More species slide to extinction

[DoYouEverWonder]

1 May 2006

The polar bear and hippopotamus are for the first time listed as species threatened with extinction by the world's biodiversity agency.

They are included in the Red List of Threatened Species published by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) which names more than 16,000 at-risk species.

Many sharks, and freshwater fish in Europe and Africa, are newly included.

The IUCN says loss of biodiversity is increasing despite a global convention committing governments to stem it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4963526.stm

[3waygeek]

1. Let's hope that neo-cons

are next on the list...

[leftchick]

2. lets bump them up to first

:(

[marmar]

4. Thought thief!

That's exactly what I was about to say. Great minds.... :pals:

[mom cat]

5. They will probably be the last to die, having killed off all the

indigeonus people who have a connection to nature that could have saved humanity. On my most bleak days, I take bitter comfort at the thought of them suffering the bitter end, poisoned by their very "success".

[oscar111]

3. ORBITING SUNSHADE needed to end warming.. which is killing species

odd how the sunshade, which many oppose as interference, will help save species.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/01/15/archive/main264362.shtml

PS ignore Teller, look at the idea itself, which has backers other than Teller. The messenger is not the message, i may add.

[mom cat]

6. Bush has an easier solution:

nuclear winter.

[Dead_Parrot]

9. There's only two problems with it:

1) How to build a satellite 2.47 times larger than the USA
2) How to launch 238,743,740 tons into orbit, when we can just about manage 20...

:)

[Solon]

12. Break down an asteroid after its captured and put in a stable Earth orbit.

Look for a good candidate Near Earth Object, one that "shadows" the Earth as it orbits the Sun, and send up a couple of rockets about the size of the Apollo rockets, with tethers, they attach themselves to the Near Earth Object and apply constant thrust(may be best to use Ion thrusters), to slow or speed up the object, depending on its velocity, but to put it in position to be captured by Earths gravitational field and into stable orbit. Then use it as a resource to build the "sunshade", though, I doubt any such device would be one HUGE piece, that would seem impractable at best. Just an idea.

[Xithras]

14. You don't need to even "build" anything.

Step 1: Park a reasonably large asteroid at the L1 Lagrange point
Step 2: Deploy simple mechanical grinders onto the asteroid to pulverize it into space gravel and dust.


The resulting dust cloud (aka nebula) will reduce the amount of sunlight filtering through. The reduction would be fairly small, but we don't need to drop it by much.

Oh, and if anyone doubts that this will work, you can put those doubts to rest. There are already naturally occurring dust clouds at the L4 and L5 Lagrange points, and the cloud at the L4 point is about four times the size of our moon. We don't get them at L1 because that point is a little unstable, but that just means that we'll have to grind up a new rock every century or so. With the number of large asteroids in our solar system, our sun will burn out long before we run out of asteroids to grind up.

[Solon]

15. Good point, advise one that has a low iron content...

Also it would create SPECTACULAR meteor showers, just have to make sure the rubble is too small to survive entry into Earth's atmosphere. It would help, though a carbon rich asteroid would not be advisable, perferably a silicate one(standard rock, rather than coal).

[Xithras]

19. Maybe, OTOH high iron could be a good thing.

IIRC, the outer Van Allen belt is made of negatively charged electrons. If the dust from an iron rich stone were charged properly, it's possible that it could be repelled by the Van Allen belt. That could render moot the question about space junk and satellite safety.

[Thor_MN]

16. Wouldn't that be a satellite and spacecraft killer?

Talk about your space junk...

[Xithras]

18. Depends on how careful you are.

Ideally you'd want to place the asteroid on the Sol side of the L1 point, so when material fell out of the point it would be more likely to fall in toward the sun. The other option is to simply ensure that the ground asteroid doesn't release anything larger than fine dust. Since the relative speed between Earth and L1 is zero, items falling out of orbit will still be moving relatively slowly when they hit the locations of our satellites. We might have to add wiping mechanisms to the solar arrays on our satellites, but slow moving space dust isn't much threat.

[Inland]

7. We are so fucked. nt

[Coventina]

8. Soon, I fear, we will envy the dead....

:-(

[donsu]

10. kicking to save the earth (even if it might be too late)

we have to try

[Zorra]

11. If we can get republicans put on the endangered species list, we

be able to save the planet.

[DoYouEverWonder]

13. Actually,Repugs are an invasive species

n/t

[CatholicEdHead]

17. Countdown to Extinction

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/m/megadeth/countdown+to+extinction_20091358.html

Endangered species, caged in fright,
Shot in cold blood, no chance to fight.
The stage is set, now pay the price.
An ego boost, don’t think twice.
Technology, the battle’s unfair,
You pull the hammer without a care.
Squeeze the trigger that makes you man,
Pseudo-safari, the hunt is canned...
The hunt is canned.

/chorus/
All are gone, all but one.
No contest, nowhere to run.
No more left, only one.
This is it, this is the countdown to extinction.

Tell the truth, you wouldn’t dare.
The skin and trophy, oh so rare.
Silence speaks louder than words.
Ignore the guilt, and take your turn.
Liars anagram is ’lairs,’
Man you were never even there.
Killed a few feet from the cages,
Point blank, you’re so courageous...
So courageous.

/chorus/

One hour from now,
Another species of life form
Will disappear off the face of the planet
Forever...and the rate is accelerating.

/chorus/

/Megadeth