Most of us have figured out by now that we are toast: Humanity will be wiped out by an asteroid, supernova, massive volcanic eruptions, global axis shift, some untreatable virus, nuclear war or climate change. Our sun is going supernova. We’ve seen the disaster movies, read the books and laughed at the cartoons. 

But how quickly?

University of Arizona emeritus natural resources professor Guy McPherson, author of Extinction Dialogs: How to Live with Death in Mind, which he co-authored with Carolyn Baker, recently spoke at a Unitarian Universalist Church in Eugene, Oregon, offering dire, even shocking predictions.

In his talk, McPherson figures the sixth extinction in Earth’s geologic history is already under way. We could see massive die-offs of humans and other species in as little as 18 months, and humanity has at best 10 to 20 years. “I could be wrong,” he admits.

McPherson accuses climate scientists of “malpractice” for not being candid with the public about “our 99 percent certainty of death.”

“There is no expiration date stamped on us, but we have triggered events that will lead to our extinction in the not-too-distant future,” he says. 

“Near-term human extinction” even has an acronym, NTHE, and McPherson is certainly not the first scientist or science writer to say we’ve damaged our ecosystem too much to fix it. The perfect storm of overpopulation, industrialization, pollution, deforestation, monocrops and pesticides, invasive species, urban sprawl, overfishing, warfare, reliance on fossil fuels, ignorance and corruption (and accompanying bad public policy) have had scientists waving distress flags for decades, even before Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring of 1960.

The warnings have been ignored or ridiculed at the international, national, state and even local level, thanks in part to a well-funded, right-wing campaign representing the short-term interests of heavy industry, mining and fossil fuel corporations. A growing number of Americans, a record 40 percent, think the dangers of climate change are exaggerated, according to Gallup polling in recent years. 

President Obama has helped Democrats wake up to the seriousness of climate change, but 68 percent of Republicans believe the threat is non-existent or overblown. Science is playing second fiddle to politics.

McPherson is correct that few climate scientists are talking about imminent human extinction, but is it a matter of professional “malpractice” or is the scientific community simply less inclined to radical extrapolation for fear of losing credibility (and grants)? Although McPherson is a scientist, he’s not a climate scientist doing field research.

Phil Mote, director of the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute at Oregon State University, is skeptical of McPherson’s predictions: “I’ve been connected to national and international assessments of the state of the science of climate change, and although my colleagues and I are generally very concerned about what challenges climate change is bringing to humankind, no expert that I have read has used language like ‘extinction of the human race.’ I refer of course to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, U.S. National Climate Assessment and various U.S. National Academy of Sciences reports.” 

Mote is involved with the IPCC, which won the Nobel Prize in 2007 along with Al Gore for their “efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change.”

Elizabeth Kolbert, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Sixth Extinction, says, “What is clear, and what is beyond dispute, is that we are living in a time of very, very elevated extinction rates, on the order that you would see in a mass extinction, though a mass extinction might take many thousands of years to play out.”

What do local climate change activists think about McPherson and his predictions? “I can appreciate the sledgehammer—especially when people with great influence do great harm,” says Delaney Pearson of the 350 Eugene Leadership Team. “But his claim that we have no chance to change anything for the better—no matter what we do—feels like surrender.”

Pearson continues: “I certainly don’t think our work is a waste of time, and I’m more than happy to keep on talking and writing and, yes, tweeting about all the ways we might change the world for the better.” She says, “For now, I choose Bill McKibben and all the people around me and around the world working so hard to turn this crisis into an amazing opportunity for good.” 

McKibben is a leading voice for climate action, and he recognizes the threat of global climate catastrophe, but his optimistic book Hope, Human and Wild focuses on the many inventive solutions supporting sustainability that he has found around the world.

International journalist and author Dahr Jamail wrote on the nonprofit news site Truth-out.org in December 2014 that “coal will likely overtake oil as the dominant energy source by 2017, and without a major shift away from coal, average global temperatures could rise by 6 degrees Celsius by 2050, leading to devastating climate change. This is dramatically worse than even the dire predictions from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which predicts at least a 5-degree Celsius increase by 2100 as its worst-case scenario.”

