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TOPICS
Anthropocene Extinction
(Note: As a consequence of the Supreme Court hearings, we could discuss the Affordable Healthcare Act's individual mandate. However, We have discussed this several times before and our conclusions probably won't be any different than they were before. We will move on to important things...)
With the idea of healthcare in mind and with the release this week that the Earth is close to reaching a "tipping point", tonight's discussion will be on extinction -- our own.
http://www.readersupportednews.org/news-section2/312-16/10668-global-warming-close-to-becoming-irreversible-scientists
How did they die -- the Mayan and Aztec civilizations and the Dinosaurs?
Are humans on the same trajectory?
How inevitable is Anthropocene extinction and how long do we have?
What can be done to avoid extinction?
What will the probable scenario look like?

LINKS
Geologic Time Scale
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geologic_time_scale
What is an Eon, Era, Period, Epoch, and Age?
TEDxCanberra - Will Steffen - The Anthropocene
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABZjlfhN0EQ
"Executive Director of the Australian National University's Climate Change Institute, Professor Will Steffen, takes us on a journey through the science measuring humanity's effect on the planet."
Ocean Acidification On Track To Be Among The Worst Of The Last 300 Million Years
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2012/03/ocean-acidification-could-become-worst-in-at-least-300-million-years.ars
"The authors conclude, '[T]he current rate of (mainly fossil fuel) CO2 release stands out as capable of driving a combination and magnitude of ocean geochemical changes potentially unparalleled in at least the last ~300 [million years] of Earth history, raising the possibility that we are entering an unknown territory of marine ecosystem change.'”
A CO2 Warning Etched in Stone and Sediment
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/01/a-co2-warning-etched-in-stone-and-sedimen/?ref=earth
"The beauty of looking in the rock record is you don’t have to run a computer model to see what’s going to happen. You see the whole thing. When you put say 2,000 gigatons [billion tons] or thereby of carbon into the atmosphere rapidly a certain number of things happen. It gets hot."
There Is No Tomorrow
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/theres-no-tomorrow/
“Economic expansion has resulted in increases in atmospheric nitrous oxide and methane, ozone depletion, increases in great floods, damage to ocean ecosystems, including nitrogen runoff, loss of rainforest and woodland, increases in domesticated land, and species extinctions.”
Trailer: Life After People - Nuclear Winter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJUeae_qE6A
"The threat still exists..."