Tim Radford, science editor
Wednesday March 30, 2005
The Guardian
The human race is living beyond its means. A report backed
by 1,360 scientists from 95 countries - some of them world
leaders in their fields - today warns that the almost
two-thirds of the natural machinery that supports life on
Earth is being degraded by human pressure.
The study contains what its authors call "a stark warning"
for the entire world. The wetlands, forests, savannahs,
estuaries, coastal fisheries and other habitats that recycle
air, water and nutrients for all living creatures are being
irretrievably damaged. In effect, one species is now a
hazard to the other 10 million or so on the planet, and to itself.
"Human activity is putting such a strain on the natural functions
of Earth that the ability of the planet's ecosystems to sustain
future generations can no longer be taken for granted," it says.
The report, prepared in Washington under the supervision of
a board chaired by Robert Watson, the British-born chief
scientist at the World Bank and a former scientific adviser
to the White House, will be launched today at the Royal
Society in London. It warns that:
· Because of human demand for food, fresh water,
timber, fibre and fuel, more land has been claimed
for agriculture in the last 60 years than in the 18th
and 19th centuries combined.
· An estimated 24% of the Earth's land surface is now cultivated.
· Water withdrawals from lakes and rivers has doubled
in the last 40 years. Humans now use between 40%
and 50% of all available freshwater running off the land.
· At least a quarter of all fish stocks are overharvested.
In some areas, the catch is now less than a hundredth
of that before industrial fishing.
· Since 1980, about 35% of mangroves have been
lost, 20% of the world's coral reefs have been
destroyed and another 20% badly degraded.
· Deforestation and other changes could increase
the risks of malaria and cholera, and open the
way for new and so far unknown disease to emerge.
In 1997, a team of biologists and economists tried to
put a value on the "business services" provided by
nature - the free pollination of crops, the air conditioning
provided by wild plants, the recycling of nutrients by
the oceans. They came up with an estimate of $33 trillion,
almost twice the global gross national product for that
year. But after what today's report, Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment, calls "an unprecedented period of spending
Earth's natural bounty" it was time to check the accounts.
"That is what this assessment has done, and it is a sobering
statement with much more red than black on the balance sheet,"
the scientists warn. "In many cases, it is literally a matter
of living on borrowed time. By using up supplies of fresh
groundwater faster than they can be recharged, for example,
we are depleting assets at the expense of our children."
Flow from rivers has been reduced dramatically. For parts
of the year, the Yellow River in China, the Nile in Africa
and the Colorado in North America dry up before they reach
the ocean. An estimated 90% of the total weight of the
ocean's large predators - tuna, swordfish and sharks - has
disappeared in recent years. An estimated 12% of bird
species, 25% of mammals and more than 30% of all amphibians
are threatened with extinction within the next century.
Some of them are threatened by invaders.
The Baltic Sea is now home to 100 creatures from other
parts of the world, a third of them native to the Great Lakes
of America. Conversely, a third of the 170 alien species
in the Great Lakes are originally from the Baltic.
Invaders can make dramatic changes: the arrival of the
American comb jellyfish in the Black Sea led to the
destruction of 26 commercially important stocks of fish.
Global warming and climate change, could make it
increasingly difficult for surviving species to adapt.
A growing proportion of the world lives in cities,
exploiting advanced technology. But nature, the
scientists warn, is not something to be enjoyed
at the weekend. Conservation of natural spaces
is not just a luxury. "These are dangerous illusions
that ignore the vast benefits of nature to the lives
of 6 billion people on the planet. We may have
distanced ourselves from nature, but we rely
completely on the services it delivers."
-------------------------------------
READ AND OBEY !
THE WORDS OF THE GEORGIA GUIDESTONES:
1. Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
2. Guide reproduction wisely - improving fitness and diversity.
3. Unite humanity with a living new language.
4. Rule passion - faith - tradition - and all things with tempered reason.
5. Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
6. Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world
court.
