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Greatest threat to this planet.

In your opinion, which is the greatest threat to the planet/

  • Global Warming

    Votes: 7 15.9%
  • Human overpopulation

    Votes: 22 50.0%
  • Planet-killing meteor

    Votes: 8 18.2%
  • Death of the Sun

    Votes: 7 15.9%

  • Total voters
    44

Papa bull

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What is the greatest threat this planet faces?
 
What is the greatest threat this planet faces?

Obama.

There. Somebody had to say it to get it out of the way. :2razz:
 
Overpopulation is actually a sign of success. Though the single biggest danger is from civilization becoming too unwieldy to keep completely supplied with modern conveniences.

I see the dangers coming from all angles at once- with diseases, conflicts (Wars), economic pressures, natural disasters, shrinking resources and political failures.
 
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Since only the last 2 choices apply to "the planet" simply as a physical entity, the answer is 'the sun" since it is a certainty that as the sun dies, it will engulf this planet, vaporizing it.
 
Obama.

There. Somebody had to say it to get it out of the way. :2razz:

International security.
 
What is the greatest threat this planet faces?

Of the dangers listed, the only one that would actually endanger the planet itself is the death of the sun. The others might render the Earth uninhabitable for higher life forms, but the Earth itself would still keep spinning.

Human overpopulation and global warming would only make things a bit uncomfortable for humans, and maybe kill off half or so of them.

A "planet killing" meteor could perhaps render the Earth uninhabitable.

But, if we're thinking of the end of human civilization, we could add
a supervolcano,
nuclear war,
a smaller meteor, one that would simply produce another extinction event like the one that killed off the dinosaurs and the amphibians before them.
a virus that spread rapidly, had a high mortality rate, and a long incubation period,
a virus that attacked plants that we depend on for food crops,


There are many ways the world of humanity could end, either with a bang or a whimper.
 
What is the greatest threat this planet faces?

The planet has very little threatening it on it's surface, therefore it would have to be the sun or a space collision with a meteor or such. Even if overpopulation and resource decline or anything similar happens, we and other life forms may be forced to die out, but the planet will still exist, may even renew itself with new life unrelated to the resources we use up. Or it could become a dead planet, but it'll still be a planet.
 
I couldn't decide between Honey Boo Boo, Miley Cyrus or the Kardashians.
 
What is the greatest threat this planet faces?

I am leaning towards planet killing meteor or death of the sun assuming people are still around when that happens. The earth's climate naturally gets hotter and cooler,so the idea that climate change is a threat is laughable. As our technology improves so will our food and energy production.
 
I'm taking this poll question means "threat to human life", not literal destruction of the planet?

Which excluded other possibilities, like Artificial Intelligence gone amok or a massive solar flare frying all our electrical equipment.
 
I'm taking this poll question means "threat to human life", not literal destruction of the planet?

Which excluded other possibilities, like Artificial Intelligence gone amok or a massive solar flare frying all our electrical equipment.

Until the OP comments to that effect, I'll take the OP as written.
 
As far as human civilization is concerned, the greatest danger right now is likely a supervolcano.

Yellowstone or the Siberian Traps could go off at any minute with little to no warning whatsoever. In doing so, they'd take half a continent with them apiece, in addition to basically cloaking the planet in a perpetual winter which might very well last decades.

Billions would die, and civilization would almost certainly be set back centuries, if it did not collapse entirely.
 
I don't care what you do, I was only asking a question.

Didn't mean to nudge your ire. Just commenting as to my perspective of the question asked. Bless your heart.
 
Didn't mean to nudge your ire. Just commenting as to my perspective of the question asked. Bless your heart.

My ire isn't affected, though I was only asking for clarification from the OP, because you brought up an interesting aspect. The planet doesn't have to be destroyed to kill all life, though if the planet were annihilated it would kill everyone.
 
To the planet? Death of the sun.

To the creatures currently living on the planet? Pollution.
 
What is the greatest threat this planet faces?

There is no threat to this planet. To even ask the question misses an important point. To best illustrate the point that is missed, I'll quote a chapter from the novel Jurassic Park

Hammond seemed to revive, and began bustling around, straightening up. “Well,” he said, “at least that disaster is averted.”

“What disaster is that?” Malcolm said, sighing.

“Well,” Hammond said, “They [dinosaurs] didn't get free and overrun the world.”

Malcolm sat up on one elbow. “You were worried about that?”

“Surely that's what was at stake,” Hammond said. “These animals, lacking predators, might get out and destroy the planet.”

“You egomaniacal idiot,” Malcolm said in a fury. “Do you have any idea what you are talking about? You think you can destroy the planet? My, what intoxicating power you must have.” Malcolm sank back on the bed. “You can't destroy this planet. You can't even come close.”