Jamail adds, “There is nothing to indicate in the political or corporate world that there will be anything like a major shift in policy aimed at dramatically mitigating runaway anthropogenic [human-caused] climate disruption.”

Mary DeMocker of 350 Eugene was in the front row at McPherson’s talk, and she says: “Until James Hansen or a lot of scientists of his caliber and expertise call it game over, I’m fighting to win and holding onto the thread of hope he offers that it’s a closing window, but it’s a window nonetheless, and it’s still open.”

DeMocker adds that McPherson “never mentioned that you can pull carbon out of the atmosphere and reduce the 400 ppm to a livable amount. And in that he’s doing a profound disservice. It can be done, 7 percent yearly reduction.”

 

The rationale for extinction

What does McPherson base his NTHE predictions on? In his lectures and on his blog Nature Bats Last (see guymcpherson.com), he says, “I’ve been accused of having no hope, and that’s true.” Environmental scientists tend to specialize, and McPherson has collected their published research from around the world. He cites and documents “irreversible, self-reinforcing feedback loops” from hundreds of scientific studies. 

He admits to “cherry picking” his data, but “no matter how dire the situation becomes, it only gets worse when I check the latest reports.” He was so convinced by the evidence that he left his academic career behind and became a certified grief counselor to help people through their final days.

Even the relatively staid IPCC has warned of such a scenario: “The possibility of abrupt climate change and/or abrupt changes in the Earth system triggered by climate change, with potentially catastrophic consequences, cannot be ruled out. Positive feedback from warming may cause the release of carbon or methane from the terrestrial biosphere and oceans.”

Here are a few of McPherson’s conclusions. If this is all too depressing, skip to the “What We Can Do About It?” sidebar.

• The Arctic ice cap is breaking up for the first time in recorded history. “An ice-free Arctic could be this year, in September,” McPherson says, “and this could lead to a burst of methane at any time” from the shallow Arctic seabed. An ice-free Arctic could also lead to large-scale drilling for oil and gas, which would exacerbate our overdependence on fossil fuels.

• Methane, a greenhouse gas, is also trapped in permafrost and peat bogs in boreal forests. Warming would release vast volumes of methane into the atmosphere. Giant “methane blowholes” are appearing in Siberia. Thawed peat can also catch fire and smolder for years, releasing carbon and covering ice fields with soot. The “dark ice” in turn absorbs sunlight and hastens melting.

• Earth’s soils contain countless trillions of microorganisms that hold about half the sequestered carbon on the planet. Soil warming will release carbon dioxide.

• Rising atmospheric carbon dioxide gets a lot of attention (think Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth), but it’s only one factor in rising temperatures. Ozone doesn’t get as much attention, but atmospheric ozone is blamed for forest dieback, which in turn reduces carbon sequestration. 

• Heat by itself will not kill humanity, he says, but hot summers will lead to crop failures and mass migration. “We are clever but we cannot live without habitat, at least not for long.” Countries closer to the poles, he says, don’t have fertile soils and can’t grow nearly enough food to feed billions of people.

• Lack of fresh water is already a huge problem worldwide, and it will get much, much worse. Water shortages will stifle agriculture (think dust bowls and desertification) and seriously hamper business, industry and drinking water supplies. Desalination is expensive and energy-intensive with our current technology.  

• The world’s 443 nuclear power plants could melt down due to lack of cooling water, blanketing the planet with toxic radiation. It takes decades and many millions of dollars to decontaminate and decommission a single nuclear plant, and more than 60 new nuclear reactors are being built today.

• Rising sea levels will inundate cities and lowlands, displacing more than one billion people and flooding low-elevation farmland with saltwater. Coastal erosion will also destroy plant habitat and release carbon dioxide. A global hike in temperatures of just 1-2 degrees Celsius could raise sea levels by 20 feet, according to a study of the geologic record just released last week by OSU scholars Anders Carlson and Peter Clark.

• Our oceans and their prevailing currents are in flux for a variety of reasons, and jellyfish could take over, destroying the food chain for the rest of sea life. Billions of people rely on seafood and seaweed as diet staples.

