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[hydragonwarrior]

i still dont buy it. people are too extreme and shit. either everything and everyone is going to die or nothing at all. humans are adaptive as shit. maybe a bunch of birds and bees will die but everyone is too damn doom and gloom. everything will be alright

Yeah, we'll survive, but everything else will not. And we're causing most of that to happen. I'm not exactly sure why we shouldn't be more responsible with the environment we live in.

 

[Winnie the Pimp]

Yeah, we'll survive, but everything else will not. And we're causing most of that to happen. I'm not exactly sure why we shouldn't be more responsible with the environment we live in.

Because we CAN be not responsible and get away with it! Simple as that unfortunately...

 

[Foffy]

Bees dying out would be very VERY bad for human civilization. O_O

 

[Lazyslob]

Yeah, we'll survive, but everything else will not. And we're causing most of that to happen. I'm not exactly sure why we shouldn't be more responsible with the environment we live in.

all that doesnt mean anything people are just pulling random shit out of a hat. i think our "extinction" is more complicated than a asteroid or a volcano. these people are doing the same with when those dorks just found the most googles searches and it said y2k and went with it

 

[zoukka]

Good riddance. I hope the next species homos evolve beyond simple bloodlust.

 

[Future PhaZe]

Good riddance. I hope the next species homos evolve beyond simple bloodlust.

Morebloodlust would actually be an improvement for the environment. unchecked population growth leads to expansion leads to destruction of natural habitats and wildlife

 

[zoukka]

Morebloodlust would actually be an improvement for the environment. unchecked population growth leads to expansion leads to destruction of natural habitats and wildlife

I don't care, I want a species that can think beyond their own ass and bring things to a sustainable level.

 

[Bregor]

I don't care, I want a species that can think beyond their own ass and bring things to a sustainable level.

Such a species is unlikely to evolve on it's own. Since by definition evolution favors vehicles that are good at making as many copies of it's own genes as possible. A more enlightened viewpoint that goes beyond the pure spreading of ones own genes requires you go against those genes, which requires changes in the non-genetic part of the mind: society and culture.

And quite frankly, that species is us. The fact that we are having this debate is evidence of that. Kudzu and the Brown Snake never consider whether what they are doing is wrong, they just expand as far as their limits allow. Only humanity has ever considered going against the interests of it's own genes and considered the well being of the biosphere as a whole.

The correct solution is to push that awareness, to continue the development of our culture so that we act in a more ethical manner. There is some evidence that this is happening, but the more we can speed it the better.

Any new intelligent species would almost certainly go down the same road we did at first - so rather than throwing away the progress we have made, it is better to do all we can to advance that progress.

 

[Polioliolio]

Guys, we're not fucking up the planet. We're fucking up ourselves. 60,000 years from now the planet will be fine no matter what we do to it now, we're just like a few annoying mosquitoes it'll have to shake off.

You fail to consider the countless species and populations destroyed and lost forever, diversity leveled because evolution naturally happens over the course of vast stretches of time, and few animals can adapt to the kind of rapid human expansion and polluting we've done in the last 100 years even.

If it's not hunting species into extinction for profit or to feed our masses, it's carving up the earth and spilling our refuse into every niche populated by specialized critters.

If you think of it as Natural Processes vs. Humans, Nature would have to take one hell of beating to not bounce back... Radioactive materials and bombs would have to damage the planet beyond repair, although even that seems almost probable with what we're meddling in.

When a species goes extinct, that's the end of the line for what could have been millions of new species branching from that animal, into the future.

Imagine some 100 million years ago, a SINGLE species of small possibly rodent like creature.. Our ancestor. Imagine if, at that time, there was some inconsiderate asshole of a species, ravaging every environment without much of a thought, and damaging diversity by carelessly killing off even just one species.. Ours. What a disaster we would consider that.. And at the time, that ancestor of ours was likely rather indistinguishable from similar species that eventually died off or became something else in time.. Who would think that one insignificant burrowing rat of a thing would father everything we now hold grand in civilization and science, but of course, we selfishly consider that valuable over everything else, apparently.

