Text 11061, 152 rader
Skriven 2005-04-04 22:40:45 av John Hull (1:379/1.99)
  Kommentar till text 11059 av MARNIE TROSCLAIR (1:10/345)
Ärende: THE ECOSYSTEM
=====================
04 Apr 05 16:20, MARNIE TROSCLAIR wrote to JOHN HULL:


 JH>> He might have a leg to stand on if humans had come to this planet 
 JH>> from somewhere else.  THEN anything we did would be an external 
 JH>> influence on things already here.  But we aren't.  We are as much 
 JH>> a part of this environment as an iceberg, or a raincloud, or a 
 JH>> herd of bison, and so is what we do.

 MT> Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

 MT>  Mar 31, 2005

 MT>  United Nations goals to halve poverty and hunger by 2015 will not 
 MT> be
 MT>  met, and hunger and malnutrition will remain problem even in 2050
 MT>  unless governments pay greater attention to what nature does for
 MT>  humanity, says a UN report published 30 March 2005.

 MT>  The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, prepared by 1300 scientists
 MT>  from 95 countries, says humans have changed the world more 
 MT> rapidly
 MT>  over the last 50 years than in any other time in history but 
 MT> billions
 MT>  of people remain in poverty and the destruction of the natural 
 MT> world
 MT>  is an increasingly significant barrier to the achievement of the 
 MT> UN
 MT>  Millennium Development Goals.

 MT>  [...]

 MT>  Key findings from the report include:

 MT>    * The atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide has increased 
 MT> by
 MT>      almost a third since 1750. 60% of that increase has happened 
 MT> since
 MT>      1959.

 MT>    * More land has been converted to cropland since 1945 than 
 MT> during
 MT>      the whole of the 18th and 19th centuries combined

 MT>    * One quarter of the world's coral reefs and about 35 per cent 
 MT> of
 MT>      the mangroves, in countries surveyed, were destroyed or badly
 MT>      degraded in the last decades of the 20th century

 MT>    * More than half of all the synthetic nitrogen fertilizer ever 
 MT> used
 MT>      has been used since 1985, causing water pollution problems 
 MT> around
 MT>      the world.

 MT>    * 15 out of 24 'ecosystem services' assessed in the study are 
 MT> being 
 MT>      degraded or used unsustainably - e.g. at least a quarter of
 MT>      commercially important fish stocks are over harvested and 
 MT> 15-35%
 MT>      of irrigation withdrawals could exceed replenishment rates

 MT>    * Pressures on ecosystems may be increasing the chance of 
 MT> sudden
 MT>      changes which could harm human well-being - examples include 
 MT>      new diseases, coastal dead zones, collapsing fisheries, 
 MT> invasive
 MT>      species and regional climate change

 MT>    * Levels of poverty remain high and inequalities are growing - 
 MT> over
 MT>      one billion people survive on less than $1 a day, 856 million 
 MT> are
 MT>      under-nourished and 1-2 billion are affected by water 
 MT> scarcity

 MT>    * The degradation of ecosystems is harming many of the world's
 MT>      poorest people and is sometimes the principal factor causing
 MT>      poverty - 1.8 million people die annually due to inadequate
 MT>      hygiene, sanitation or water supply

 MT>    * The Millennium Development Goal to halve poverty and hunger
 MT>      between 1990 and 2015 is not achieved and hunger and child
 MT>      malnutrition remain problems even in 2050

 MT>    * Wealthy countries cannot insulate themselves from ecosystem
 MT>      degradation, which is expected to get significantly worse 
 MT> over the
 MT>      next fifty years


 MT> John, you might not like to eat fish, but others certainly do.  
 MT> They 
 MT> might be concerned that 25% of the commercially important fish 
 MT> stocks
 MT> are being over-harvested.  Farmers in affected areas are certainly
 MT> concerned when irrigation withdrawals exceed replenishment rates.
 MT> Coastal dead zones, collapsing fisheries... you're going to shirk 
 MT> all of this off with a few snide remarks?

 MT> Roger Higman, Friends of the Earth's Environmental Coordinator 
 MT> said:

 MT>  "The Millennium Assessment cuts to the heart of one of the 
 MT> greatest
 MT>  challenges facing humanity - that we cannot maintain high 
 MT> standards of
 MT>  living, let alone relieve poverty, if we don't look after the 
 MT> Earth's
 MT>  life support systems.

 MT>  Yet it hasn't gone far enough in specifying the radical solutions
 MT>  needed. At the end of the day, if we are to respect the limits 
 MT> imposed
 MT>  by nature, and ensure the well-being of all humanity, we must 
 MT> manage
 MT>  the global economy to produce a fairer distribution of the 
 MT> Earth's
 MT>  resources."

 MT> You get excited about one case involving food and water being 
 MT> denied 
 MT> to one person, yet you can't see how so many more are being and 
 MT> will be
 MT> similarly affected by the problems identified by the scientists 
 MT> who 
 MT> produced this report.

Stuff it.

Guess what?  Man is part of this planet, part of the ecosystem.  If we abuse it
and cause a problem, we get to pay the piper.  We run the same risk of becoming
extinct as any other species.  It won't be the first time, and it certainly
won't be the last.

The vast majority of the misuse and abuse of the world's resources are not in
this country, but in the third world, and its due to the use of old and
outdated technology.  The key to stopping it is the use of new, cutting edge
technology which allows more efficient use of resources and most of that is
coming from the US and the industrialized Western democracies.  Guess which
countries will be hurt the most by such things as the Kyoto Accords?  Guess
which countries will get the biggest breaks under Kyoto?

Now, go away and quit wasting my time with this crap.

John 

America:  First, Last, and Always!
Go to www.madgorilla.us for all your Domain Name Services at the lowest rates.

--- Msged/386 TE 05
 * Origin:  (1:379/1.99)