• El Niño, a natural cycle of ocean warming, can exacerbate both flooding and drought, along with storm intensity, wildfires and other factors in the “vicious cycle” of climate change.

• Water vapor in the troposphere increases with warming and in turn “absorbs more heat and further raises the Earth’s temperature,” McPherson reports.

• Our planet in relationship to the sun is already at the “inner edge of the habitable zone, and lies within 1 percent of inhabitability,” McPherson says. “A minor change in Earth’s atmosphere removes human habitat.” None of our neighboring planets can support human life on any significant scale.

 

Contrary perspectives

Noted Australian science writer Geoffrey Chia, M.D., writes in The Canadian Daily online, “I have learned a great deal from the writings and presentations of Dr. Guy McPherson. However, I do not agree with all of his conclusions or views.” 

“Everyone gets things wrong,” Chia says. “It is impossible to conceive of any credible scenario in which the mass die-off of billions of people will not occur in the century. Mass culling is guaranteed. … Is it, however, possible that a small number of humans may be able to survive the next couple of thousand years, given adequate preparations in certain geographical pockets, until the overall global climate becomes more conducive to humans?”

Chia figures planetary temperatures will “eventually cool in the long term in the absence of large numbers of humans,” and biosequestration of carbon will resume.

Hydrologist and science writer Scott K. Johnson is more skeptical and writes on his Fractal Planet blog: “It takes careful examination of McPherson’s references, and a familiarity with the present state of climate science, to uncover that his claims aren’t scientific at all.”

Johnson says McPherson “just latches onto anything that sounds scary,” he is “especially fast and loose with timeframes,” and “his argument fundamentally reduces to ‘positive feedbacks exist, ergo extinction.'”

 

Some final thoughts on extinction

“After his talk I went home and read his book—whole—gobbled it up nearly,” says Jungian psychoanalyst Jennifer Gordon of 350 Eugene. “I wanted to ask him to say more about ‘It depends on the political will of the people,’ the only hopeful thing I heard him say.”

Delaney Pearson of 350 Eugene says, “To McPherson I would also argue that we (the privileged first world) have debts to pay, and it’s not good enough to just give up and ‘face the truth’ while billions of people continue to experience the worst effects of climate change. This is about justice—on all levels. The animals and trees, rivers, oceans and skies, children and new babies everywhere need and deserve our attention.”

Laurie Granger of the Raging Grannies and 350 Eugene says, “We’re all living in this moment. In every forum we share our concerns and knowledge and passionately try to make a difference. As we’re on this path, there’s no room for doom and gloom.” 

Laurie Ehlhardt of 350 Eugene says Pope Francis departs from McPherson’s outlook concerning where we go from here. She quotes his recent encyclical: “Many things have to change course, but it is we human beings above all who need to change. A great cultural, spiritual and educational challenge stands before us, and it will demand that we set out on the long path of renewal.”

 

 This story was originally published in the Eugene Weekly. Ted Taylor has been editor-in-chief at Eugene Weekly since 1998. He is a University of Oregon journalism grad with 30 years experience in daily and weekly newspaper writing, editing and managing.

What can we do about it?

Guy McPherson quotes Edward Abbey, saying, “Action is the antidote to despair,” and encourages activists to go down fighting. Giving up and being depressed accomplishes nothing and is no way to die, or live for that matter. He advocates for “the simple life,” echoing the idea that we should “live simply so that others may simply live.”

“Do what you love to do and live life by striving for excellence every day,” he says. “Treat people with dignity and compassion, and think about how you are going to live and not about how you are going to die.”

He says to “not worry about the jerks in your life, the guy in the Hummer who just cut you off. He will die, too.”

Knowing we are all going to die soon can also be liberating, McPherson says. No more worries about that retirement plan, that bucket list, how to pay for the grandkids’ education, etc. Money, in fact, will be worthless when the world economy collapses. Even gold and silver will lose their value when they can no longer buy food, water and shelter.

Worried about your personal legacy? It takes about 10 million years to recover from mass extinction. The next evolution of Homo sapiens will have no knowledge of you, Beethoven, Donald Trump or Kim Kardashian’s butt.

