So in about 40 years we have undone millions of years of evolution. I understand it is difficult for journalists to put these stories together in a way that fits the episodic style of news coverage we have, but really - this is an incredible crisis.
It is often said that it is difficult to explain all the factors involved in this as much of the work is scientific and the public have difficulties understanding stories that evolve over long timescales. Now I think that that is patronising and plain wrong but nonetheless I will run with it for a moment and see if I can put it into words that a child could understand...
"Hello class, look in your dictionaries, here is what biomass means. Now, if we have less biomass that means less ability to regenerate, less ability to regenerate means less biomass and so on. No animals and plants does not simply mean less things to look at when you go on the school trip to the countryside. It means less food, less medicine and possibly less breathable air. If we don't do something major, and soon, we will all be fighting each other for the few resources left and that fighting will reduce the resources again."
That wasn't so hard.
The minister in the article, Joan Ruddock, seems to think it is a cause for concern, Of course, it is not of so much concern that she can't be part of a government planning expansions in air travel and new coal fired power stations.
Anyway, of the 5 problems mentioned, hunting, distasteful (or boneheaded) as it might be, is the least of them.
Overfishing is as a result of increased population, increased demand and more industrial methods of scooping out the oceans. It affects the ecological balance as some other predators no longer have a food supply. It has also been shown that with the right restrictions in place then fish populations can rebound. Also, very often fish are dumped back into the sea, dead, after they are caught. This is a fixable problem.
Pollution is mentioned as one of the problems but they don't say what kind of pollution, where it comes from and what effect it has (these are just very simple links, please read more).
Urban expansion is not only a result of population, the elephant in the room but also of the suburban car-obsessed society. Read Fast Food Nation for an excellent account of the phenomenon.
As for farming, modern farming and food production relies on oil. We literally eat the stuff. Oil based-pesticides, oil to fly those foreign oranges around the world and oil for the trucks to move them around after the airport, oil to power the fancy lights of the supermarkets to entice us to come in and eat more oil.
"In 1944 the average US farm produced 2,300 calories of food energy for every calorie of fossil fuel energy that went into the field. In 1974 that ratio became 1 to 1. In our own time, thanks to nitrogen fertilisers, oil-based pesticides, refrigeration and four-figure food miles it is 2000 to 1 reversed so you would think the lead item on every newspaper would be how are we going to feed ourselves now that the oil is running out?" -From Rob Newmans History of Oil
I will leave you with this stat if you are still not convinced that simply tinkering around the edges of the current modes of production will alter the way things are going enough to stop this train...
On average each person needs 2.2 global hectares to support the demands they place on the environment, but the planet is only able to meet consumption levels of 1.8 global hectares per person.
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