The seventh mass extinction: Human-caused events contribute to a fatal consequence

This paper presents a scenario in a written narrative that describes the events that could lead to the extinction of humans as well as other biological entities as living species on the Earth. The scenario is built upon historical evidence and speculations of the causes of past extinctions, but it a...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Futures : the journal of policy, planning and futures studies planning and futures studies, 2009-12, Vol.41 (10), p.715-722
Main Authors: Carpenter, P.A., Bishop, P.C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Civilization
Climate Change
Disasters
Environmental Degradation
Extinction
Famine
Future
Futures (of Society)
Genetic engineering
Global warming
Historical analysis
Studies
Terrorism
War
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This paper presents a scenario in a written narrative that describes the events that could lead to the extinction of humans as well as other biological entities as living species on the Earth. The scenario is built upon historical evidence and speculations of the causes of past extinctions, but it also describes emerging actions by humans that could contribute to the hypothesized extinction. The scenario takes place from 2010 to approximately 2080 and leads to an extinction that is precipitated by human-caused activities, the global warming of the Earth (leading to famine, flooding, and resource wars), the release of a series of fatal genetically engineered organisms (precipitating from a new world order and heightened terrorism), and finally an impact cataclysm (leading to earthquakes, tsunamis, more famine and flooding, and ultimately bringing on glaciation).
ISSN:0016-3287
1873-6378
DOI:10.1016/j.futures.2009.07.008