Earth near point of no return, scientists warn - Effects of civilization on planet threaten collapse of ecosystems in 50 years - with no going back
By Randy Shore, Vancouver Sun: With Files From Postmedia News
June 7, 2012

The Earth's ecosystems could reach a point of no return resulting in rapid irreversible collapse in as little as 50 years, according to projections by a group of 18 scientists.

Their article in the journal Nature today says that human activities - such as energy use and widespread transformation of the Earth's surface for habitation and agriculture - are pushing the planet toward a critical threshold for "state shift" not unlike the transition from the last ice age about 12,000 years ago.

Such a shift would create a new nor-mal condition for the entire planet with a new range of temperatures, new ocean levels and widespread species extinctions resulting in an entirely new web of life.

It would not necessarily be a comfortable place for human beings.

"We've had a good long run of really benign conditions that have allowed humans to go from cracking rocks together to walking on the moon," said Simon Fraser University biodiversity professor Arne Mooers, one of the authors of the article.

The transition from the last ice age to the current balmy inter-glacial state that has allowed human beings to flourish took about 1,000 years, he said.

Read more: [link to www.vancouversun.com]