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Earth Science Technology

Scientists Warn That World's Wilderness Areas Are Disappearing (nytimes.com) 72

Scientists are warning that if human beings continue to mine the world's wildernesses for resources and convert them into cities and farms at the pace of the previous century, the planet's few remaining wild places could disappear in decades. From a report: Today, more than 77 percent of land on earth, excluding Antarctica, has been modified by human industry, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature, up from just 15 percent a century ago. The study, led by researchers from the University of Queensland in Australia and the Wildlife Conservation Society in New York, paints the first global picture of the threat to the world's remaining wildernesses -- and the image is bleak. "We're on a threshold where whole systems could collapse and the consequences of that would be catastrophic," said James R. Allan, one of the study's authors. In the study, Mr. Allan and his colleagues urged the participants of a United Nations conference on biological diversity, scheduled for next month in Egypt, to protect all of the world's remaining wilderness areas. "We cannot afford to lose more," he said. "We must save it in its entirety."
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Scientists Warn That World's Wilderness Areas Are Disappearing

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  • by Anonymous Coward

    Hope your stock returns keep you warm when you drown and/or starve to death with the rest of the species.

  • I dont think there is any wilderness left in India. Even the protected lion sanctuaries have huge number of people living in them, driving mopeds and trucks...

    But which politician is going to protect animals over people? Even in a developed and educated country like America, being against "tree huggers" and Spotted-owl lovers gets lots of votes.

    • Well, those short-sighted, selfish asshole are going to learn the hard way, then, aren't they?

      I'm glad I don't have kids. The world's largest ecosystems are currently collapsing at an unheard of rate, and it doesn't even warrant a "like" on the click click thing. Humanity's fucked.
    • by DarkOx ( 621550 )

      Yes because of the enormous cognitive dissonance of members of our two political parties. You have the mainstream political right in this country that wants to build pipelines thru the few large unspoiled sections of forests that remain east of the Mississippi; and anywhere else. Not to mention develop, develop, develop.

      And you have the political left; which wants to keep growing our population which would be nearly stable if it was not for immigration by opening the door to literally everyone!

      If you care

  • We can still fit the entire population of the world in Texas giving them 981sq ft. Pretty impressive that we have managed to touch and/or effected 74,682,719 sq miles of land. Pretty amazing numbers we are putting up.

    • by mikael ( 484 )

      Much of that land will be farms and ranches. One farmhouse has five or six large fields. Then several dozen farms will have a village. A half-dozen villages will have a market town. Market towns surround a city. Then those cities will have one capitol city. All of those will be connected by roads, trains, canals. Add some hydroelectric dams, reservoirs and national parks, military test zones, and every square mile of land is accounted for.

    • by CrimsonAvenger ( 580665 ) on Wednesday October 31, 2018 @08:17PM (#57571841)

      Pretty impressive that we have managed to touch and/or effected 74,682,719 sq miles of land.

      Not terribly impressive. 7.6 billion people, 74.7 million square miles of land. Over 100 people per square mile....

      Which translates, more or less, as average distance between humans is only 590 feet (180 meters) over the entire land area of the planet....

    • You can fit a lot of animals in the zoo but you can't grow their food in there too...
  • What's the problem they are pointing out? That humans are changing the planet too much? I've seen what happens when humans change the planet, they turn deserts to fruitful soil. I don't see that as a bad thing.

    This is just a bunch of hatred on humanity. If the impact of humans on the planet bother you so much then don't breed. I'd suggest going further but I wouldn't wish death on anyone, even self hating idiots that would like to impose misery on their fellow humans to save the wilderness.

    You know who

    • That isn't true. For example, farmland isn't fruitful soil. It is a desert enhanced by fertilizers. If you abandoned it, the soil would blow away quickly.
  • We have now almost completely consumed the systems that give us life.

  • There is no solution for this. All the politicians in all countries want growth. Growth is incompatible with wildlife. It is growth or wild life. You don't have to hold degree in poly Math to see who will win. From the point of view of The Rest Of Nature humanity is a virus.
  • The pace won't be the same because:
    a) easily/moderately accessible resources are pretty much being exploited therefore $$$ will temper further exploitation
    b) farms/cities can't be built just anywhere and already exist anywhere that is easily/moderately feasible.
    Bottom line: nothing increases linearly forever. A scientist should know that. There will be a plateau and we've likely reached it.
    Instead think: it is cheaper to increase efficiency of resource use and higher densities of habitation.

    Epilogue: th

"I'm a mean green mother from outer space" -- Audrey II, The Little Shop of Horrors

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