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Here we have it folks: Extinction News BBC News posted:The Earth has entered a new period of extinction, a study by three US universities has concluded, and humans could be among the first casualties. Well, looks like dark days (years) are ahead of us. Although I must say this comes as no surprise, we seem to be killing this planet quicker than nature could ever hope to do. Myrddin_Emrys fucked around with this message at 15:23 on Jun 20, 2015 |
# ? Jun 20, 2015 15:20 |
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# ? Mar 28, 2024 19:19 |
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Inshallah
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# ? Jun 20, 2015 15:22 |
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gently caress vertebrates.
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# ? Jun 20, 2015 15:22 |
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i see no evidence of this on my drive to/from work or on tv or limbaugh it obviously isnt happening its a lot like that rainforest scare decades back obviously no one intervened and the "problem" fixed itself because you never hear about it anymore
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# ? Jun 20, 2015 15:23 |
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News article, one line post from the OP about why we should care, Did I go back to GBS 1?
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# ? Jun 20, 2015 15:26 |
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quote:animals with backbones No goons will go extinct
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# ? Jun 20, 2015 15:27 |
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a live body and a dead body contain the same number of particles structurally theres no discernible difference
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# ? Jun 20, 2015 15:29 |
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Myrddin_Emrys posted:Here we have it folks: We are not so much killing the planet as making it unfit for human habitation. The planet and most life on it will survive. We will probably not.
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# ? Jun 20, 2015 15:29 |
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it says pretty clearly we're at least three generations away sorry to my future great grandchildren
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# ? Jun 20, 2015 15:29 |
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whatis posted:it says pretty clearly we're at least three generations away
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# ? Jun 20, 2015 15:30 |
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skeletons are going to rule the world again
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# ? Jun 20, 2015 15:32 |
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Sure it's bad, but will it impact my monthly cable bill?
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# ? Jun 20, 2015 15:32 |
I have no idea why humans would ever die out we are literally the most ressourceful species on this planet its just our civilization that will collapse, alongside billions of people dying
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# ? Jun 20, 2015 15:32 |
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It's probably my fault, I've had some wicked diarrhoea the last few days, my bathroom's smell has been permanently altered.
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# ? Jun 20, 2015 15:32 |
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hope this thread goes extinct
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# ? Jun 20, 2015 15:34 |
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I guess the real lesson here is that if you ever wanted to know how Lemur tastes, you better try some soon.
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# ? Jun 20, 2015 15:35 |
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I should buy a gun
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# ? Jun 20, 2015 15:36 |
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NihilismNow posted:We are not so much killing the planet as making it unfit for human habitation. The planet and most life on it will survive. We will probably not. I often think about this grumpy thing that Stephen Gould wrote: "A geological insight to combat the well-meaning but seriously flawed position that "we live on a fragile planet now subject to permanent derailment by human intervention and that humans must act as stewards for this threatened world." Such views are rooted in the old sin of pride and exaggerated self-importance. We are one among millions of species, stewards of nothing. By what argument could we, arising just a geological microsecond ago, become responsible for the affairs of a world 4.5 billion years old, teeming with life that has been evolving and diversifying for at least three-quarters of that immense span? Nature does not exist for us, had no idea we were coming, and doesn't give a drat about us."
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# ? Jun 20, 2015 15:36 |
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NihilismNow posted:We are not so much killing the planet as making it unfit for human habitation. The planet and most life on it will survive. We will probably not. or at least "mostly unfit for human habitation". But what do we care, the sci fi writers have had time to think of several solutions
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# ? Jun 20, 2015 15:40 |
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Humans are so dumb and greedy.
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# ? Jun 20, 2015 15:41 |
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satanic splash-back posted:News article, one line post from the OP about why we should care, nah there would be a 3 day probation for this sort of poo poo
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# ? Jun 20, 2015 15:41 |
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I am Trans-Species and unique.
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# ? Jun 20, 2015 15:44 |
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What about Star Trek? We haven't even done Star Trek yet or mined the asteroids or anything. I'm gonna jump on that as soon as I finish these Sugar Glider poppers.
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# ? Jun 20, 2015 15:45 |
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How will this "mass extinction" affect my internet service provider?
