R&K

What self-respected Republican will listen to a black scientist? They won't even accept the black president.

He might not even be a Murican!

parasites on the planet. Spay and neuter your humans!

Has to be said. Thx.

....I totally agree.

While millions are likely facing death this century due to climate change-related reasons, not all people will be included.

And "the Earth" is a big envelope. While "we are not killing the planet" may be technically true, there is a huge list of species facing extinction from our C02 contribution, whether from ocean acidification or other effects.

trouble. We watch them starve and do little to change anything. We send them our corporations that just make things (especially the environment) worse.

Unless we are hit with a asteroid, super caldera like in Yellowstone, or we change our ways.

to OP. I love it and human, especially repug clowns, will only have ourselves to blame for our eventual extinction.

anymore when extinction hits.

A bad AGW outcome has more than 75% of all species dying off. Mankind would take down most of the biosphere with us, and recovering from that would take tens of millions of years.

I very much doubt that Carl Sagan was so dismissive about the risk to life on Earth.

The Earth has had similar die-offs in the past.

I don't think Tyson is being dismissive at all. He's just noting that the primary effect of what we are doing as a species is to usher in our own demise.

as far as complex organisms are concerned. It took 200 million years for the biosphere to recover from the Permian extinction.

Of course Tyson is being dismissive. He's indicating that non-human organisms don't really concern him.

I think it's a bit uncharitable to paint Tyson as not caring in this regard. He's consistently shown himself to be fascinated by the diversity of life on Earth, and concerned with what we're doing to the ecosystem.

"The dinosaurs never saw what hit them. What's our excuse?"

Maybe things like:
"They had enough weapons to destroy themselves several times over."
"They turned some beliefs into dogma that nobody could question, but the things that destroyed their species into popularity contests that were unbelievable according to them... simply because more people refused to accept it or one of their leaders said the 'jury is still out' on it."
"They had a religious reverence to these green pieces of paper here, they followed people who had lots of these, they also turned them into leaders to represent them, and woe befell any individual who did not have them."
"As their ecosystem at the time crumbled, one communications hub kept repeating that the science is 'still not settled' on whether or not the environmental destruction is even real while also broadcasting xenophobic messages and proclaiming something about 'terrorist fist jabs'. This is indicative of a hive mind failure."

The Barbie Goddess Cult

In the year 5000, historians will seek to patch together traces of the past, to discover what life was like in today's current era. Here's one humorous view of what they might find:

We are proud to announce that archaeologists have made a major discovery explaining religious practice in the 1990's, over three thousand years ago! These discoveries help us better understand the myths and traditions which have been handed down over the years, and still survive today within the popular cult of the Goddess Barbie. This tradition is one of the fastest growing groups of modern-day Goddess worship.

Archaeologists have discovered that Barbie worship dates back to ancient times. Figures of the Goddess Barbie have been unearthed, preserved in nearly pristine state. It seems that ancient worshipers made their images of Barbie in a material known as plastic. It was known at the time that plastic did not decay to the elements over time and was nearly everlasting! Because of this, it is obvious to our research team that those items made of plastic were held in the highest regard by the ancient culture of the 1990's. They surely wanted to preserve these items for eternity! Research shows that ancient priestesses of Barbie were initiated at a very young age.

The initiation ceremony involved a complex litany which lasted several weeks, usually prior to the Winter Solstice. Young daughters would chant at length to their parents, repeating over and over the praises of Barbie, stating their desires for the Goddess to enter their lives. While these chants varied from priestess to priestess, the words "I Want" are common to many of the evocations. Later, after initiation, additional chants focused on a wide variety of magical tools and altar accessories used by the Goddess Barbie in Her temple.

more at link: http://www.mesacc.edu/~thoqh49081/handouts/barbie.html

our species came along and it will continue to survive for several more billion years after we are gone. 99% of the species that have ever lived on this planet have gone extinct already and we will surely soon follow. It's the natural order of things. But who knows? Perhaps another intelligent species will eventually evolve after we are gone and it will take better care of the planet than we did.

eom

Go NDT!

[link:

At first, he makes you cringe with the enviro-bashing, thus getting approval from the mouth-breathers, then gradually backs up to paint the big picture. George was absolutely a genius, and this was the grace note of perhaps the greatest 'comic' performance of all time. We all miss the hell out of him, whether we know it or not.

I recently revisited this Carlin clip in another context, and it's always been one of my favorites.

It's also great to see NDT making the point to a new audience, but I wish like hell Carlin were still around to do it, too.

Dominion over all things, my ass.

That said, I was hoping my human descendents would have an Earth they could live in.

We are not actually at risk for extinction thru AGW alone. Unless a Gamma Ray Burst zaps our part of the solar system or a K/T asteroid makes an impact before we are able to get off-planet, then humanity will still be around for a very, very long time to come; we may perhaps branch out one day into various different "subspecies" as it were, but that's not the same as outright extinction.

With that said, though, we DO need to take care of the problem.

However unpredictable consequences of AGW could lead to humanities extinction. Basically we are moving towards a situation where the number of humans on the planet far exceeds it's caring capacity unless we change our ways. AGW and other factors will result in dynamics within this population which are very hard to predict. In my understanding and estimation the extinction of humanity is unlikely but possible in the event of the most extreme AGW. Yes, the high side of the models we could in principle "survive". But the disruptions in the food chain and wars that will result make the bottom line unpredictable. At best I will argue that a post apocalyptic situation with a relatively small number of individuals hanging on for several centuries seems entirely possible. Will they ultimate survive in the long run? Hard to say.

to even threaten the complete extermination of the human species, and even then, our intelligence and remnants of technology would give at least a small percentage of humans an edge in surviving.

What will be threatened long before that by climate change and other ecological damage will be quality of life and the infrastructure of civilization. Of course, some people would think that civilization was collapsing if they couldn't get their Grande Mocha Latte every morning or watch the latest cute animal video on their high speed internet connection, but they have no idea. What we will see, in the lifetime of many of us, is serious shortages of many foodstuffs and water to begin with (and concomitant rises in the prices of same), making it even more difficult than it is now (and in some cases, probably impossible) for certain segments of the population to access them. Significant civil unrest will follow, with the richer among us trying harder and harder to wall themselves off from the growing chaos and deprivation.

Who doesn't?

- The fundie nutjobs who are responsible for overpopulation and think women only exist to create babies.
- The corporations like British Petroleum who cause death and destruction through pollution and don't get punished for their crimes.
- The BFEE and the war mongerers who kill other people because they don't pray to the same god. (quoting George Carlin)

Sadly many animals & entire species, in addition to humans...

Oil companies want to delay the inevitable court cases that will demand trillions to settle. If they can hold it off another few years, the next CEO will have to deal with it. Tobacco companies held out for decades after medical authorities identified the health consequences of smoking. Oil companies are following that playbook, and have hired some of the same PR people to confuse the jury pool.

(just saw it a few days ago)

note how the fundies only misread--ah, push Biblical interpretations--from only Genesis 1 and 5 and Revelation 20:1-6, with paltry focus or agreement on what's in between? funny how they don't put nearly so much effort into, say, the Firmament or a flat earth, which you can obtain with the same eisegesis

this book now. So good!