{"id":2794,"date":"2012-06-08T11:09:15","date_gmt":"2012-06-08T17:09:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/?p=2794"},"modified":"2012-06-08T11:09:15","modified_gmt":"2012-06-08T17:09:15","slug":"environmental-collapse-now-a-serious-threat-scientists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/?p=2794","title":{"rendered":"Environmental collapse now a serious threat: scientists"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>June 8, 2012-By <a href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/hostednews\/afp\/article\/ALeqM5gZDoP-zH_Ll3B1Hz6eBUHTROlxlw?docId=CNG.32cdaff28eca80c5f2adf7a1e63bea0c.101\">Agence France-Presse<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Melting-globe.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2795\" title=\"Melting globe\" src=\"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Melting-globe.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"288\" height=\"384\" srcset=\"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Melting-globe.jpg 288w, http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Melting-globe-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 288px) 100vw, 288px\" \/><\/a>Climate change, population growth and environmental destruction could cause a collapse of the ecosystem just a few generations from now, scientists warned on Wednesday in the journal Nature.<\/p>\n<p>The paper by 22 top researchers said a &#8220;tipping point&#8221; by which the biosphere goes into swift and irreversible change, with potentially cataclysmic impacts for humans, could occur as early as this century.<\/p>\n<p>The warning contrasts with a mainstream view among scientists that environmental collapse would be gradual and take centuries.<\/p>\n<p>The study appears ahead of the June 20-22 UN Conference on Sustainable Development, the 20-year followup to the Earth Summit that set down priorities for protecting the environment.<\/p>\n<p>The Nature paper, written by biologists, ecologists, geologists and palaeontologists from three continents, compared the biological impact of past episodes of global change with what is happening today.<\/p>\n<p>The factors in today&#8217;s equation include a world population that is set to rise from seven billion to around 9.3 billion by mid-century and global warming that will outstrip the UN target of two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit).<a href=\"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/The-Human-Race.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2796\" title=\"The Human Race\" src=\"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/The-Human-Race.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"576\" height=\"445\" srcset=\"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/The-Human-Race.jpg 576w, http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/The-Human-Race-300x231.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 576px) 100vw, 576px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The team determined that once 50-90 percent of small-scale ecosystems become altered, the entire eco-web tips over into a new state, characterised especially by species extinctions.<\/p>\n<p>Once the shift happens, it cannot be reversed.<\/p>\n<p>To support today&#8217;s population, about 43 percent of Earth&#8217;s ice-free land surface is being used for farming or habitation, according to the study.<\/p>\n<p>On current trends, the 50 percent mark will be reached by 2025, a point the scientists said is worryingly close to the tipping point. \u00a0For the rest of the story\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/hostednews\/afp\/article\/ALeqM5gZDoP-zH_Ll3B1Hz6eBUHTROlxlw?docId=CNG.32cdaff28eca80c5f2adf7a1e63bea0c.101 \">Go To Original<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>June 8, 2012-By Agence France-Presse Climate change, population growth and environmental destruction could cause a collapse of the ecosystem just a few generations from now, scientists warned on Wednesday in the journal Nature. The paper by 22 top researchers said &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/?p=2794\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[189,70,155,188,190],"class_list":["post-2794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-agence-france-presse","tag-climate-change","tag-global-warming","tag-population","tag-tipping-point"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2794"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2797,"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2794\/revisions\/2797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}