7. Avoid petty laws and useless officials.
8. Balance personal rights with social duties.
9. Prize truth - beauty - love - seeking harmony with the infinite.
10.Be not a cancer on the earth - Leave room for nature - Leave room for
nature.
"Arne Saknussemm" wrote in message
news:ea79e$424b1640$d1cc7ce7$25368@snip.allthenewsgroups.com...
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1447863,00.html
If this silly cult got its act together and planned that mass suicide then
there would not be such a problem, seriously though, damn.
damn damn damn damn damn damn damn.
Posted by:: "Rev. Richard Skull" Date: 30 Mar 2005 15:58:47 -0800
--------
In article <1112227127.018127.249140@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com>,
"Rev. Richard Skull" wrote:
> 11) Send your $30 to "Bob!"
12) Wipe yer ass with the $10 you have left after you mail the $30 in.
--
HellPope Huey
379 pounds of Samoan dynamite
"You can't kill them
just because they're annoying."
"You never know until you try!"
- " Dilbert"
"The biggest difference
between the psychiatrist and the patient
is that the psychiatrist
has learned how to live with it."
- (David Gerrold) Solomon Short
--------
Arne Saknussemm wrote:
>
> THE WORDS OF THE GEORGIA GUIDESTONES:
>
> 1. Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual
> balance with nature.
Oh horse crap. People don't balance nature, nature
balances people. If there are too many people, nature
will kill off the extras. No problem. It's natural.
> 2. Guide reproduction wisely - improving fitness and diversity.
Those are mutually exclusive goals. Fitness is specialized
efficiency for a given environment at the expense of diversity.
Diversity is adaptability to multiple environments at the expense
of efficiency in any given environment.
> 3. Unite humanity with a living new language.
It's called English, Chinese and Spanish. Those are the big
three survivors in linguistical Darwinism. Every other tongue
is losing ground. English is the best.
> 4. Rule passion - faith - tradition - and all things with
> tempered reason.
If it's not "modern", it should die out. But if 'moderns' don't
figure out something that equates to secular ethics, then they
will die out.
> 5. Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
Like *that* will ever happen. Hah. Laws are blanket solutions
that require judges to figure out if they apply. Judges are
corrupt dumbasses.
> 6. Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes
> in a world court.
Fuck that. Every shit-ass dictator wants to pack said court
with somebody who does what he is told. And every goddamn
one of them would gleefully take a dump on the US at every
opportunity. I would rather be judged by a barrel full of
monkeys who had been sniffing airplane model glue.
> 7. Avoid petty laws and useless officials.
Start with the EU. It is nothing *but* petty laws and
useless officials. Then get government out of the business
except what Adam Smith said it should do.
> 8. Balance personal rights with social duties.
The US constitution did a pretty good job of doing that,
but most social duties are determined by the people at
large, as unwritten laws, and are brutally carried out
against those that are hated by society--often unfairly
be they witches, pedophiles, or other heathens.
> 9. Prize truth - beauty - love - seeking harmony with
> the infinite.
t-b-l are in the eye of the beholder. Harmony with an
infinite that hates you and wants to kill you is hardly
what I would call a good idea. As far as the universe
is concerned, you are food. Harmonize that.
> 10.Be not a cancer on the earth - Leave room for nature -
> Leave room for nature.
No, dig a hole in nature so nature can't kill you as fast.
Do everything you can to stop nature from killing you.
Live in a shelter, eat enough food, wear clothes and use
fire. Destroy what threatens you, and support what
supports you. Demand that your children do better than
you did at keep nature at bay. Remember that the world
tries to destroy everything, your life is unimportant,
and that life existed through far worse than anything
mankind could ever inflict. There will always be problems
and there will always be solutions. If you're not part of
the problem, then you are part of the firing solution.
And if you're not part of the solution, you are a
precipitate.
--
Be Sure To Visit the 'SubGenius Reverend' Blog:
http://slackoff.blogspot.com/
***********
"YOU BELONG TO US NOW!"
