Category Archives: Extinction

Our system is so interdependent that a electromagnetic pulse from the sun or nuclear weapon that knocks out the grid also knocks out transportation and the financial system. Oil decline will eventually lead to the end of transportation and fall of civilization as I explain in my book “When Trucks stop running: Energy and the Future of Transportation (Springer 2016). When you add in declining resources (especially phosphorous which is essential for agriculture), corrosion of infrastructure, climate change caused food reduction and rising oceans plus all the other factors in decline and collapse, it wouldn’t take much to turn a gradual into a fast collapse. My gut feeling is that there will be a fast crash that would take years at worst (EMP or nuclear war), and decade(s) at best. Certainly not centuries.

40% of amphibians face imminent extinction

Posted on March 24, 2012 by

Wake, D. 2 Mar 2012. Facing Extinction in Real Time. Science vol 335, 1052-53. Throughout the world, amphibians are in decline, and many species—perhaps 40%—face imminent extinction. Recent studies have discovered why amphibians are dying. The amphibian decline is happening … Continue reading →

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Hunting can drive species extinct

Posted on March 24, 2012 by

14 Jan 2009. Humans’ prey species evolving dangerously fast. NewScientist. Hunters and fishermen go after the largest catches they can find, which is driving evolution in a way unlike anything else on Earth, and the rapid changes triggered in wild … Continue reading →

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Acidification of our oceans: unprecedented rate in past 300 million years

Posted on March 24, 2012 by

Ahmed, Nafeez. 2017. Failing States, Collapsing Systems BioPhysical Triggers of Political Violence. Springer. As climate change is accelerating, so is the acidification of the oceans. The two processes are causally related. Oceans are becoming more acidic because the vast bulk … Continue reading →

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Invasive species unchecked by climate

Posted on March 5, 2012 by

Philip Hulme of the Bio-Protection Research Centre, Lincoln University, New Zealand writes in the 3 Feb 2012 issue of Science: Climate change is likely to devastate native species and biodiversity. But ironically, invasive alien species — which are a threat … Continue reading →

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Extinction can happen over hundreds of thousands of years

Posted on February 4, 2012 by

Also see this warning from phys.org: 2010-6-23. Lin Edwards. Humans will be extinct in 100 years says eminent scientist. ScienceDaily (Feb. 3, 2012) — A painstakingly detailed investigation shows that mass extinctions need not be sudden events. The deadliest mass … Continue reading →

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Fungi killed most of world’s trees during runaway greenhouse Permian Extinction

Posted on January 7, 2012 by

Marshall, M. 20 Aug 2011.  Mass-extinction fungi could turn on trees again. NewScientist. “During Earth’s biggest mass extinction 250 million years ago, usually tame soil fungi ran amok, decimating most of the world’s trees. A repeat is possible, if climate … Continue reading →

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Loss of Top Predators

Posted on January 7, 2012 by

James A. Estes, et al. 15 Jul 2011.  Trophic Downgrading of Planet Earth. Science vol 333. Before men, large predators and herbivores had huge influences on nature across land, ocean, and fresh water ecosystems.  Their loss has a “trophic cascade” … Continue reading →

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Climate Change: creatures collide, compete, parasitize one another

Posted on January 6, 2012 by

Climate change models of biodiversity loss are underestimating future extinctions, because as animals move around they compete and parasitize each other.  Already animals and plants that can’t handle increasing temperatures are moving to cooler places. Some can’t move fast enough … Continue reading →

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Stephen Meyer: The Extinction Crisis is Over. We Lost.

Posted on January 3, 2012 by

Stephen M. Meyer. Apr/May 2004. End of the Wild.  The extinction crisis is over. We lost.  Boston Review. Stephen M. Meyer is a professor of political science at MIT and the director of the MIT Project on Environmental Politics and … Continue reading →

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Acid Oceans: how sea life is affected

Posted on January 3, 2012 by

April 30, 2014 Ocean acidity is dissolving shells of tiny snails off U.S. West Coast Biologists have found the first evidence that acidity of continental shelf waters off the U.S. West Coast is dissolving the shells of tiny free-swimming marine … Continue reading →

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