This song has been in my head like crazy lately
I have a mandolin
I play it all night long
It makes me want to kill myself
I also have a dobro
Made in some mountain range
Sounds like a mountain range in love
But when I turn up the tone
On my electric guitar
I'm afraid of the dark without you close to me
I went out to the forest and caught
A hundred thousand fireflies
As they ricochet round the room
They remind me of your starry eyes
Someone else's might not have made me so sad
But this is the worst night I ever had
'cause I'm afraid of the dark without you close to me
You won't be happy with me,
But give me one more chance
You won't be happy anyway
Why do we still live here
In this repulsive town?
All our friends are in New York
Why do we keep shrieking,
when we mean soft things?
We should be whispering all the time...
This is another reason to be happy:
Two-thirds of world's resources 'used up'
Tim Radford, science editor
Wednesday March 30, 2005
Guardian
The human race is living beyond its means. A report backed by 1,360 scientists
from 95 countries - some of them world leaders in their fields - today warns
that the almost two-thirds of the natural machinery that supports life on Earth
is being degraded by human pressure.
The study contains what its authors call "a stark warning" for the entire world.
The wetlands, forests, savannahs, estuaries, coastal fisheries and other
habitats that recycle air, water and nutrients for all living creatures are
being irretrievably damaged. In effect, one species is now a hazard to the
other 10 million or so on the planet, and to itself.
"Human activity is putting such a strain on the natural functions of Earth that
the ability of the planet's ecosystems to sustain future generations can no
longer be taken for granted," it says.
The report, prepared in Washington under the supervision of a board chaired by
Robert Watson, the British-born chief scientist at the World Bank and a former
scientific adviser to the White House, will be launched today at the Royal
Society in London. It warns that:
· Because of human demand for food, fresh water, timber, fibre and fuel, more
land has been claimed for agriculture in the last 60 years than in the 18th and
19th centuries combined.
· An estimated 24% of the Earth's land surface is now cultivated.
· Water withdrawals from lakes and rivers has doubled in the last 40 years.
Humans now use between 40% and 50% of all available freshwater running off the
land.
· At least a quarter of all fish stocks are overharvested. In some areas, the
catch is now less than a hundredth of that before industrial fishing.
· Since 1980, about 35% of mangroves have been lost, 20% of the world's coral
reefs have been destroyed and another 20% badly degraded.
· Deforestation and other changes could increase the risks of malaria and
cholera, and open the way for new and so far unknown disease to emerge.
In 1997, a team of biologists and economists tried to put a value on the
"business services" provided by nature - the free pollination of crops, the air
conditioning provided by wild plants, the recycling of nutrients by the oceans.
They came up with an estimate of $33 trillion, almost twice the global gross
national product for that year. But after what today's report, Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment, calls "an unprecedented period of spending Earth's
natural bounty" it was time to check the accounts.
"That is what this assessment has done, and it is a sobering statement with much
more red than black on the balance sheet," the scientists warn. "In many cases,
it is literally a matter of living on borrowed time. By using up supplies of
fresh groundwater faster than they can be recharged, for example, we are
depleting assets at the expense of our children."
Flow from rivers has been reduced dramatically. For parts of the year, the
Yellow River in China, the Nile in Africa and the Colorado in North America dry
up before they reach the ocean. An estimated 90% of the total weight of the
ocean's large predators - tuna, swordfish and sharks - has disappeared in
recent years. An estimated 12% of bird species, 25% of mammals and more than
30% of all amphibians are threatened with extinction within the next century.
Some of them are threatened by invaders.
The Baltic Sea is now home to 100 creatures from other parts of the world, a
third of them native to the Great Lakes of America. Conversely, a third of the
170 alien species in the Great Lakes are originally from the Baltic.
Invaders can make dramatic changes: the arrival of the American comb jellyfish
in the Black Sea led to the destruction of 26 commercially important stocks of
fish. Global warming and climate change, could make it increasingly difficult
for surviving species to adapt.
A growing proportion of the world lives in cities, exploiting advanced
technology. But nature, the scientists warn, is not something to be enjoyed at
the weekend. Conservation of natural spaces is not just a luxury.
"These are dangerous illusions that ignore the vast benefits of nature to the
lives of 6 billion people on the planet. We may have distanced ourselves from
nature, but we rely completely on the services it delivers."
