Posted on 11/29/2006 7:34:31 AM PST by Anti-Bubba182
Billions of people could be wiped out over the next century because of climate change, a leading expert said.
Professor James Lovelock, who pioneered the idea of the Earth as a living organism, said as the planet heats up humans will find it increasingly hard to survive.
He warned that as conditions worsen, the global population which is currently around 6.5 billion, may sink as low as 500 million.
Prof Lovelock also claims that any attempts to tackle climate change will not be able to solve the problem, merely buy us time.
Given the dire situation we face, he urged people to drop the phrase "global warming," which has cosy connotations, and instead start to think of it as "global heating."
Prof Lovelock, is an independent scientist who first proposed the Gaia Theory, which argues that the Earth, like a body, is a complex and intricately balanced system which all works together to allow life to continue as we know it.
However he fears that as carbon dioxide emissions from man and the planet itself soar, the Earth will heat up causing water shortages, destroying life in much of the planet's oceans and making it impossible for plants to grow.
Prof Lovelock, who last night gave the 5th John Collier Lecture to the Institution of Chemical Engineers in London, said: "There is very good evidence of what happened 55 million years ago when as much carbon dioxide was put into the atmosphere by geology as is being done by us now.
"Temperatures zoomed up by 8 degrees and stayed there for 200,000 years then came back to normal."
He fears something similar may happen again, and warned: "if it does it is going to make this an exceedingly difficult century."
However Prof Lovelock said mankind has managed to survive previous climatic disasters of the past.
"There have been at least seven of these major climate changes before and we have to adapt," he said.
"It is going to be tough and there will be some evolution of humans during it.
"The survivors will be those humans that can make their way to refuges or Arctic places and survive there.
"I think an awful lot of people will die but I don't see the human species dying out.
"I would think a hot earth could not support much over 500 million."
He warned there are no simple solutions to global heating and there is nothing we can do now to "save the earth."
"People will try to do things but the way to really look at them is they are a bit like when your kidneys fail you can on dialysis - and who would refuse dialysis if death is the alternative?" he said.
"But we have to remember that all they are doing is buying us time. The problems will go on.
"Trying to take the job on of regulating the earth is about as crazy as you can get.
"It is something quiet beyond humans at this stage in their evolution."
Despite this people should do what they can to reduce their impact on the planet.
"There is no point driving around in a Chelsea tractor when you can drive a small car but it does not escape the fact that changes are underway," he warned.
Prof Lovelock's dire forecast for the future of the human race is far more pessimistic than the Government's own assessment of global warming.
Tony Blair told European leaders at a summit in Finland last month that it was not too late to reverse the effects global warming.
In an open letter to delegates he said there was a window of "10-15 years to take the steps we need to avoid crossing catastrophic tipping points."
This echoes the findings of Sir Nicholas Stern in his influential report on climate change.
In it he says there is still time to avoid the worst impacts of climate change if countries co-operate internationally.
Actually, he says the earth will reduce its population by 90%.
What a pantload! "Billions of people will die over the next century...". Big deal! The current population of the earth is 6.5 billion. Over the next century, at least 99% (myself included) will die. Ergo about 6 billion people will die over the next 100 years. It is nature's way.
With a personal nuclear plant, he could do it, too!
With a personal nuclear plant, he could do it, too!
mark to read later
Yes, and all the while they are getting paid and respected as if they were real scientists instead of moonies with PHDs.
There are a pair of very credible solar scientists who relate recent global heating to extremely high sunspot cycles over the last 40 years. They say we have one more high cycle in 5 years, but then the next two or three 11-year solar cycles will be extremely low. The last time we had this happen was during the Little Ice Age:
"During the period 1645–1715, right in the middle of the Little Ice Age, solar activity as seen in sunspots was extremely low, with some years having no sunspots at all. This period of low sunspot activity is known as the Maunder Minimum."
---from Wikipedia
...women and minorities hardest hit...
What ever happened to Nuclear Winter, for it surely will come in the near futiure, now that the crazies have weapons of mass destrucion?
All we have to do is look at the mean tempature of other planets to debunk the myth...Better yet, send these clowns there to see for themselves.
The earth is about 5 billion years old. What is "normal?"
If one thinks a rock or rock system is alive, then there is nothing more one can argue to such nosense.
There is a simple solution to this problem: reduce the Earth's population by 50%.
Start with him.
We have it on authority of Hans King that earth is good for another 76,000 years minimum.
The media should love that. They want us to think that we will die from coffee, soda, butter, steak, etc. They love to scare but never see the positive.
The giant deadly ocean burp will get us first.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1745788/posts
I don't want to reverse the effects global warming.
But note the logical disconnect here -- we can't do anything about the supposed global warming heating climate change on the one hand, but we've caused all these problems with our industrial activity, etc., on the other hand.
Dipsticks like this, bloviating without regard to basic logic, are ultimately doing their "cause" more harm than good.
And that is a good thing.
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