Groups of people who have accepted abrupt climate change (ABC, another new acronym) are forming, and a website is up at onlyloveremains.org. The website offers low-cost workshops and reads, “You’ve come to grips with near-term human extinction. It’s a lonely conclusion, one that interferes with many relationships. You want somebody with whom to discuss the most important topic in the history of our species. It seems most of your friends and family are in denial. Now what?”

This article appears in Aug 6-12, 2015.

22 replies on “Radical Predictions”

  1. Self-grandeurized liberal loons sucking off the taxpayers. Perfect residents of Tucson, the 5th poorest city in the country.

    Their message is exactly the same as our leaders, “Back to the cave, get whitey, make him pay.”

  3. Denial is a natural human coping mechanism. It is manifested in a multitude of ways such as cognitive dissonance. If all of one’s dreams and aspirations are threatened then it it to be expected. In my view most of the Earth’s growing 7.26-billion homo sapiens are currently living in a state of profound denial about the rapidity of what is coming down on us.

    With our great sense of superiority we will try to prevail and in the process we will end up taking down much of this planet’s life support system. As a result we will end up taking tens-of-millions of other species along with us to extinction.

  4. It is no comfort to me to know that Hummer drivers, the trolls and the people who wage war to control oil in the middle east will also die. I want them to live long enough see the consequences of their actions and inactions…

  5. We do have the ability to solve all these problems. World birth control is one option,
    but the fanatics of the world powers won’t let this happen, they would prefer to control it by ” WAR”……..but what do I know I’m a old man that has served my country
    in a war in a jungle that didn’t mean a thing……So 50 years later were still doing the same things……were basically moving in reverse.

  6. On the one hand, I am concerned about the environment, and the changing climate. On the other hand, I’m 57, and I have been reading dire predictions about the fate of the Earth, and of mankind, for 50 years. Overpopulation, global cooling, global warming, acid rain, destruction of the ozone layer, etc., etc. Yeah, population (and the related phenomena of famine and disease), climate change, acid rain and other consequences of pollution, war, etc., are all things about which we should be concerned, and about which we need to continue to take action. However, NONE of them have turned out to be the bringers of doomsday predicted by the doomsayers.

    Oh, by the way, the Sun will NEVER go supernova. It is not massive enough to do so. It will gradually brighten for the next 5 billion years, and then, when enough of its hydrogen fuel in its core has been consumed, it will begin fusing helium into carbon, causing it to turn into a red giant, engulfing Mercury, Venus, and probably Earth. Even if it doesn’t engulf the Earth, Earth’s surface will be very effectively sterilized. If we live that long, we’ll need to move elsewhere.

  7. In Dec. World Leaders are to meet in Paris to discuss Global Warming, at issue is the amount of greenhouse gases we our emitting, and their plan of action.

    “A greenhouse gas is any gaseous compound in the atmosphere that is capable of absorbing infrared radiation, thereby trapping and holding heat in the atmosphere. By increasing the heat in the atmosphere, greenhouse gases are responsible for the greenhouse effect, which ultimately leads to global warming.” Live Science

    Globally we our emitting 40 – 50 Billion Toxic Tons a Year.

    The United States emitted 6.8 Billion Toxic Tons in 2014

    In the 1850s – 1870s parts per million of Carbon in our atmosphere was between 260 – 280.

    In the 1980s, there was 350 ppm of Carbon.

    2015 – 404 ppm in Our Atmosphere.

    We just passed the 1C. baseline Rise !

    India, Pakistan, Japan, and the Middle East, Record Breaking, Heat Killing Waves !

    Massive, Salmon, Starfish, Sea Lion, and Birds, Die-Offs in the Pacific Ocean !

    The Pacific Ocean is 3 – 8 degrees warmer than Normal. and running in the the Arctic Sea !

    The Jet Stream is acting like a balloon that is loosing air.

    The Arctic Ice and Snow may be gone at the end of this Summer. A Huge Natural Cooler for the Northern Hemisphere, that Man and Woman have never lived without !

    The meeting in Paris, should be about Closing the Fossil Fuel Faucet.