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# ? Jun 20, 2015 15:45 |
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I see my decision to die childless, alone and unloved was the correct choice. No point in spending energy on all that when you can stay home playing videogames while waiting for this doomed world to end!
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# ? Jun 20, 2015 15:47 |
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I now know why I am here, and it is to witness the end of all things.
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# ? Jun 20, 2015 15:52 |
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Myrddin_Emrys posted:I now know why I am here, and it is to witness the end of all things. Oh don't be so dramatic. It's only the end of all the things you love, and those that love you back.
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# ? Jun 20, 2015 15:55 |
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Frankenstyle posted:Oh don't be so dramatic. It's only the end of all the things you love, and those that love you back. I love nothing, and nothing loves me, sucks to be you being so wrong.
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# ? Jun 20, 2015 16:02 |
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Can someone explain to me why the bees are going to be the end of the world and why there's nothing we can do to stop it because i've been hearing about the Bee End Time for years now but been too lazy to read up on it
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# ? Jun 20, 2015 16:06 |
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Good
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# ? Jun 20, 2015 16:11 |
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Zzulu posted:Can someone explain to me why the bees are going to be the end of the world and why there's nothing we can do to stop it because i've been hearing about the Bee End Time for years now but been too lazy to read up on it Well you see, bees pollinate a third of everything we eat and play a vital role in sustaining the planet’s ecosystems. Some 84% of the crops grown for human consumption – around 400 different types of plants – need bees and other insects to pollinate them to increase their yields and quality. These include most fruits and vegetables, many nuts, and plants such as rapeseed and sunflowers that are turned into oil, as well as cocoa beans, coffee and tea. Crops grown as fodder for dairy cows and other livestock are also pollinated by bees. And it’s not only food crops that rely on bee pollination, cotton does as well. As a result, annual global crop pollination by bees is estimated to be worth $170bn. But beyond their monetary value for maintaining our fragile food supply, bees also make an invaluable contribution to ecosystems around the world. Seeds, fruits and berries eaten by birds and small mammals are all from plants that are pollinated by bees, making them guardians of the food chain and the biodiversity of our species. Nearly one in 10 of Europe's wild bee species face extinction, says study Bees are industrious pollinators because they have co-evolved with flowering plants over millions of years. The bees need the flowers for food, while the flower needs the bee to reproduce. Unlike other insects, nectar and pollen from flowering plants are bees’ only food source; the sweet nectar drink gives adult bees energy. Pollen is protein-rich baby food. As the poet Kahlil Gibran beautifully put it: “To the bee, a flower is the fountain of life, and to the flower, the bee is a messenger of love.” In the process of foraging for food, bees are designed to pollinate. If you watch a female honeybee or bumblebee on a flower, you will see she has balls of pollen on her back legs. These are collected in her pollen baskets which she takes back to the nest to feed the young after fertilising the flowers. For solitary bees, the pollen collects on the hairs on their abdomen. So how do the bees pollinate? Quite simply, the bee gets covered in pollen, from the male part of the flower (the stamen), and deposit the grains on the female part (the stigma) of the next flower that they visit. Luckily for the plant, bees tend to visit flowers from the same plant when they are flowering rather than flit from one plant to another, so the plant is able to have sex. Once the pollen is on the stigma it moves down into the ovary where it fertilises and forms a seed. A few months later the seed grows into a fruit or vegetable. Think of an apple tree; it blossoms, is visited by bees, produces apples later in the summer containing pips (the seeds), which if planted could slowly grow into a new apple tree. There is an apocalyptic quote attributed to Albert Einstein (although there is no proof he actually said it): “If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years left to live.” It resonates with people as a plausible consequence of the bee’s demise. While the timescale is wildly exaggerated and fails to take into account man’s ingenuity, it highlights how mankind’s survival has been inextricably linked to bees. Cave drawings dating back 20,000 years depict images of honey hunting. The ancient Egyptians transported their hives along the Nile to pollinate crops and buried their pharaohs with containers full of honey to sweeten the afterlife. The antibacterial and antiseptic properties of honey have made it as important to the apothecary as the chef over the centuries, while beeswax embalmed the dead and created artificial light. In the 15th century, the pilgrim fathers took their honeybees with them