Is the planet "broken" and did that cause the evolution of predation?

Discussion in 'Biology & Genetics' started by Wexler, Jun 21, 2015.

  1. Hipparchia Registered Senior Member

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    It's a shame none of it rubbed off.
     
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  3. Write4U Valued Senior Member

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    Impossible in the long run, unless you want to shorten lifespans to say, the lifespan of a Mayfly.
    Every living thing needs energy and must eat. In general terms this is predation.

    The planet is a confined space and the Exponential Function eventually will result in depletion of resources, resulting in competition (war) for those sources.
    This may be of interest:

    And this may be scary, but it seems Nature has accounted for every possible survival technique in every species, alive or extinct.
     
    Last edited: Jul 15, 2015
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  5. Walter L. Wagner Cosmic Truth Seeker Valued Senior Member

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    "Broken" implies an anthropic interpretation that it became 'worse off'. In fact, all of those events were apparently necessary to bring to fruition the human species, and so one could suggest that things were instead "fixed" to make the planet better. Our ancestors were present throughout all of those 'events', albeit not as H. sapiens sapiens, and we survived all of those 'events' taking advantage of the changes and evolving along with the changing circumstances.
     
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  7. Write4U Valued Senior Member

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    I am always amused by the subjective interpretations of the "condition of the planet earth".

    The planet is doing just fine, its the life on the planet that is in jeopardy. The planet has withstood the most violent cosmic assaults from a number of natural events and will be here long after we are gone.

    The planet is not threatened by human activity, humans and other life forms are! But to the planet we are at most just a surface nuisance.

    George Carlin said it best (warning crude language)
     
  8. Walter L. Wagner Cosmic Truth Seeker Valued Senior Member

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    George Carlin is no longer with us to defend himself. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Carlin

    While some of what he says is true, or funny, much is not. I take exception with his suggestion that we should allow species to go extinct, if we are the cause. One of the better examples of active human effort to prevent extinction is with the condor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_condor I believe other efforts are likewise warranted.
     
  9. Write4U Valued Senior Member

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    Of course I agree. I just wanted to show the irony of our efforts to help other species survive, while at the same time continuing with our practices that will make them extinct. Aside from natural selection and natural calamities, humans are the main cause for the eventual extinction of species including ourselves.

    If we were to realize the importance of say the honeybee (which is now in mortal danger) we would stop the use of all herbicides. Honeybees are responsible for the propagation of some 70% of all flowering plants and trees and if they were to disappear, half of all animals on earth would die.
    http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/silence-of-the-bees-introduction/38/

    IMO, his main point was that before we start "saving the planet", we should concentrate on "saving the eco-system" on the planet and we should begin by recognizing human impact on its environment. Setting aside wildlife preserves will do nothing to restore the natural global balance. But there is something we can do immediately to great benefit of the earth's eco-system.

    Hemp is one of the most versatile and environmentally friendly crops. Hemp is a natural CO2 scrubber and can yield products ranging from paper, to cloth, to building materials, to an low polluting bio-fuel. It restores and fixes the soil it grows in, it is pest resistant and has a very favorable ratio of crop yield as compared to trees or cotton and can grow in almost every soil with little demand for water.
    Compare this to the use of 1 gallon of water to produce a single almond, which we love to eat, but don't need)

    1 acre of hemp will produce as much useable product as 4 acres of trees. But we have outlawed hemp and continue to cut down forests, the lungs of the world. This is the irony. Its all about profit, not about the planet.

    I urge all to read the following links carefully and consider the implications of using Hemp as a beneficial eco-friendly crop. Below are some revealing (and little known) beneficial properties of hemp. Below, I have quoted just a few of the much longer list of benefits.
    http://1st-ecofriendlyplanet.com/tag/environmental-benefits-of-hemp/
     
    Last edited: Jul 19, 2015
  10. Wexler Gadfly Registered Senior Member

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  11. DaveC426913 Valued Senior Member

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    That's awesome Wex.

    You resurrect a thread 4 years dead, to post some links - and don't bother to comment or even provide a description.
     
    Curious layman likes this.

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