    “Professor Chris Field is bullshitting the planet. On whether 1.5C is still feasible” Kevin Hester

    “The message is already clear, that if the world does want to strive to limit warming to 1.5C or less, we don’t have very much of the carbon budget left.” Professeor Chris Field

    “There is no carbon budget any more and 5C is baked in according to both Shell petroleum and the International Energy Authority. ” Kevin Hester

    “Chris Field is the founding director of the Carnegie Institution’s department of global ecology and professor for interdisciplinary environmental studies at Stanford University. He is the co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) working group two (WGII) and US nominee for the chair of the IPCC.”
    With people like this driving the IPCC you can see why we are all done for.” Kevin Hester.

    There is No Carbon Budget

    California emitted 459 Toxic Tons of Carbon Dioxide in 2014.

    Gov Browns call to reduce this to 1990 levels so we can continue to emit over 400 million Toxic Tons a year, will not help us stop or slow down Global Warming and Sea Levels Rising.

    “Updates to the 2020 Limit.
    Calculation of the original 1990 limit approved in 2007 was revised using the scientifically updated IPCC 2007 fourth assessment report (AR4) global warming potentials, to 431 MMTCO2e. Thus the 2020 GHG emissions limit established in response to AB 32 is now slightly higher than the 427 MMTCO2e in the initial Scoping Plan.” Ca. Gov. Data

    What will the Temp. be at 415 ppm ?

    “Ice sheets contain enormous quantities of frozen water. If the Greenland Ice Sheet melted, scientists estimate that sea level would rise about 6 meters (20 feet). If the Antarctic Ice Sheet melted, sea level would rise by about 60 meters (200 feet).” National Snow and Ice Data Center.

    When will Sea Level Rise to 220 – 300 Feet ? 2020 ? 2025 ? ?

    What will the ppm of Carbon be when this happens ?

    As of Now, they are talking about capping GHGs at 450 ppm.

    What will the Temp. be at 450 ppm ?

    We must transition to 100% Renewable Energy

    Implement a California Residential and Commercial Feed in Tariff.

    California Residential Feed in Tariff would allow homeowners to sell their Renewable Energy to the utility, protecting our communities from, Global Warming, Poison Water, Grid Failures, Natural Disasters, Toxic Natural Gas and Oil Fracking.

    A California Commercial FiT in Los Angeles, Palo Alto, an Sacramento Ca. are operating NOW, paying the Business Person 17 cents cents per kilowatt hour.

    Sign and Share this petition for a California Residential Feed in Tariff.
    http://signon.org/sign/let-california-home-owners

  9. Is It Already Too Late ?

    Having lived in Tuscon, for several years, many years ago, I was glad to see the above article cover such a crucially important topic … I tend to agree with Geoffrey Chia, M.D., that there will be a remnant left … but for different reasons than he states …

    Guy McPherson lists a frightening number of positive feed backs that are already going on. One of the most concerning ones is ” the Methane Bomb” … A growing number of the experts who are researching the arctic methane issue – are coming to the same conclusion … The methane trigger has already been pulled … The bullet is already speeding towards its target …(See for example: http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/28490-the-methane-monster-roars …)

    The implications for passing this and other MAJOR tipping points – are of BIBLICAL proportions … consistent with the near term playing out of the Biblical End Times prophecies …

    Please, take a deep breath, and then take a moment to let what I just said – sink in … It is not hype … It is not exaggeration … The reality now facing the human race is on a scale unlike anything humans have ever faced before …

    You’d think this would be the topic of the day from one end of the planet to the other… But it’s not. So many are “asleep” … unaware … caught up in their own little worlds … uninformed or intentionally misinformed, as the case may be … by powerful forces at play ( like the GOP and their Big Corporate sponsors) that even still deny the very reality of what is becoming so obvious … and so tremendously foreboding … They intentionally try to “confuse the issue” so as to avoid a consensus for action from within the public at large …and the governments that “represent” them … And all the while,they continue to worship their idol (the almighty $$) blind to the fact that what is coming will mean an end to even that …

    If you are a Christian, like myself, you may well recall, especially around Christmas time, messages about another coming (the Second Coming) of Christ to earth, only this time not as a baby – not even close …A growing number of Christians believe that we are, in fact, living in the “End Times” and that that “Second Coming” will be soon… They point to the fulfillment of almost all of the “End Time”prophecies in the Bible … and all too many use this belief as a COP OUT for not doing anything about such tremendous challenges as Climate Change …

