Thread: Nature under assault.

Another case of the old mighty dollar above everything else...

Africa has multiple problems.
Political, ecological, poverty, disease, and war.
You name it, they got it.
The Sahara continues to expand.

Sometime it seems like all the problems the world has are in fast forward there.
Even plate tectonics are tearing it apart as the rift valley expands.
I wonder how long it can be preserved.
And consider how much poorer our descendent's heritage as species vanish.

It may be the proving grounds where our ability to get control of ecological destruction will succeed or fail.
South America may be right behind it soon.

Originally Posted by bart5050

Africa has multiple problems.
Political, ecological, poverty, disease, and war.
You name it, they got it.
The Sahara continues to expand.

Sometime it seems like all the problems the world has are in fast forward there.
Even plate tectonics are tearing it apart as the rift valley expands.
I wonder how long it can be preserved.
And consider how much poorer our descendent's heritage as species vanish.

It may be the proving grounds where our ability to get control of ecological destruction will succeed or fail.
South America may be right behind it soon.

bart.....unfortunately somethings are going to get worse before they get better. Humans are going to have to change their ways soon......I just don't expect to see it happen. Both Africa and South America are already suffering from humans effects. Unfortunately the Sahara and the Rift Valley are quite beyond our control.

China's dust storms remind me of the Black Blizzard of the depression era...What a disaster that was...

Originally Posted by Castle-Bravo354

bart.....unfortunately somethings are going to get worse before they get better. Humans are going to have to change their ways soon......I just don't expect to see it happen. Both Africa and South America are already suffering from humans effects. Unfortunately the Sahara and the Rift Valley are quite beyond our control.

Agreed.
Sahara, the rift, and glacier loss are beyond our control.
These things happen on long time scales of natural change.
On those time scales, nature adapts.
It is what we do that exceeds the coping mechanisms.
The oceans are becoming barren, and that is mostly us.

We can survive, even our own damage.
When the oceans no longer support the fishing fleets, we will farm all of our fish.
And if we faded away, in a few thousand years nature would rebound as if we were never here.

It is only the quality of our own experience that is affected.
And future generations will little miss what they never had.
One could argue the case that all we do is the natural consequence of evolution producing intelligent species.

Perhaps the issue is me, but it still makes me sad.
Beautiful chemicly perfect lawns still make me ill.
I prefer yards with clover, dandelions, and bee stings for barefoot kids.



"When the thrashers come I'll be stuck in the sun like the dinosaurs and shrines."