{"id":56443,"date":"2021-01-16T15:07:15","date_gmt":"2021-01-16T20:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=56443"},"modified":"2021-01-16T15:07:57","modified_gmt":"2021-01-16T20:07:57","slug":"worried-about-earths-future-well-the-outlook-is-worse-than-even-scientists-can-grasp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=56443","title":{"rendered":"Worried about Earth\u2019s future? Well, the outlook is worse than even scientists can\u00a0grasp"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"magazine\">\n<div class=\"magazine-title\">\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<header class=\"content-header-container grid-twelve large-grid-eleven\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"content-header-block\">\n<h3 class=\"legacy entry-title instapaper_title\"><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<div class=\"grid-twelve large-grid-eleven\">\n<div class=\"grid-ten large-grid-nine grid-last content-body content entry-content instapaper_body inline-promos\">\n<h3 class=\"legacy entry-title instapaper_title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/worried-about-earths-future-well-the-outlook-is-worse-than-even-scientists-can-grasp-153091\"><strong>Worried about Earth\u2019s future? Well, the outlook is worse than even scientists can\u00a0grasp<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n<p>Anyone with even a passing interest in the global environment knows all is not well. But just how bad is the situation? Our new paper shows the outlook for life on Earth is more dire than is generally understood.<\/p>\n<p>The research\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fcosc.2020.615419\/full\">published today<\/a>\u00a0reviews more than 150 studies to produce a stark summary of the state of the natural world. We outline the likely future trends in biodiversity decline, mass extinction, climate disruption and planetary toxification. We clarify the gravity of the human predicament and provide a timely snapshot of the crises that must be addressed now.<\/p>\n<p>The problems, all tied to human consumption and population growth, will almost certainly worsen over coming decades. The damage will be felt for centuries and threatens the survival of all species, including our own.<\/p>\n<p>Our paper was authored by 17 leading scientists, including those from Flinders University, Stanford University and the University of California, Los Angeles. Our message might not be popular, and indeed is frightening. But scientists must be candid and accurate if humanity is to understand the enormity of the challenges we face.<\/p>\n<div class=\"slot\" data-id=\"17\">\n<div class=\"promo\">\n<div class=\"MuiBox-root-79 jss80 jss78\">\n<div>\n<h5 class=\"MuiTypography-root-95 jss81 MuiTypography-h5-104 jss86 MuiTypography-colorInherit-117\">Do experts have something to add to public debate?<\/h5>\n<p><button class=\"MuiButtonBase-root-143 MuiButton-root-128 jss126 jss125 MuiButton-contained-136 MuiButton-containedPrimary-137\" tabindex=\"0\" type=\"button\"><span class=\"MuiButton-label-129\">We think so<\/span><\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"align-center \"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/378462\/original\/file-20210113-21-1vk2ung.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip\" sizes=\"(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/378462\/original\/file-20210113-21-1vk2ung.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/378462\/original\/file-20210113-21-1vk2ung.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/378462\/original\/file-20210113-21-1vk2ung.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/378462\/original\/file-20210113-21-1vk2ung.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/378462\/original\/file-20210113-21-1vk2ung.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/378462\/original\/file-20210113-21-1vk2ung.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w\" alt=\"Girl in breathing mask attached ot plant in container\" \/><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Humanity must come to terms with the future we and future generations face.<\/span>\u00a0<span class=\"attribution\"><span class=\"source\">Shutterstock<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Getting to grips with the problem<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>First, we reviewed the extent to which experts grasp the scale of the threats to the biosphere and its lifeforms, including humanity. Alarmingly, the research shows future environmental conditions will be far more dangerous than experts currently believe.<\/p>\n<p>This is largely because academics tend to specialise in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1080\/15487733.2007.11907989\">one discipline<\/a>, which means they\u2019re in many cases unfamiliar with the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dymocks.com.au\/book\/fragile-dominion-by-simon-levin-and-simon-a-levin-9780738203195\">complex system<\/a>\u00a0in which planetary-scale problems \u2014 and their potential solutions \u2014 exist.<\/p>\n<p>\u2026click on the above link to read the rest of the article\u2026<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Worried about Earth\u2019s future? Well, the outlook is worse than even scientists can\u00a0grasp Anyone with even a passing interest in the global environment knows all is not well. But just how bad is the situation? Our new paper shows the outlook for life on Earth is more dire than is generally understood. The research\u00a0published [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7],"tags":[30835,10759,30833,30834,2418,341,2715,5975,30836,10693,8487],"class_list":["post-56443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environment","category-survival-2","tag-biodiversity-decline","tag-climate-disruption","tag-corey-j-a-bradshaw","tag-daniel-t-blumstein","tag-earth","tag-future","tag-mass-extinction","tag-paul-ehrlich","tag-planetary-toxification","tag-prediction","tag-the-conversation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=56443"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56445,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56443\/revisions\/56445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=56443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=56443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=56443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}