    I believe the growing body of scientific evidence suggests that mankind has ignored the warnings of scientists for way too long, doing far too little,far too late … I believe it is to the point where Jesus will once again have to come to save us … from ourselves … BUT THAT DOESN’T MEAN WE DON’T CONTINUE TO DO OUR PART– to become better stewards of God’s creation that we have so recklessly damaged … to work for more justice in response to the fact that those least responsible for the Climate Crisis are the ones suffering the most …and to follow Jesus’ example and truly love and serve our fellow men and women by helping those in need better cope with the ravages of Climate Change …

    There is a GRIEVING PROCESS to go through as these earth-shattering realities hit home …

    GET EDUCATED with the latest information ( as with Jamail’s article above ). GO THROUGH THE GRIEVING PROCESS … Pray … and then come out the other side –more in touch with a terrible but crucially important reality … and more able, therefore, to respond appropriately – whatever that might mean for each of us as individuals … and as members of our tragically dysfunctional human family …

  10. Wow, the communists (worshipers to the Church of Made in America Global Warming) are out in force with these posts. Even celebrating the possibility of Americans driving a specific type of vehicle to die.

    Tucson, Meet Yourself. 5th Poorest City in America and damn proud of it.

  11. When you have to lie about historical temps there is something wrong with the agenda. Banning cfc’s and Freon were promised as solutions when it was the thinning of ozone layer.

    That came right after fire predictions of the coming ice age.

    Find something else to worry about that doesn’t require taking my freedom or confiscating my income.

    It’s so socialistic of you.

  12. Who benefits here? It’s a basic question asked by law enforcement. There are two groups promoting opposing points of view. One is composed of the vast majority of climate scientists who say that global warming is real and is accelerating. The other, principally financed by the big money interests, says that it is all a lie. The real science group gets their small grants reduced or cancelled if they write an accurate analysis of the worsening situation that hurts the oligarchs’ feelings. On the other hand the big money group will make trillions by playing the tried and true “our product is doubt” propaganda techniques used by big tobacco many years ago. I guess those scientists must really be stupid and global warming a lie. Who would, in their right mind, pass up all of the money they could make by being a Fox Snooze talking head denier. While they are at it they could also join the Fox group that questions mathematics.
    I get a good laugh when I see the word communist and/or socialist in the denier’s comments. That sure is original. Can’t these geniuses think of anything new? I certainly don’t know of anything more communistic than the 2008 bankster bailouts. In case you didn’t know, the FED is not a government agency. It is composed of the biggest privately owned banks in the world. By the way, watch out for the upcoming bail-ins that were used in Greece and Cypress.

  14. Laugh if you must but there is nothing new under the sun. Review the account of Jonestown massacre and the supposed communist utopia that failed once again. It might wipe that smile off your face.

  16. In the civilization that comes next, anyone who even mentions the word “profit” will be thrown off the nearest cliff.

  17. One of the cool things if not the coolest thing about being a disciple of Jesus Christ is that we will never die. Change bodies? Sure, but die? We can’t because He kicked death’s ass.

  18. The Military Industrial Complex and HAARP are controlling the jet stream and the weather. They are spraying us with aluminum, barium and strontium. Chemical trails sprayed from planes. Look Up. Asthma, Alzheimers, Autism and ADHD are on the rise. Also Parkinsons and Lou Gerrings Disease.The spraying is interfering with the normal activity of the sun. Trees and animal species are dying. Forests are burning up. The elite (Illuminati…Agenda 21) have underground bunkers built, while we will have to face the ongoing global warming which they are making worse with their geo-engineering, as they say it is to cool the planet. They are making it worse. They want to reduce the population.The ice is melting to almost nothing in the Arctic as we speak. Methane gas is releasing into the atmosphere. They now want to rape the Arctic as they have with the rest of the planet. Let’s join in the fight. For more reliable info go to: https://www.facebook.com/dane.wigington.geoengineeringwatch.org