“Most people believe,” Hammond said stiffly, “that the planet is in jeopardy.”

“Well it is not,” Malcolm said.

“All the experts agree that our planet is in trouble.”

Malcolm sighed. “Let me tell you about this planet” he said. “This planet is four and a half billion years old. There has been life on this planet for nearly that long. Three point eight billion years. The first bacteria. And, later, the first multicellular animals, then the first complex creatures, in the sea, on the land. Then the great sweeping ages of animals—the amphibians, the dinosaurs, the mammals, each lasting millions upon millions of years. Great dynasties of creatures arising, flourishing, dying away. All this happening against a background of continuous and violent upheaval, mountain ranges thrust up and eroded away, cometary impacts, volcanic eruptions, oceans rising and falling, whole continents moving… Endless constant and violent change… Even today, the greatest geographical feature on the planet comes from two great continents colliding, buckling to make the Himalayan mountain range over millions of years. The planet has survived everything in its time. It will certainly survive us.”

Hammond frowned. “Just because it lasted a long time,” he said, “doesn't mean it is permanent. If there was a radiation accident…”

“Suppose there was,” Malcolm said. “Let's say we had a bad one, and all the plants and animals died, and the earth was clicking hot for a hundred thousand years. Life would survive somewhere—under the soil, or perhaps frozen in the Arctic ice. And after all those years, when the planet was no longer inhospitable, life would again spread over the planet. The evolutionary process would begin again. It might take a few billion years for life to regain its present variety. And of course, it would be very different from what it is now. But the earth would survive our folly. Life would survive our folly. Only we,” Malcolm said, “think it wouldn't.”

Hammond said, “Well, if the ozone layer gets thinner—”

“There will be more ultraviolet radiation reaching the surface. So what?”

“Well. It'll cause skin cancer.”

Malcolm shook his head. “Ultraviolet radiation is good for life. It promotes mutation, change. Many forms of life will thrive with more UV radiation.”

“And many others will die out,” Hammond said.

Malcolm sighed. “You think this is the first time such a thing has happened? Don't you know about oxygen?”

“I know it's necessary for life.”

“It is now,” Malcolm said. “But oxygen is actually a metabolic poison. It's a corrosive gas, like fluorine, which is used to etch glass. And when oxygen was first produced as a waste product by certain plant cells—say, around three billion years ago—it created a crisis for all other life on our planet. Those plant cells were polluting the environment with a deadly poison. On earth, the concentration of oxygen was going up rapidly—five, ten, eventually twenty one percent! Earth had an atmosphere of pure poison! Incompatible with life!”

Hammond looked irritated. “So what's your point? That modern pollutants will be incorporated, too?”

“No,” Malcolm said. “My point is that life on earth can take care of itself. In the thinking of a human being, a hundred years is a long time. A hundred years ago, we didn't have cars and airplanes and computers and vaccines… It was a whole different world. But to the earth, a hundred years is nothing. A million years is nothing. This planet lives and breathes on a much vaster scale. We can't imagine its slow and powerful rhythms, and haven't got the humility to try. We have been residents here for the blink of an eye. If we are gone tomorrow, the earth will not miss us.”

“And we might very well be gone,” Hammond said, huffing.

“Yes,” Malcolm said, “we might.”

“So what are you saying? We should not care about the environment?”

“No, of course not.”

“Then what?”

Malcolm coughed, and stared into the distance. “Let's be clear. The planet is not in jeopardy. We are in jeopardy. We haven't got the power to destroy the planet—or to save it. But we might have the power to save ourselves.”
 
humans l think
 
Humans and supervolcanoes. When Yellowstone blows it's game over form humanity.
 


But, seriously, a pandemic is the most-likely destroyer of mankind. Especially amid the rise of globalization. Airborne ebola with a longer incubation period could ruin us. But, more likely, it would be some virus we haven't even encountered yet.
 
Btw, as soon as I (and my loved ones) are dead - the planet can go bye bye for all I care (though I do not wish for it to happen).

Humanity seems like a rather useless species...I highly doubt the universe will miss us.

In fact, I think it would probably be better off without us.

But, maybe humans will evolve enough someday so as to be useful instead of useless...but I doubt humanity will last long enough for that to occur.
 
Nuclear warfare actually. The "dangers" listed are either too mild or too unrealistic to be considered valid threats.
 
What is the greatest threat this planet faces?


You didn't list a lot of things that concern me more than what was listed.



Biological warfare, or bio experiments that go wrong and escape containment.
Nanotech and AI, a la "the singularity".
 
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