"GET DOWN WITH MY SICKNESS!!"
--Kino Beman, brand name
***********
"Do not EVER watch a Rammstein video when
you are fried on Hawaiian mushrooms."
--take my word for it
***********
"Mars was destroyed with weapons from the future.
There, does that make you feel any better?"
-- nu-monet
***********
"It is already like a government job,"
he said, "but with goats."
-- Iranian goat smuggler
********
"I wish to thank those who have been
admirably relentless in reminding us
when the line between doing a good
thing and thinking a bad thing has
been crossed."
-- Frank DiGiovanni
***********
Rev. nu-monet
Founder and High Priest
Church of Kali, U.S.A. (Reformed)
***********
"We've pretty much just been patrolling
and flying helicopters all over the place,
and when we see something bad, we blow it up."
-- Maj. David Holahan, US Marines
***********
"We're going to take things away from
you on behalf of the common good."
-- Hillary Clinton
***********
"Money can't buy you happiness,
but when you're poor, you can't
buy shit, and nobody will loan
you happiness."
--nu-monet
***********
Herring communicate with each other
via a high-pitched, "raspberry"-like
sound emitted from their anuses.
These noises are not produced by
digestive gases.
-- from 'The New Scientist'
***********
"I can imagine a LOT when it comes
to unimaginable power."
-- nu-monet
***********
Unless there is some reason for investigation,
the federal law and the Constitution still
protect the rights of citizens.
--FBI agent Greg Stejskal
***********
"I'd just like to say I'm sailing with the Rock
and I'll be back like Independence Day with Jesus,
June 6, like the movie, big mothership and all.
I'll be back."
--Executed Serial killer Aileen Wuornos
***********
"Pleasure me, you ebony wench!"
--James Mason, from the movie
'Mandingo'
***********
Come to think of it, I would really feel no guilt
whatsoever in killing brain-eating zombies before
they could eat my brain. In fact, why wait until
they're zombies? It's pretty easy to tell just by
looking who's going to turn into a zombie. If
they're all curled up on the floor yelling "Don't
shoot me! Don't shoot me!", they're a lot easier
to kill then when they're trying to eat your brain
and you have to shoot them a bunch of time before
they stop trying to eat your brain.
--nu-monet
***********
"Getting shot at was not that bad,
just the getting shot part sucked"
-- U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Villafane
***********
"The Silver Sphere is about twice the size of a
billiard ball. It has a couple of very sharp hooks
built into it. It flies through the air, attaches
itself to your forehead, and digs in. Then a drill
comes out and pierces your skull just above the
bridge of the nose, while blood spurts out the other
end. I hate it when that happens."
-- Roger Ebert
***********
"Be Brave! Fear is just the
opposite of Nar!"
--nu-monet
***********
"Military intelligence is sifting
through the destruction..."
-- catchy quote from
The Washington Times
***********
"He's just screaming out
'Neuter Me!'"
-- some guy about his dog
***********
"It's like the Roman Empire. Wasn't everybody
running around just covered with syphilis?
And then it was destroyed by the volcano."
--Joan Collins
***********
Anyone with a gun pointed
at you is the government.
--nu-monet
***********
Give me thank or kill me.
--nu-monet
***********
"This hedgehog will live with us!"
***********
"A stupid movie WILL NOT make you turn
down a blowjob. Simple as that."
-- nu-monet
***********
THE ETERNAL CONTEST
"God adores filthy, downtrodden wretches,
and covers the Earth with his favorites;
but Mother Nature abhores the ignorant
peasant, and seeks ever creative ways of
reducing their profligate numbers."
--nu-monet
***********
nu-monet's law: When the follow-up to a non-
political post has a gratuitously political
message for no apparent reason, and the law
is involked, the poster is required to post
ten(10) non-political messages before
blathering about politics again.
Corollary #1: If you write a non-political
reply to a political post you must masturbate
three times in rapid succession.
