I will call this piece, blind-mans Freddy. smile.

"They thrive in an atmosphere without free oxygen but produce oxygen as waste. They produced enough oxygen so they poisoned the atmosphere for themselves but produced an atmosphere where other forms of life developed. They increased the concentration of atmospheric oxygen from far less than .1% to about 20%. It happened about 2 billion years ago."

......and Oh the irony lol, it's fascinating to watch the ignorant champions of a dieing world. "The human population zero" is no doubt an unavoidable outcome which all species will incur sooner or later in the rotating worlds of create and destroy. It seems Jillian Gillard has the direction and fortitude to see Australia's future predicaments before the realities (which every human on the planet enjoys the game of emu) which is obvious, but the game of Russian roulette with the "very living thing" that supports your unconvincing attempt of humor and satire,.... which servers you no value;)

LOL run little lemmings run.LOL.

David F.. Your quest to be sure is a noble cause, and good luck with it all.

So! so some of you think we should continue on our present time line? good luck with that. As for the end of days, that's just ridiculous, the human race will not be blessed with such a swift end, more like a slow, chocking, starving, barren landscape which will probably resemble a scene out of mad max. smile.

Which brings to mind another movie called the day the earth stood still, which took a grand disaster before the human race woke up to the fact of the greedy reckless behavior (you may want to note the word behavior)which is just the human way.

But while your boat is still floating, keep on smiling.

17 million? You know! I think I can see that Eden.

Be smart! and shut the gates. NOW!

If only the city of troy had listened.


TT

Poirot re - You may have a point - I'll bet those cyanobacteria were a collectivist mob.

well they do exhibit similar reasoning skills, Poirot -

collectivist or cyanobacteria, the brighter ones even aspire to the analytical ability of plankton

Stern

I have one sentence to say to you.

The world as one.

TTM

Think than Move.... the world as one

yes now you have said it I suppose you might care to explain it

and when you have done explaining it (which should take about half a line since the notion is so shallow), you might use the rest of your post discounting the notion of

personal consciousness, human rights and every other value which views cognitive human beings not as "one" but as many, separate and unique, complete with self-will, self-determination and personal ambition.

If you do not I will assume you are working on evolving opposing digits

You can try this on for starters. The world as one is not a new concept and quite frankly, a divided world just doesn't work. Many great people from all around the world including bono( U2 singer ) are seeing the human race destroying each other for stupid reason or another.

Or maybe you have a better idea that includes the future of the earth and all of mankind.

Love to hear it!

The World Is One, Whether You Like It or Not"
Anna Shen interviews JORGE SAMPAIO, U.N. High Representative for the Alliance of Civilisations and former President of Portugal
Jorge Sampaio / Credit:UN Photo/Mark Garten
Jorge Sampaio

Credit:UN Photo/Mark Garten

UNITED NATIONS, May 24, 2010 (IPS) - Since its inception in 2005, the Alliance of Civilisations (AoC) has worked to improve understanding and cooperation across nations, cultures and religions in order to counter the forces that fuel polarisation and extremism.

At the helm is seasoned statesman Jorge Sampaio, who served as president of Portugal from 1996 to 2006. As the AoC high representative, he brings an enormous wealth of experience to the table. During his time in office, Sampaio championed numerous international causes, including HIV/AIDS, human rights and the independence of East Timor. He also served as the U.N. Special Envoy to Stop Tuberculosis.

Next on his agenda is the upcoming AoC conference in Rio de Janeiro on May 27-29, which aims to build bridges across cultures and countries. Excerpts from the interview follow.

TTM

Or, the world as one in this light, which may high-light the title.

Just in time for Earth Day (April 22) the faculty at the college, at which environmental issues are the sole focus, was asked to help prioritize the planet’s most pressing environmental problems.

Overpopulation came out on top, with several professors pointing out its ties to other problems that rank high on the list.

“Overpopulation is the only problem,” said Dr. Charles A. Hall, a systems ecologist. “If we had 100 million people on Earth — or better, 10 million — no others would be a problem.” (Current estimates put the planet’s population at more than six billion.)

Dr. Allan P. Drew, a forest ecologist, put it this way: “Overpopulation means that we are putting more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than we should, just because more people are doing it and this is related to overconsumption by people in general, especially in the ‘developed’ world.”

“But, whether developed or developing,” said Dr. Susan Senecah, who teaches the history of the American environmental movement, “everyone is encouraged to ‘want’ and perceive that they ‘need’ to consume beyond the planet’s ability to provide.”

The ESF faculty pointed to climate change as the second most-pressing issue, with the need to develop renewable energy resources to replace fossil fuels coming in third.

“Experimenting with the earth’s climate and chemistry has great risks,” said Dr. Thomas E. Amidon, who invented a process for removing energy-rich sugars from wood and fermenting those sugars into ethanol. “This is a driver in climate change and loss of biodiversity and is a fundamental problem underlying our need to strive for sustainability.”

Rounding out the top 10 issues on the ESF list are overconsumption, the need for more sustainable practices worldwide, the growing need for energy conservation, the need for humans to see themselves as part of the global ecosystem, overall carbon dioxide emissions, the need to develop ways to produce consumer products from renewable resources, and dwindling fresh water resources.

TTM