to spread their farming practices and colonise the new world. The native Americans called the honeybee the “white man’s fly”. The continent had wild bees, but no honeybees, as was the case in Australasia before western settlers arrived. There are 25,000 different bee species around the world. Only four of these species are honeybees, of which the western honeybee (Apis millifera) is the one we took to the US and then on to Australasia. Honeybees make honey. It’s their winter food, for feeding the 10,000-strong colony in the hive when it’s too cold to fly. Bumblebees don’t make honey we can harvest but they are important pollinators, too. Around 250 species of bees are different types of bumblebees. Their hairier coats can attract more pollen and they can fly at colder temperatures than honeybees. Some species are long-tongued so are better at pollinating plants with long, tubular flowers. And they are capable of “buzz pollination” – by shaking the pollen from the anthers of a flower on to the stigma of another – which is how some crops, notably tomatoes, are pollinated. While most bumblebees are wild, some species are increasingly used commercially to buzz pollinate. Research shows that under the same conditions, bumbles can actually pollinate more flowers per bee than honeybees, though a honeybee colony (50,000 bees in the summer) is much larger than a colony of bumblebees (only 250). The vast majority of the world’s bee species are solitary bees. As their name suggests they live alone. Many are adapted to pollinate one type of plant and their life cycle is synced with the plant so they are able to pollinate it and feed their young at the same time. There’s been little research on solitary bees, but in March, the first ever assessment of all 1,965 bee species across Europe by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) found that almost one in 10 of Europe’s wild bee species – most of which are solitary bees – face extinction as a result of intensive farming, insecticide use and climate change. Most people have heard about colony collapse disorder, which wiped out a third of all honeybee colonies in the US when it first struck back in 2007. The disorder is still not fully understood, but a combination of parasites, viruses, poor nutrition and pesticides are thought to be behind the widespread death of honeybees in the US, where 40% of colonies are still dying each year. In the UK, honeybee winter losses have ranged from 10% to 33% since annual surveys began eight years ago. When inclement weather confines bees to the hive during the spring and summer they become weak and easy prey for the parasitic varroa mite to spread viruses that kill off its host. But in many ways, the uncertain future of wild bumblebees and solitary bees is even more alarming than the honeybee death toll, since beekeepers are able to restock their hives each year. The habitat that wild bees depend on to nest and forage is increasingly disappearing due to modern farming practices and urbanisation. Since 1945, 97% of wildflower meadows in the UK have vanished. During that time two bumblebee species have become extinct, and of the 24 species left only eight are commonly found. Globally, a quarter of the world’s 250 bumblebee species are thought to be facing some degree of extinction risk, according to the IUCN. John Muir, a giant of the conservation movement, summed up the importance of bees to the human race when he said: “When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.” We harm them at our peril. Sorry for the tl;dr, I hope this makes up for my one line post quote OP Myrddin_Emrys fucked around with this message at 16:15 on Jun 20, 2015 |
# ? Jun 20, 2015 16:12 |
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Who wants to start a quadcopter pollination research project with me, I want to see drones of all sizes buzzing around, bumping uglies with all the crops and flowers. Problem solved!
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# ? Jun 20, 2015 16:17 |
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I hope all humans die and cats take over the planet.
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# ? Jun 20, 2015 16:20 |
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I don't see how this will effect me as a small businesses owner and job creator
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# ? Jun 20, 2015 16:20 |
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Myrddin_Emrys posted:The vast majority of the world’s bee species are solitary bees. As their name suggests they live alone.
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# ? Jun 20, 2015 16:22 |
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9Et2U2kPmE
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# ? Jun 20, 2015 16:33 |
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Myrddin_Emrys posted:rapeseed triggered. kill all men and bees
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# ? Jun 20, 2015 16:34 |
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cant we just pollinate stuff ourselves
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# ? Jun 20, 2015 16:40 |
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Zzulu posted:cant we just pollinate stuff ourselves
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# ? Jun 20, 2015 16:41 |
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# ? Mar 28, 2024 19:19 |
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we dont deserve to live as a species if we can't figure out how to do the job bees do
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# ? Jun 20, 2015 16:41 |