  19. Unfortunately, nothing is organic anymore. We have another battle to fight first. The Military Industrial Complex is spraying Aluminum, Barium and Strontium into the atmosphere, from above, around the globe. Some refer to them as chemical trails. Look up.They say it is to help cool the planet, to reflect back the suns rays. But they are creating a heat box. Along with HAARP they are controlling the jet stream and weather. They are trying to kill us off. Trees and species are dying. The forest are burning. ADHD, Asthma, Altzeimers, Autism, Lou Gerrings Disease and Parkinson are new afflications getting worse. And Monsanto has developed Aluminum resistant seeds…hmmm. Wash your fruits and vegetables! Let’s work together and fight. Go to this reliable site for more information https://www.facebook.com/dane.wigington.geoengineeringwatch.org

  20. O.K. green earth lovers.
    How about a comment about the EPA poisoning of the Animas river from Durango/ Silverton
    to New Mexico,Utah and maybe Lake Powell.
    What do I hear? Crickets maybe? Obama was so troubled by the BP spill. Not a word about this disaster.
    Aren’t the feds accountable too? Phony central planning hypocrites. Speak up cowards.

  21. I think it is high time to put the “over-population lie to rest! I am sick and tired of hearing the same old rhetoric of how the earth is over populated – when it is easily proven it is not even close to ever being over-populated.

    Based on the information provided below, how can the earth be pverpopulated when the entire population would fit on under 12% of the earths available land mass? SO what exactly is the agenda here? Read on and find out the truth to the overpopulation lie.

    Putting the “over population” lie to rest

    These are actual calculations based on all available information to date. Granted Australia or South America (examples given) could not sustain the earths population with their resources alone – but it does put the “over-population “ argument to rest insofar as the size of the earths land surface and the amount of people on it.

    In calculating with only 12% of the world’s available land mass surface (using the South American continent alone); then the remaining resources from earths available land mass would equal 88%.

    Bottom line, it comes down to a question of exactly what the agenda really is! Is it a matter of perceived over population? Or is it a question of too many people to control? Either way, the facts are that this earth is NOT over-populated.

    WORLD:

    7,071,773,789 people as of 19:59 UTC (EST+5) Mar 12, 2013

    Australian Continent = 2,967,892 square miles

    Calculating that 1 Square Mile = 27, 878, 400 Square Feet

    2,967,892 square miles X 27,878,400 square feet = 82,740,080,332,800 sq ft
    82,740,080,332,800 sq ft / 14,520 (1/3 acre) = 5,698,352,640 (1/3 acre parcels)

    World population as of date indicated = 7,071,773,789

    Australia (by itself) could potentially house 5,698,352,640 people (on 1/3 acre parcels ) by itself, leaving just 1,373,421,149 people to find a home elsewhere while using just 5.2% of the earth surface.

    South America Continent = 6,880,000 Sq. Miles

    6,880,000 square miles X 27,878,400 square feet = 191,803,392,000,000 sq ft
    191,803,392,000,000 sq ft /14,520 ( 1/3 acre) = 13,209,600,000 (1/3 acre parcels )

    If you wanted to raise the stakes a bit and allocate ½ an acre to everyone on the earth (man, woman and child) then based on the below calculations:

    6,880,000 square miles X 27,878,400 = 191,803,392,000,000 sq ft
    191,803,392,000,000 sq. ft / 21780 sq. ft (1/2 acre) = 8,806,400,000 ½ acre parcels
    8,806,400,000 (1/2 acre parcels) – 7,071,773,789 people (world population) = 1,734,626,211 available
    this shows that in South America alone, there is still room for growth of yet another 1,734,626,211 people to be put onto ½ acre parcels and still only use 12% of the earth’s land mass.

    South America alone could potentially house the entire earths population on 1/3 acre parcels and have enough room for growth by 0.535351% and only use 12.0 % of the earths surface area.

    USA

    315,479,883 people in the USA as of 19:59 UTC (EST+5) Mar 12, 2013

    USA = 3,794,083 square miles

    3,794,083 square miles X 27,878,400 square feet = 1,057,729,307,200 square feet
    1,057,729,307,200 square feet / 315,479,883 people = 335276.412887 square feet
    335276.412887 square feet / 43,560 = 7.696887 acres per person

    This would give every US citizen (man, woman and child) almost 8 acres of land to live on.

