30% in the past 60 years.22
d) To be specific, below are twelve of the most toxic chemicals that are present in large quantities due to the existence of industrial technology:23
i) PCBs (Poly-chlorinated biphenyls), which are carcinogens
ii) Dioxins, which are carcinogens
iii) Furans, which are carcinogens
iv) Aldrin, which is both a carcinogen and mutagen
v) Dieldrin, which is a carcinogen and linked to Parkinson’s disease
vi) DDT, which is a carcinogen and xenoestrogen (artificial estrogen)
vii) Endrin, which is toxic and adversely affects the nervous system
viii) Chlordane, which damages the nervous system, digestive system, and liver, as well as being highly toxic
ix) Hexachlorobenzene (HCB), which is a carcinogen
x) Mirex, which is a carcinogen
xi) Toxaphene, which harms the lungs, kidneys, and nervous system
xii) Heptachlor, which harms the liver and decreases fertility
Industrial processes are contaminating the bodies of nearly every individual in this culture, as well as many others. Although the levels of toxins found in the body are often deemed as acceptable, their presence is a clear sign of the unhealthy nature of this culture’s practices. We should not be surprised by the enormous increase in cancer rates in the United Sates when nearly every baby is receiving carcinogens from their mother’s breast milk. Ultimately, toxins produced from industrial processes could very well cause male and/or female infertility, preventing humans’ natural ability to create life.
5) Harm to oceanic life
a) Zooplankton (organisms forming the base of oceanic food chains) populations have plunged 70% in four decades.24
b) On a whole, coral reefs are dying.25
c) Oceanic dead zones found all over the world are increasing at alarming rates.26
d) Concerning oceanic pollution, corporations “dump on equivalent, at the smallest, 5,000,000 gallons per day of toxins…everything from benzene, acrylic nitrile, mercury, copper, you name it, they got it.”27
e) “In 1997, the US Academy of Sciences estimated the total input of marine litter into the oceans, worldwide, at approximately 6.4 million tons per year.”28
The oceans help sustain our atmosphere and provide a large portion of the world’s oxygen, caused by the functioning of the vast amount of ecosystems present in oceanic waterways. When the healthy functioning of these systems becomes threatened, as they have been, so does the very health of the biosphere.
References
1 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “Basic Information.” http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/basicinfo.html
2 James Hansen et. al. “Target Atmospheric CO2: Where Should Humanity Aim?” Open Atmospheric Science Journal, 2008.
3 W. L. Hare. State of the World 2009: Into a Warming World. “A Safe Landing for the Climate”. The Worldwatch Institute. 14.
4 Steve Conner. The Independent. “Exclusive: The methane time bomb.” http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/exclusive-the-methane-time-bomb-938932.html
5 David Adam. The Guardian. “Too late? Why scientists say we should expect the worst.” http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/dec/09/poznan-copenhagen-global-warming-targets-climate-change
6 W. L. Hare. State of the World 2009: Into a Warming World. “A Safe Landing for the Climate”. The Worldwatch Institute. 13; M. Parry et al. “Squaring Up to Reality”. Nature Reports Climate Change.2008.
7 “Study: World is Undergoing Mass Extinction.” United Press International. http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2008/10/21/Study_World_is_undergoing_mass_extinction/UPI-86681224612180/
8 “Half of mammals ‘in decline’, says extinction Red List.” Agence France Presse. http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hpftiFBrckhaI_mtTA15UzqTfubg
9 International Union for Conservation of Nature, 2007 Conference
10 “Species Extinction.” Rainforest Web http://rainforestweb.org/Rainforest_Information/Species_Extinction/
11 Richard Leakey, expert on paleoanthropology
12 Paul Roberts. The End of Food. Houghton Mifflin.
13 “Species Extinction Threat Underestimated Due To Math Glitch.” Science Daily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080702132238.htm
14 Edward Wilson, Pellegrino University Research Professor in Entomology at Harvard University
15 Tzeporah Berman. The 11th Hour. Warner Independent Films.
16 Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (study funded by World Bank and United Nations)
17 Thom Hartmann. The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight. Three Rivers Press.
18 “Executive Summary.” Environmental Protection Agency. http://epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/downloads06/06ES.pdf
19 Philip Shabecoff. “Dioxin in Breast Milk is Evaluated in Private Study.” The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9B0DE3DB133AF93BA25751C1A961948260
20 “Breast milk studied for toxins.” BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/391514.stm
21 Gldsmith, Zac. “Chemical-Induced Puberty.” Ecologist, January 2004, 4.
22 Shiva Dindyal. “The sperm count has been decreasing steadily for many years in Western industrialised counties.” http://www.ispub.com/ostia/index.php?xmlFilePath=journals/iju/vol2n1/sperm.xml#r2
23 “The Dirty Dozen.” United Nations Industrial Development Organization. http://www.unido.org/index.php?id=o29428
24“Zooplankton Populations Plunge 70 Percent in Four Decades; Alarming Marine Biologists.” Natural News. http://www.naturalnews.com/024798.html
25 “The death of coral reefs.” San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/07/20/ED93305.DTL
26 “150 'dead zones' counted in oceans.” MSNBC. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4624359/
27 Diane Wilson. The 11th Hour. Warner Independent Films.
28 United Nations Environmental Program
*As Fertile Ground was forming, it was suggested that it would be useful to have a list of statistics regarding decreases in the health of major life systems on the planet. A few of the members spearheaded the project, and after plenty of hours of research came up with the following.
About
© 2009 Created by FG Admin on Ning. Create a Ning Network!
