Age Of Extinction

PROTECT PLANET LIFE TO SAVE

HUMANS FROM EXTINCTION

The merciless damage of plant life on Earth has put humans in grave danger, a study says. Scientists estimate that the Earth contained approximately 1,000 billion tonnes of CARBON in living biomass 2,000 years ago. Since that time, humans have reduced that amount by almost half.

According to researchers from University of Georgia, unless humans stop destruction of Earth’s declining supply of plant life, the civilization may become completely unsustainable. “The Sun’s energy is stored in plants and fossils fuels but humans are draining energy much faster than it can be replenished,” said study’s lead author and associate professor John Schramski in a paper appeared in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. It is estimated that just over 10% of that biomass was destroyed in just the last century. The vast majority of losses come from deforestation, hastened by the advent of large-scale mechanized farming and the need to feed a rapidly growing population.

As more biomass is destroyed, the planet has less stored energy, which it needs to maintain Earth’s complex food webs and biogeochemical balances. “As the planet becomes less hospitable and more people depend on fewer available energy options, their standard of living and very survival will become increasingly vulnerable of fluctuations, such as droughts, disease epidemics and social unrest,” Schramski said. If human beings do not extinct, and biomass drops below sustainable thresholds, the population will decline drastically. People will be forced to return to life as hunters-gatherers or simple horticulturists.

Scientists hope that recognition of the importance of biomass, elimination of its destruction and increased reliance on renewable energy will slow the steady march toward an uncertain future.