Game Over for Planet Earth: The Month’s Biggest Story You Never Read

http://www.alternet.org/economy/153092/game_over_for_planet_earth%3A_the_month%E2%80%99s_biggest_story_you_never_read

What's the biggest story of the last several weeks? Rick Perry’s moment of silence, all 53 seconds' worth? The Penn State riots after revered coach JoePa went down in a child sex abuse scandal? The Kardashian wedding/divorce? The European debt crisis that could throw the world economy into a tailspin? The Cain sexual harassment charges? The trial of Michael Jackson’s doctor?

The answer should be none of the above, even though as a group they’ve dominated the October/November headlines. In fact, the piece of the week, month, and arguably year should have been one that slipped by so quietly, so off front-pages nationwide and out of news leads everywhere that you undoubtedly didn’t even notice. And yet it’s the story that could turn your life and that of your children and grandchildren inside out and upside down.

On the face of it, it wasn’t anything to shout about -- just more stats in a world drowning in numbers. These happen to have been put out by the U.S. Department of Energy and they reflected, as an Associated Press headline put it, the “biggest jump ever seen in global warming gases.” In other words, in 2010, humanity (with a special bow to China, the United States, and onrushing India) managed to pump more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than at any time since the industrial revolution began -- 564 million more tons than in 2009, which represents an increase of 6%.

Presented with additional, timely evidence we are harming the planet at higher rates than ever before, and you point out how you don't like the way the headline is phrased.

How precious.

nt

Please elaborate why stating factual information somehow robs Alternet of credibility. I am unclear why someone would post something like that without at least the vauge appearance of some kind of rationale.

Maybe you prefer Limbaugh's take on climate change.

It's US that will fucked. The Earth will keep on spinning, some other form of life will become dominant.

...and they don't target humans to the exclusion of other species. What you lose in a mass extinction is the vast majority of genetic progress the entire planet's ecology has made. The value of that dwarfs humanity by millions of times over. ALL the information coded into EVERY creature's genetics about how to make the world more liveable - gone.

There is no such thing as "genetic progress." As species evolve, they do not become genetically "better." They can only become more adapted to their surroundings.

"Genetic progress" was not a valid concept when the Nazis used it as an excuse to murder Jews, gypsies and homosexuals, and it is not a valid concept now.

:cry:

The fact is we have already far out stripped the earth capacity to adequately support our numbers. And we are not even slowing down. We are still going full speed ahead with what worked yesterday, expecting it to work tomorrow and the day after.
We are at best applying a band-aid to a spurting wound in response.

I'm not downplaying anything. I agree that WE are pretty much fucked. Politicians refuse to do anything because they're too concerned about votes and Monet. Meanwhile the ice caps are melting, the tide is rushing in, we're experiencing 500-year storms every other month...absolutely, humans and a whole lot of other species are in serious trouble. But, contrary to what the op stated, the earth will keep spinning. Sorry if was a bit too literal for you.

Thanks for the thread, xchrom.

Not sure how much methane (and whatever else) was released during those 3 months of unfettered belching in the Gulf, but is it possible that these reported numbers might have increased because of it?

into the air every year. It's not the spills, it's the burning that does the long term, irreversible damage. It's not all that hard to grasp. A picture may help: