onlooker wrote:Yes, this period is unlike any prior, it is without precedence. Just consider the following. We have a world civilization who is living totally dependent on unsustainable practices in the air, water, food and soil. Consider the enormous size of our world population and how day after day it is degrading the state of the planet as a whole. Consider, how many of our natural bounty is being depleted ie. water aquifers, minerals, oil, phosphorous etc. Some of these are non renewable resources on a time frame that would involve humanity. Then on top of all that, we have AGW. Perhaps we could reboot and rebuild after the effects of peak oil and other consequences including the downfall of our civilization and mass die off. However, given that now AGW seems to be at the nascent stages of runaway, it just seems to much to withstand for any higher organisms including ourselves.
This is the mistake the Doomers continually make. Heck I have bought into it from time to time myself and I am about as moderate on the future as you will find around these parts. The more complex a system the more dedicated work it takes to keep the system functioning at full capacity. That doesn't mean if something runs short, like energy, the system instantly collapses into chaos and nothingness. Parts of the system are shut down to keep more vital parts working. In current American culture that would mean food production and haulage continue while some hairdressers and barbers lose their jobs. The local golf pro and golf course cease to function, but the really swanky ones where the uber rich and pro's play keep functioning. The local pet food store closes shop, but the local grocery store stays open and they have some generic dog and cat food for our pets, just not the fancy stuff.
The assumption that the climate flipping over into hothouse state will cause extinction of everything is just an assumption based on doomer wish fulfillment.