Begin quote from page 83 in the latest Time Magazine on March 12, 2012, "Humans have a direct impact on more than 3/4 of the ice free land on earth. Almost 90% of plant activity takes place in ecosystems where people play a significant role."
Second quote from same source and page, "It's no longer us against Nature. Instead its we who decide what nature is and what it will be," writes Nobel-winning chemist Paul Crutzen. end quote.
Both these statements are sort of horrifying to me as someone born in 1948. But that doesn't lessen the fact that both statements are likely true. I still live in California where there are still state and Federal Wilderness places that one can hike into where there literally are no roads and often those areas have never been logged, but as I have traveled the world, California is mainly the exception and never the rule which is a very sad truth.
But even these wilderness places are affected by Global Climate change and there is no certainty at all whether any or all of the wildlife both plant and animal there can survive the drought this year or extreme weather both drought and snow and floods and wind the rest of this century. So, even the most pristine places on earth may not be there 100 years from now just because of Global Climate Change even if all humans magically disappeared from earth right now. So, what man has done already might extinct all life on the surface of earth within the next 1000 years. However, I believe that man likely will survive by going underground where temperatures mostly stay around 60 degrees Fahrenheit under a few feet deep over most of the world.
There is another quote that I also found interesting from this article on page 84. Begin quote, "Since then our ranks have ballooned from 1 billion to 7 billion, a rate of reproduction that biologist E.O. Wilson has characterized as 'more bacterial than primate'. Today the total human biomass is a hundred times as great as that of any other animal species that has ever walked the earth." end quote.
Next quote: "The change has been so rapid that scientists have dubbed the past half century the Great Acceleration--" end quote.
There is a new name for the epoch we now live in that is considered by scientists to have started around 1800. It is called the Anthropocene epoc which is based upon "Anthro" for 'man'.
Begin next quote on page 85, "The reality is that in the Anthropocene there may be simply no room for nature, at least not nature as we've known an celebrated it--something separate from man beings--something pristine." end quote.
However, I think it is hubris to think this way because from my point of view things are presently so out of control that I believe it likely that if nothing changes world populations likely will reduce by 1 or 2 billion at the very least by 2100. However, everything mankind has done in some ways has surprised me since I was born. So, after the radical changes in societal points of view in the 1960s and 1970s I realize almost anything is possible given enough time and enough self empowered, critical thinking and educated adults worldwide.
Here is one of the many problems confronting mankind right now: being quote from Page 85, "Nearly 1/5 of vertebrate species are threatened. Conservationists may be winning the battle for nature preserves and losing the war for wildlife."
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