I play it all night long
It makes me want to kill myself
I also have a dobro
Made in some mountain range
Sounds like a mountain range in love
But when I turn up the tone
On my electric guitar
I'm afraid of the dark without you close to me
I went out to the forest and caught
A hundred thousand fireflies
As they ricochet round the room
They remind me of your starry eyes
Someone else's might not have made me so sad
But this is the worst night I ever had
'cause I'm afraid of the dark without you close to me
You won't be happy with me,
But give me one more chance
You won't be happy anyway
Why do we still live here
In this repulsive town?
All our friends are in New York
Why do we keep shrieking,
when we mean soft things?
We should be whispering all the time...
This is another reason to be happy:
Two-thirds of world's resources 'used up'
Tim Radford, science editor
Wednesday March 30, 2005
Guardian
The human race is living beyond its means. A report backed by 1,360 scientists
from 95 countries - some of them world leaders in their fields - today warns
that the almost two-thirds of the natural machinery that supports life on Earth
is being degraded by human pressure.
The study contains what its authors call "a stark warning" for the entire world.
The wetlands, forests, savannahs, estuaries, coastal fisheries and other
habitats that recycle air, water and nutrients for all living creatures are
being irretrievably damaged. In effect, one species is now a hazard to the
other 10 million or so on the planet, and to itself.
"Human activity is putting such a strain on the natural functions of Earth that
the ability of the planet's ecosystems to sustain future generations can no
longer be taken for granted," it says.
The report, prepared in Washington under the supervision of a board chaired by
Robert Watson, the British-born chief scientist at the World Bank and a former
scientific adviser to the White House, will be launched today at the Royal
Society in London. It warns that:
· Because of human demand for food, fresh water, timber, fibre and fuel, more
land has been claimed for agriculture in the last 60 years than in the 18th and
19th centuries combined.
· An estimated 24% of the Earth's land surface is now cultivated.
· Water withdrawals from lakes and rivers has doubled in the last 40 years.
Humans now use between 40% and 50% of all available freshwater running off the
land.
· At least a quarter of all fish stocks are overharvested. In some areas, the
catch is now less than a hundredth of that before industrial fishing.
· Since 1980, about 35% of mangroves have been lost, 20% of the world's coral
reefs have been destroyed and another 20% badly degraded.
· Deforestation and other changes could increase the risks of malaria and
cholera, and open the way for new and so far unknown disease to emerge.
In 1997, a team of biologists and economists tried to put a value on the
"business services" provided by nature - the free pollination of crops, the air
conditioning provided by wild plants, the recycling of nutrients by the oceans.
They came up with an estimate of $33 trillion, almost twice the global gross
national product for that year. But after what today's report, Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment, calls "an unprecedented period of spending Earth's
natural bounty" it was time to check the accounts.
"That is what this assessment has done, and it is a sobering statement with much
more red than black on the balance sheet," the scientists warn. "In many cases,
it is literally a matter of living on borrowed time. By using up supplies of
fresh groundwater faster than they can be recharged, for example, we are
depleting assets at the expense of our children."
Flow from rivers has been reduced dramatically. For parts of the year, the
Yellow River in China, the Nile in Africa and the Colorado in North America dry
up before they reach the ocean. An estimated 90% of the total weight of the
ocean's large predators - tuna, swordfish and sharks - has disappeared in
recent years. An estimated 12% of bird species, 25% of mammals and more than
30% of all amphibians are threatened with extinction within the next century.
Some of them are threatened by invaders.
The Baltic Sea is now home to 100 creatures from other parts of the world, a
third of them native to the Great Lakes of America. Conversely, a third of the
170 alien species in the Great Lakes are originally from the Baltic.
Invaders can make dramatic changes: the arrival of the American comb jellyfish
in the Black Sea led to the destruction of 26 commercially important stocks of
fish. Global warming and climate change, could make it increasingly difficult
for surviving species to adapt.
A growing proportion of the world lives in cities, exploiting advanced
technology. But nature, the scientists warn, is not something to be enjoyed at
the weekend. Conservation of natural spaces is not just a luxury.
"These are dangerous illusions that ignore the vast benefits of nature to the
lives of 6 billion people on the planet. We may have distanced ourselves from
nature, but we rely completely on the services it delivers."