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I have collected a number of quotations over the period 2008, 2009, 2010 that point to the possibility of human species extinction.
By 2050/2100 the world population will have passed nine to ten billion; three or more billion more than the number of people alive today. Given just average world consumption rates, the negative externalities associated with a population expansion of this size will bring on irreversible ecological flipping points.
World’s Population
10,000 BCE 2 to 3 million
2,000 BCE 130/200 million
1800 CE 1 billion
1930 CE 2 billion
1950 CE 2.5 billion
1999 CE 6 billion (Scientists have determined that 4/5 billion is the "break point")
2020 CE 7 billion
2050
to
2100 CE 11 billion plus ?
???? CE ?? billion
QUOTQTIONS (For the rest contact Lesprit351@AOL.com)
(1)
"I think the odds are no better than 50/50 that our present civilization will survive to the end of the present century. Our actions today may make the difference between a near eternity filled with ever more complex and subtle forms of life and one filled with nothing but base matter."
Sir Martin Rees, Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics and Master of Trinity College at the University of Cambridge. Honorary title of Astronomer Royal, Gold Medal of the Royal.
www.InquiryAbraham.com
(2)
“The possibility that animal life may be very rare in the Universe also heightens the tragedy of the current rate of extinction on our planet …. And if animals are as rare in the Universe as we suspect, it puts species extinction in a whole new light. Are we eliminating species not only from our planet but also from a quadrant of the galaxy as a whole.”
"Rare Earth" Peter D Ward and Donald Brownlee, page 283
www.InquiryAbraham.com
(3)
"The loss of global biological diversity is advancing at an unprecedented pace. Up to 150 species are becoming extinct every day. "
Sigmar Gabriel, Germany's Environment Minister in interview by BBC
www.InquiryAbraham.com
(4)
"A team of American, British and Canadian researchers concluded that ... humans had fouled 41 percent of the seas with poluted runoff, overfishing and other abuses ... and that a dead zone off the Oregon coast has spread south to California and north to Washington and devastated marine life in one of the world's most productive fisheries."
NY Times Editorial Page
www.InquiryAbraham.com
(5)
“The world doesn’t have enough resources to allow for raising China’s consumption rates, let alone those of the rest of the world, to our levels.”
Jared Diamond, a professor of geography at the University of California, Los Angeles
www.InquiryAbraham.com
(6)
“Over the next few decades, we may make the oceans more acidic than they have been for tens of millions of years.”
Atul Jain, professor of atmospheric science, University of Illinois
For the next ninety or more quotes, ask for them at:
Lesprit351@AOL.com
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