Her final statement (and in particular her final word) resonated quite strongly with me. It's hard to know where the point of no return is on this issue but I suspect that when it comes (and goes) it will be without fanfare.<p>It seems fairly clear at this point that as a race we're facing some fairly substantial problems that need to be addressed if we want to avoid major catastrophe, and yet almost without exception the people I speak to about these issues are dismissive and unwilling to make even minor changes to their lives. Nobody is willing to accept responsibility for the problems and everybody believes they will somehow be resolved without their personal intervention. Even as somebody who is genuinely concerned and willing to accept responsibility, there seems to be nothing of worth that I can actually do to help.<p>The scariest part is that we can well and truly pass the point of no return before we even realise there's a problem to be addressed. This is true for practically all the environmental issues we are facing. By the time we realise how much we've upset a system and that awareness propagates down to a significant proportion of the world's population, the damage is done and we can't do anything to fix it. Some people do notice earlier, and some of those people will jump up and down about it, but nothing real can change until a significant proportion of the population is staring down the Gun Barrel of Consequences. And so we just keep charging towards the bluff.<p>Her use of the word 'adapt' is quite prescient. Things are going to change; we have so much momentum at this point that it is unavoidable. And as it happens we will just have to ride it out as best we can. The thing that makes me saddest now is not that I might personally suffer (although that certainly used to worry me) but rather that we are going to destroy a lot that is quite beautiful, and once it's gone we cannot bring it back. But life will go on, and one day the world will probably be beautiful again.
Well, it seems that we humans need to figure out how to do what we do best - Eat a species back down to acceptable numbers.<p>Last time I tried jellyfish tentacles (American Chinese food restaurant), they were rubbery and very chewy - Maybe flavor them and make a new gummy worm substitution? Lasting longer than a jaw-breaker?
Of course they're taking over. We are provoking a massive extinction of species in the oceans. Jellyfish are the one group of species we have no use for, so they're taking the free space we give them while enjoying the disappearing of their predators.
I saw the author, my friend Lisa-ann Gerswhin give a talk recently. The startling points I came away with are: 1) There are several strong self-reinforcing loops that dramatically help jellyfish, at the expense of human-valued things -- like fish. 2) Jellyfish are becoming so abundant they're jamming water inlets... to nuclear power plants and everything else. 3) Jellyfish can eat stuff (fish), but nothing can eat jellyfish -- they're a completely different food chain.
I've been thinking about the next 50 years a lot. Climate change, the state of our oceans, the lack of corporate & human morality to reverse or even slow down the rape and pillaging of our planet.<p>I don't see any indication that we're not on a path to surefire destruction. Climate change is happening. The sea level is rising. And as this article (and many more) points out- it's a snowball effect. Faster and faster. When will it stop? When will governments actually take notice and do something about it?<p>I don't think that the earth in 50 years will be able to support nearly as many people as it has now. We're going to see massive migration, famine, and starvation. We'll have to learn to live on our new planet, one that isn't quite as nutritious as this one, has a worse climate, and even less habitable surface area.<p>I actually have my fingers crossed for something drastic to happen before that. We need a silver bullet. This could be something good like a new energy technology- or it could be something bad like a disease that wipes out 50% of the earth's population. In any case, staying the course is not something I want to do. We're headed right for disaster.
Incredible. How is this the first time I'm reading about this topic!<p>This is a lot more concerning than the widely publicized reduction in shark numbers. Though that particular problem is easier to fix.<p>I wonder if more marine reserves would help resolve some of these problems, by allowing a place for natural ecosystem balance to be restored. Or if rising temperature and acidity is just to prevailing for that to be effective.
The toxic jellyfish are interesting because they are <i>so</i> toxic, but we don't know much about the toxin.<p>Here's a YouTube clip of some volunteers who gave themselves jellyfish stings. (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GK_Cl_54Qh8" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GK_Cl_54Qh8</a>) It looks intensely painful!<p>> It had presumably arrived in ballast water.<p>I'm kind of surprised that ballast water isn't somehow sterilised - boil it for 30 minutes or have strong UV lamps in the tank with water filtering over it?