*************
v2 nu-monet's corollary: When a follow-up
message to a non-political thread has a
gratuitously political message for no apparent
reason, the follow-up message poster should be
kill filtered, because they will never have
anything intelligent to contribute in the future.
Posted by:: John Cook Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2005 14:44:28 +1000
--------
nu-monet v7.0 wrote:
more GREAT stuff that really shits me 'cause it deserves more time than
I've got - flagged for 'ron
--------
In article <424B7568.23DD@succeeds.com>,
"nu-monet v7.0" wrote:
>>>> As far as the universe
> is concerned, you are food.
AND I'M MIGHTY TASTY, TOO!
>>>> And if you're not part of the solution, you are a
> precipitate.
AND I'M MIGHTY TASTY, TOO!!
--
HellPope Huey
379 pounds of tasty Samoan dynamite
"You can't kill them
just because they're annoying."
"You never know until you try!"
- " Dilbert"
"The biggest difference
between the psychiatrist and the patient
is that the psychiatrist
has learned how to live with it."
- (David Gerrold) Solomon Short
Posted by:: "angelicusrex" Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2005 00:56:28 -0700
--------
You know, 379 lbs of fat-rich Samoan deliciousness could go a long way to
solving world hunger! At least at my home! Cook yourself and send yourself
to me as a Year's Supply of Figis sausages in a gift box!
Your Friend,
A.R.
Posted by:: Eddie Vroom Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2005 06:32:43 GMT
--------
nu-monet v7.0 wrote:
>>5. Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
>
>
> Like *that* will ever happen. Hah. Laws are blanket solutions
> that require judges to figure out if they apply. Judges are
> corrupt dumbasses.
More to the point, "nation of laws" usually means "nation of
punishments". The fact that the brutality is measured out and directed
by "rules" just makes it more psychotic.
--
How's this for a punchline: I wasn't joking, motherfucker!
the Mystical RevvedErrand Doktor Eddie Vroom
Certified God by the holy authority of
the White Lotus Fortune Cookie Company
June 23, 2004
--------
Arne Saknussemm wrote:
>
> THE WORDS OF THE GEORGIA GUIDESTONES:
Was this another one of those "LIFE IS SACRED SO WE MUST KILL NEARLY
EVERYBODY" lunatics? Where the fuck do they come from. How in the world is
it that their heads don't explode from the cognitive dissonace?
Posted by:: Zapanaz Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2005 12:27:17 -0800
--------
On Thu, 31 Mar 2005 07:57:22 -0500, "Revi Shankar"
wrote:
> Arne Saknussemm wrote:
>>
> > THE WORDS OF THE GEORGIA GUIDESTONES:
>
>
>Was this another one of those "LIFE IS SACRED SO WE MUST KILL NEARLY
>EVERYBODY" lunatics? Where the fuck do they come from. How in the world is
>it that their heads don't explode from the cognitive dissonace?
>
>
>
>
>
That Georgie Guidestones crap looks like some kind of new-age crap,
but the other 90% of his post has nothing to do with it.
--
Zapanaz
International Satanic Conspiracy
Customer Support Specialist
http://joecosby.com/
Pedro's banjo stolen by elves!
Pandemonium ensues!
Film at 11
Posted by:: "Rev. Richard Skull" Date: 31 Mar 2005 15:51:13 -0800
--------
> 1. Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual
> balance with nature.
>Oh horse crap. People don't balance nature, nature
>balances people. If there are too many people, nature
>will kill off the extras. No problem. It's natural.
Wasn't there a laxative commercial that said "Sometimes Nature Needs a
Little help?"
--------
Rev. Richard Skull did pass the time by typing:
>> 1. Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual
>> balance with nature.
>> Oh horse crap. People don't balance nature, nature
>> balances people. If there are too many people, nature
>> will kill off the extras. No problem. It's natural.
>
> Wasn't there a laxative commercial that said "Sometimes Nature Needs a
> Little help?"