AIBU to be terrified by what David Attenborough has said?

[ArcheryAnnie]

He's just said about climate change ""if we don't take action, the collapse of our civilisations and the extinction of much of the natural world is on the horizon." He's not the only one saying this - it's now common currency amongst scientists, and indeed anyone paying attention.

www.theage.com.au/world/europe/civilisation-may-collapse-if-climate-change-ignored-attenborough-20181204-p50jzs.html?platform=hootsuite

There's no time left for pissing about. We've got to take radical action now. It isn't something that any of us can ignore.

We should all be terrified by what the great man said. He speaks the truth.

Vote against fucking morons, is my tactic. I do my other small bits - going veggie, not having kids, minimising power usage. But getting pro-future politicians in is the only way forward.

Unfortunately there's fuck all of them.

Sadly that premonition is probably spot on, many say similar and I think even a lay person can see, sense, hear and touch the damage we’be done and continue to do. I was listening to an expert regarding deforestation who said there’s no going back, the train has left the station and too much damage has been done to ever be repaired, damage limitation now is the best we can aim for but he was pretty pessimistic about that. Look at all we destroy through greed, corruption and ignorance, bloody heartbreaking

There's been mass extinction events before. We can only hope that the next one will completely wipe human beings out, then the planet will have the opportunity to heal and recover.

It's us that are the disaster. A distasteful truth.

And we're 10,000 years overdue for an ice age. The interglacial periods aren't the norm. Our days are numbered whichever way you look at it.

We can only hope that the next one will completely wipe human beings out

Oh yeah. Let’s hope so, eh?

I sincerely do. I don't go in for the 'we're so very speshul' nonsense. We're just another animal. An extremely destructive one. Anything that tips the balance towards mass destruction of the environment and other species needs to go.

Go onto YouTube and take a look at marine creatures tangled up in nets and swallowing plastic.

We add nothing to the health of the planet. We merely suck it dry like a parasite which will eventually kill the host.

What radical action are you suggesting OP?

And yet there are threads on here about people replacing their entire set of Christmas decorations every single year to go with colour schemes, etc., and not giving a flying fuck that all this extra tat will go straight to landfill.

Makes you despair, doesn’t it?

...and anoher post today with plenty of folks saying they have two showers/baths a day and washing hair every day? Not sure why anybody would be that dirty unless they are doing hard manual work?! Most of that hot water is getting heated with fossil fuels but people don't make the connection.

And yet winters keep getting colder...

Honestly the arrogance of man to think they can interfere with Earth... she was doing fine before we got here and will continue to do so! Ice Age anyone??

If we carry on as we are, then yes, human civilisation will fall. And although some humans will survive, they will be scavengers living on the decaying detritus of our world, with the natural resources we used to build civilisation no longer accessible. Mind you, it will probably end up being good for the plant. Because killing off civilisation will probably save a lot more species than it will destroy. If you look at species dying off, humans are a mass extinction event. Pretty depressing really.

Oh shut up Tippexy, if you can't even tell the difference between climate and weather you've got no cause to argue against the scientifi consensus.

YANBU it’s bloody terrifying.

...human civilisation will fall

Of course it will. That's what it does; it's cyclical. If we (humans) were a virus, then earth is fighting back - it just takes longer than our average cold does, but it's relative.

He's right, of course: basically, the party's over for humanity. I think scientists reckon we maybe have four, perhaps five generations left.

I don't have children by choice and with luck, I'll be dead before all the worst stuff hits, but I do have nieces and nephews and younger family members about whom I am obviously concerned and who I will, tbh, counsel to consider VERY carefully about reproducing themselves.

If humans go, the planet might have a chance.

It's terrible what we've done to Earth, a place so perfect for life until we got here. And in such a short space of time too.

It's terrifying yes. I wish I hadn't heard his words because I struggle with anxiety and blow things out of proportion but I don't think my anxiety is doing that this time 😢

From all Iv read and watched by experts and the scientific community we are severely on our way to being fucked, the likelihood we probably won't be alive (or at least be very old) to see it but our children and grandchildren will.

To be honest while I agree that all of us need to be doing out part and most of us more than we're doing now none of that will be enough, we as in the world needs whole countries and big business to change things dramatically.

Yep, the planet is well and truly fucked. If we all try and do our best while we’re are still on it then we can only hope for the best.

I'm really sorry to say it, but I do agree that your anxiety is not misplaced @Ohshitwhatsnext. There's so much we could have done, with our capacity for thought and learning. And we've pissed it all up the wall for a few short lived creature comforts.

What Ginky We need whole countries and big business to change - but that ain't gonna happen.

There is...

...tiny little sparkle of hope...

...a theory that says it's darkest before the dawn, and maybe that's true. Look at what we're surrounded by: the alt-right on the rise, hatred and bigotry at an all-time high, animals are dying, the environment is fcked, everybody's a bstard etc.

And yet...maybe there's a glimmer?

What we MUST do, RIGHT NOW, is take action - and really, really extreme action. Stop buying sh*t. Stop having kids (seriously, I realise this will probably be an unpopular opinion on a parenting forum, but it's vital). Stop hating and shouting. Pull together.

In some ways, DA's essay was a call to arms, rather than a surrender, but it MUST be done now - not tomorrow, or next week, and that will only happen if ordinary men and women get together right this very moment.

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead

Well if we stop having kids that'll really do a lot for the future of humanity ...

The global birth rate is already falling anyway and has been for decades. There's only more of us because we're living longer.

Thomas Malthus was predicting us over populating the planet a few hundred years ago. It’s no shock to me at all, I expect it to be rather like book/film The Road where everything is used and it’s survival of the fittest.