Uncharted Territory (part 1 of 2)

We're in uncharted territory.  No one knows for sure how bad will be the effects of climate change or what exactly will happen. 

Speaking of positive feedback loops, inter-related are the current rate of species extinction and global warming.  The Holocene, or Sixth Extinction refers to the current period of mass species extinction that we’ve all been hearing about since we were kids, except we didn’t think it was that bad.  What we learned as kids, with pleas to save the whales, has snowballed into an avalanche of extinctions that has become an event in itself.  Elizabeth Kolbert has described it in detail in her Pulitzer Prize winning aptly named book, The Sixth Extinction.  Here is a succinct summary of the present-day mass extinction, in which we may be included. 

It Gets Worse

Guy McPherson is Professor Emeritus of Natural Resources and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona. McPherson is gaining attention as a scientist who believes we humans will be extinct – yes, extinct – in as little as fifteen years.  You can find McPherson's website Nature Bats Last and blog here. 

I learned about McPherson while commuting to work and listening to an interview with him on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s (CBC) Radio One.  The strength of the following video, Guy McPherson, Full Presentation, York, UK, is the breadth of his overview of sources.  It’s heavily referenced. 

I wish McPherson’s comments were as measured as his monotone is flat.  I’d prefer if he did not inject dark humour and political asides into the lecture.  That said, there is a solid overview of his position and a goldmine of reference material in this short half hour or so lecture. 

Plus, for McPherson, the upshot of it all is refreshingly measured: pursue love and live a life of excellence.  He’s not asking anybody to join him in a commune and drink the purple Kool-Aid.  One could quibble, asking why a scientist is moralizing at all.  But given his conclusions, it’s helpful to see how moderate his “so what?” is.  Pursue love and live a life of excellence.  In fact, it sounds familiar: 

The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.  Above all, keep loving one another earnestly...

1 Peter 4:7-8

Next time:  Near Term Extinction (Part 2), or why the IPCC reports sound optimistic.