The Collapse Thread; Post Evidence That 'The End Is Nigh'

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
Call it the End of the world. Collapse. Doomsday.

When resources run scarce, the climate spins out of control, the ecosystem dies, overcrowding wreaks global havoc.

You know, all the really good disaster movies all at once.

Share concerns, solutions, stories here.
 

RetiredGuerilla

Well-Known Member
The Earth will never be destroyed by man. Man is like a virus on the face of the earth at the moment. The earth has killed off man down to a small population again and again. It is a cyclic event. A investigation of the history of human DNA has proven that the gene pool was bottlenecked a few thousand years ago by some cataclysmic event. As far as food production goes the Dutch and Israelis have developed new agriculture techniques in maximizing food production per acre. Keep your eyes on the canary islands off the west coast of Africa. It will send a mega tsunami that will destroy the eastern seaboard of the U.S. and kill off millions. The clean up and rebuild will create jobs and breathing room for America. There is also a super volcano that lies beneath Yellowstone National Park but the aftermath of that is beyond imagination and to horrifying to discuss.
 

Fogdog

Well-Known Member
Call it the End of the world. Collapse. Doomsday.
I was responding to that.^^^ It was a silly thing to say. I also cringe when I hear "save the planet". The planet isn't in dire straits. Life occupies a very narrow range at the surface of the earth and while life has continued for about 4 billion years, it's been a rough ride at times.

There have been five worldwide mass extinction event, during one of which 96% of all species died off. Some model simulations show the possibility that we are approaching another die-off. Not soon in human time though and only if certain events occur. It's up to humans to cut fossil fuel emissions. Totally preventable.
 

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
There's nothing like a good old super-volcano event to harsh your Buzz. Like the one in the middle of the US at Yellowstone. Been acting really grumpy the last few years. We'll all wish it was just a North Korean nuke.

There's a few more of those monsters sleeping restlessly around the world that would alter our climate to the bad for decades. Won't be worried about global warming no more. ;)

Maybe we'll get lucky and a planet busting asteroid will swoop in to save the day. rotflmao.gif
 

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
now that i'm old, know what? fuck it. i'm not a superior mind, and i can see what's coming down the pike. i pity the ones who'll have to deal with the aftermath, but as long as it takes out the greedy little pigs that caused it, they may have a chance to do something better
I got to say sorry to my kids and grandkids but you're all gonna have to clean up our mess.

Hell of a good time tho wasn't it?!

Muscle cars, mowing down rain forests like they were lawns, dumping whatever, where ever, raping the planet for the almighty dollar was enterprising!

The cream is off the crop. Not much left but stubble and Round-Up soaked soil.

Y'all have a good day!

:peace:
 

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
I was responding to that.^^^ It was a silly thing to say. I also cringe when I hear "save the planet". The planet isn't in dire straits. Life occupies a very narrow range at the surface of the earth and while life has continued for about 4 billion years, it's been a rough ride at times.

There have been five worldwide mass extinction event, during one of which 96% of all species died off. Some model simulations show the possibility that we are approaching another die-off. Not soon in human time though and only if certain events occur. It's up to humans to cut fossil fuel emissions. Totally preventable.
The sixth extinction is well underway.

This time, we are the reason, rather than 'natural causes'.

The Great Auk
Passenger pigeon
White Rhino
Vaquita
Thylacine

These species and thousands more are disappearing or already gone, many never even noticed before they were exterminated.

The pace is only accelerating due to habitat loss, pollution, climate change and human overpopulation.
 

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
Didn't read most of the replies until after I did mine so have to give credit to @RetiredGuerilla for mentioning Yellowstone first. Scary one ain't it?

:peace:
And apparently, avoidable. A NASA scientist has come up with a plan to ring the caldera with geothermal power stations to draw the heat out and keep it from erupting. Shit tons of electrical generation without adding to CO2 emissions for a very nice bonus!

I wonder if we'll bother?
 

Fogdog

Well-Known Member
The sixth extinction is well underway.

This time, we are the reason, rather than 'natural causes'.

The Great Auk
Passenger pigeon
White Rhino
Vaquita
Thylacine

These species and thousands more are disappearing or already gone, many never even noticed before they were exterminated.

The pace is only accelerating due to habitat loss, pollution, climate change and human overpopulation.
Earth's doing just fine. We might have already put ourselves on that list but I don't think so. Not yet at least. You forgot to add introducing non-native species as another cause. The Oregon Giant Earthworm is endangered due to habitat loss and competition from the European earthworms.

 

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
And apparently, avoidable. A NASA scientist has come up with a plan to ring the caldera with geothermal power stations to draw the heat out and keep it from erupting. Shit tons of electrical generation without adding to CO2 emissions for a very nice bonus!

I wonder if we'll bother?
I'm thinking it's more of a pipe dream than something that could be made reality. Be like ants trying to put out a bonfire. It's got the force of the whole earths molten core behind it and a million stations would barely make a dent in the amount of heat in there.

In the current political situation the party would be over before something like that would ever get started. :(

Congress.jpg

I don't know why geothermal heating isn't used a lot more. You don't have to be near a volcano to get hot water. Not steam for generating electricity but hot enough to heat buildings. Once installed you just need power for pumps to circulate the water down and back up nice and hot. Solar could take care of that.

Oil companies have been lobbying against initiatives like that since they got into the business tho. They ought to wake up, see the writing on the wall and jump in with lots of R&D money to come up with massive amounts of systems like that and gradually shift their dying market into green energy. They could make huge profits doing that and end up looking like the good guys.

:peace:
 

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
I'm thinking it's more of a pipe dream than something that could be made reality. Be like ants trying to put out a bonfire. It's got the force of the whole earths molten core behind it and a million stations would barely make a dent in the amount of heat in there.
It's well within our capabilities. It's a small, slow trickle of heat from the mantle, or it would have blown a long time ago.
 

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
It's well within our capabilities. It's a small, slow trickle of heat from the mantle, or it would have blown a long time ago.
It did blow a long time ago. Many times over the eons and has been getting more active every year for a decade. Ground has risen a bunch so they know something is going. I watched a series of shows about it on PBS a while back.

When Mt. St. Helens blew back in '80 my mom lived a mile from the US border just north of Bellingham, WA and woke up to a half inch of ash all over the place. She thought it had snowed in the middle of May. :)

Had the best lawn ever for the next few years. :D

Yosemite will make that look like a Boy Scouts camp fire.

:peace:
 
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