I have only read the first few pages so not sure if this has been answered: Are there any suggestions as to what individuals can concretely do to help improve the situation? I think it is important to also list in the OP, helpful, concrete actions people can take to help improve things.
Since I believe the best way to get an apathetic shoulder shrug response from people is to tell them something terrible is happening all around them on a global scale. And that in a couple of decades it will be really really bad for everyone.

Your average person will either not believe you or will think they can't do anything about it anyway or will think that other people will do something about it.


I assume you will be volunteering for that last group, the one where people have to live in the wild and are not allowed access to modern technology? As a matter of fact why wait to be divided into groups? You can start now!

If every potential human resource wasn't already picked clean, hoarded and industrialized, or run off pollution wasn't soaking into who knows what water sources, it would certainly be a lot easier to achieve.
And I didn't say humans would HAVE to live in the wild. Only if they wanted to and could be trusted to without ransacking the place. Put the humans behind walls where they can do what they please.

I'm not sure if you're trying to make a smartass remark, but throwing an individual modern man into the wild with no prior training on how to survive is about as futile as expecting any other species to quickly adapt to immediate and massive changes in their environment.

Of course I'd love to consider it, but without knowing if there is still a niche in the wild, for a man to freely pluck safe fruit, nuts, etc for sustenance, I'd be better off in the human bubble. My whole point is that men as a whole have written new rules for themselves, selectively.. evolved themselves into a corner, and that they ought to stay there, in their own separate corner.

I would consider some passive, small African tribes, as okay to live in the wild zone.
So the first place to start, for someone looking to live among nature, might be to join a tribe.. But I want to be clear I'm not admonishing modern man for being enterprising, pioneering, intelligent, and driven. What I'm saying is, those features, on the scale we've created, are incompatible with nature, as they are.

Such a species is unlikely to evolve on it's own. Since by definition evolution favors vehicles that are good at making as many copies of it's own genes as possible. A more enlightened viewpoint that goes beyond the pure spreading of ones own genes requires you go against those genes, which requires changes in the non-genetic part of the mind: society and culture.

And quite frankly, that species is us. The fact that we are having this debate is evidence of that. Kudzu and the Brown Snake never consider whether what they are doing is wrong, they just expand as far as their limits allow. Only humanity has ever considered going against the interests of it's own genes and considered the well being of the biosphere as a whole.

The correct solution is to push that awareness, to continue the development of our culture so that we act in a more ethical manner. There is some evidence that this is happening, but the more we can speed it the better.

Any new intelligent species would almost certainly go down the same road we did at first - so rather than throwing away the progress we have made, it is better to do all we can to advance that progress.

This is the truth.. Very well said.

I'm afraid that maybe the only way to make big changes are to make big mistakes.
We haven't had the foresight up to this point... it's like we really have to bring things to the brink before making necessary changes...

It's not enough that there's a Sixth Mass Extinction.. We now have to warp it into being a human threat to even consider it as an issue, and that's kind of depressing and sidesteps the whole point, I think.

 

[Tadaima]

Humanity will probably continue to generally not really care even as it begins to wipe itself out.

"As long as our little corner of the world is getting all the resources it needs to sustain our lives, then everything will work itself out."

 

[hohoXD123]

What a time to be alive dying out. Can't say I have much hope in humanity getting its shit together in time.

 

[GungHo]

How the death of biodiversity could greatly affect our food supply. Our extinction is simple, we starve to death because we can't grow food anymore.

I am pretty sure we'll be able to churn out KFC Sadness Bowls for many years to come.

 

[Foffy]

Humanity will probably continue to generally not really care even as it begins to wipe itself out.

"As long as our little corner of the world is getting all the resources it needs to sustain our lives, then everything will work itself out."

In other words, using the attitudes we've always had.