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07/22/2013

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Jim

"If you think that humans are destroying the planet in a way that's historically unprecedented, you're suffering from a species-level delusion of grandeur."

That's a very confusing sentence. History is just that slim segment of time where humans have written records - the past 12K years or so. We've done plenty to wreck ecosystems before now, so no, it's not unprecedented. And it's rife with hyperbole - "destroying the planet" and "species-level delusion" - that are the stock-in-trade of the denial machine.

Here's an article from that author:
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2013/05/surviving_the_next_mass_extinction_humans_will_need_to_leave_earth_for_space.html

Her message is: the Earth itself is dangerous, we need to move to space. Nothing about humans - total blind spot there.

On the oceans - out of sight, out of mind. It's classic human behavior. If you don't directly see it, you can pretend it doesn't exist.

Mike Roberts mentioned this video in his comment on your post yesterday:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zMN3dTvrwY

And it's a really excellent overview of the state of the oceans. Dr. Jeremy Jackson raises the point about why hasn't society noticed what has been going on in the oceans? Even many marine scientists ignore the severity of it.

I'll miss your posts on the subject. It's very hard to find good info on this subject, and your posts always have had excellent sources. Thanks again.

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