    LAND MASS PERCENTAGES OF THE EARTH

    The World 57,308,738 Sq. Miles (148,429,000 Sq. Km) 100%
    Asia (including the Middle East) 17,212,000 Sq. Miles (44,579,000 Sq. Km) 30.0%
    Africa 11,608,000 Sq. Miles (30,065,000 Sq. Km) 20.3%
    North America 9,365,000 Sq. Miles (24,256,000 Sq. Km) 16.3%
    South America 6,880,000 Sq. Miles (17,819,000 Sq. Km) 12.0%
    Antarctica 5,100,000 Sq. Miles (13,209,000 Sq. Km) 8.9%
    Europe 3,837,000 Sq. Miles (9,938,000 Sq. Km) 6.7%
    Australia (plus Oceania) 2,968,000 Sq. Miles (7,687,000 Sq. Km) 5.2%

    One acre equals = 0.0015625 square miles,
    4,840 square yards,
    43,560 square feet[1]
    or about 4,047 square metres (0.405 hectares) (see below).

    While all modern variants of the acre contain 4,840 square yards, there are alternative definitions of a yard, so the exact size of an acre depends on which yard it is based on.

    Originally, an acre was understood as a selion of land sized at forty perches (660 ft) long and four perches (66 ft) wide;[2] this may have also been understood as an approximation of the amount of land a yoke of oxen could plough in one day.

    A square enclosing one acre is approximately 69.57 yards, or 208 feet 9 inches (63.63 metres) on a side. As a unit of measure, an acre has no prescribed shape; any perimeter enclosing 43,560 square feet is an acre in size.

    Square footage per mile chart

    sq mile sq ft sq mile sq ft sq mile sq ft sq mile sq ft
    1 27878400 26 724838400 51 1421798400 76 2118758400
    2 55756800 27 752716800 52 1449676800 77 2146636800
    3 83635200 28 780595200 53 1477555200 78 2174515200
    4 111513600 29 808473600 54 1505433600 79 2202393600
    5 139392000 30 836352000 55 1533312000 80 2230272000
    6 167270400 31 864230400 56 1561190400 81 2258150400
    7 195148800 32 892108800 57 1589068800 82 2286028800
    8 223027200 33 919987200 58 1616947200 83 2313907200
    9 250905600 34 947865600 59 1644825600 84 2341785600
    10 278784000 35 975744000 60 1672704000 85 2369664000
    11 306662400 36 1003622400 61 1700582400 86 2397542400
    12 334540800 37 1031500800 62 1728460800 87 2425420800
    13 362419200 38 1059379200 63 1756339200 88 2453299200
    14 390297600 39 1087257600 64 1784217600 89 2481177600
    15 418176000 40 1115136000 65 1812096000 90 2509056000
    16 446054400 41 1143014400 66 1839974400 100 2787840000
    17 473932800 42 1170892800 67 1867852800 125 3484800000
    18 501811200 43 1198771200 68 1895731200 150 4181760000
    19 529689600 44 1226649600 69 1923609600 175 4878720000
    20 557568000 45 1254528000 70 1951488000 200 5575680000
    21 585446400 46 1282406400 71 1979366400 250 6969600000
    22 613324800 47 1310284800 72 2007244800 300 8363520000
    23 641203200 48 1338163200 73 2035123200 500 13939200000
    24 669081600 49 1366041600 74 2063001600 750 20908800000
    25 696960000 50 1393920000 75 2090880000 1000 27878400000

  22. How much space does each American need? An average dwelling is about 1000 square feet. Each residence needs about 6.3 square miles of area for yard, garage, driveway and an equal share of the highway system. How much for reservoirs, mines, waste repositories, schools, graveyards, shopping malls, airports, generating plants, pads for oil and gas wells, wind turbines, solar farms, watershed, power lines, manufacturing plants, railroads, and on and on.
    People won’t willingly just spread themselves out evenly. Death Valley is only a hundred and fifty miles or so from LA. How many live in LA vs. Death Valley? How much for farmland so that we can waste 40 percent of the output?

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