{"id":1007,"date":"2013-06-04T18:30:08","date_gmt":"2013-06-04T23:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/smilodonsretreat\/?p=1007"},"modified":"2013-06-04T18:30:08","modified_gmt":"2013-06-04T23:30:08","slug":"a-message-to-world-leaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/smilodonsretreat\/2013\/06\/04\/a-message-to-world-leaders\/","title":{"rendered":"A Message to World Leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stanford’s Millennium Alliance for Humanity and the Biosphere<\/a> has an open letter to the leaders of the world and is asking for signatures<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This is one of those times I wish I had legions of followers like PZ Myers or George Takei. \u00a0This is important. \u00a0We can complain about government or taxes or even basic human rights for a long time. \u00a0But it won’t mean a damn thing unless we stop trying to destroy the planet. \u00a0By destroy, I mean “make effectively uninhabitable for humans”. \u00a0I don’t even think humanity is capable of Death Star like destruction of the planets yet.<\/p>\n

By providing the information required below, I indicate that I agree that concerted efforts must begin immediately to halt climate disruption, extinctions, ecosystem degradation, environmental contamination, and to humanely stop human population growth and over-consumption where they now prevail. I agree that the best scientific evidence available indicates that if we do not take action to immediately reverse these dangerous environmental trends, our world and the world of our children will be substantially degraded with respect to what we have today.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The focus of the document is on five areas.<\/p>\n

Climate Disruption<\/p>\n

We have to admit to the basic facts. \u00a0Humans are radically changing the environment at rates <\/a>never before seen in the history of the planet. \u00a0Between domesticating cows with their methane farts and cars, HVAC, and electrical needs, we are altering the climate faster than organisms and Earth systems can effectively deal with. \u00a0Temperatures are rising with record numbers of record high temperatures<\/a>. \u00a0Sea level is beginning to rise. \u00a0The basic chemistry of the ocean is beginning to change due to carbon dioxide build up in the atmosphere.<\/p>\n

Extinctions<\/p>\n

Humans kill things. \u00a0We are exceptionally good at killing things. \u00a0From rhinos <\/a>and lions <\/a>to birds<\/a> and even ourselves… it seems like that’s the one thing we, as a species are really good at.<\/p>\n

Loss of Ecosystem Diversity<\/p>\n

Diverse ecosystems are more stable. \u00a0They resist change more effectively. \u00a0They are healthier. <\/a>\u00a0When we eliminate organisms from an ecosystem, we are making it more unstable… even if the organisms annoy us. \u00a0Eliminating predators sounds good on paper. \u00a0But without population controls, prey species over-populate causing more ecosystem damage and then crash.<\/p>\n

Pollution<\/p>\n

Humans are polluters. \u00a0We waste huge amounts of resources and convert resources into products and waste. \u00a0Even if there was no global warming, it would still be worth moving away from fossil fuels just to combat waste. \u00a0One of my professors is an expert on Southeast Texas rivers ecosystems. \u00a0In the 1960s, the major rivers in SE Texas were effectively dead. \u00a0Pollution in them was so concentrated that ships would travel upstream and just sit in the water for a day in order to kill barnacles on the hull. \u00a0Now, through anti-pollution measures, these rivers are full of life.<\/p>\n

Human population<\/p>\n

We, as a species, are not sustainable. \u00a0We consume too much and don’t return things to the ecosystems. \u00a0What’s worse is that everyone wants a high standard of living. \u00a0There are more cell phones in Africa than in the United States of the European Union<\/a>. \u00a0 It’s just not sustainable. \u00a0It’s getting better though. \u00a0Smartphones are great. \u00a0In Africa, for example, they take the place of the computer, phone, camera, gaming system, calendar, and note pad. \u00a0In one small device. \u00a0That’s good.<\/p>\n

But the human population is rising. It’s effectively impossible to estimate the carrying capacity of the Earth for humans. \u00a0There’s this thing we do called technology and it can radically alter carrying capacity calculations. \u00a0But the population growth of the planet as a whole is slowing. \u00a0Fewer people is better than more people. \u00a0And just by providing birth control and family planning, we might be able to put the human population growth into the negatives and reduce the strain we put on the planet.<\/p>\n

Hope<\/p>\n

There is plenty of hope though. \u00a0We can do this. \u00a0We can reduce our pollution. \u00a0We can greatly reduce extinctions. \u00a0We can lower the direct human impacts on biodiversity. \u00a0We can do all of these things.<\/p>\n

If we have the will and strength to do it.<\/p>\n

The people making these decisions, though, they might not know we can do it. \u00a0They might have the opinion of ‘Screw you, I got mine”. \u00a0They might really not care about the planet. \u00a0Which just highlights the problem with our education systems.<\/p>\n

Anyway, let’s say something. \u00a0And do something. \u00a0If you can’t get Energy Star appliances or a LEEDS house or an electric car, find a environmental charity that you can support and do so. \u00a0And take a minute to sign this letter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stanford’s Millennium Alliance for Humanity and the Biosphere has an open letter to the leaders of the world and is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,9,18,89,45],"tags":[443,99,442,397,441],"class_list":["post-1007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-evironment","category-government","category-research-2","category-society","tag-biodiversity","tag-environment","tag-mahb","tag-pollution","tag-stanford"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/smilodonsretreat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/smilodonsretreat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/smilodonsretreat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/smilodonsretreat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/smilodonsretreat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/smilodonsretreat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1007\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/smilodonsretreat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/smilodonsretreat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/smilodonsretreat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}