In the News (from The Guardian): “A study has shown that the speed of evolutionary change is far outstripped by the rate of global warming, meaning many creatures will face extinction. …

“’We found that, on average, species usually adapt to different climatic conditions at a rate of only by about 1C per million years,’ Wiens explained. ‘But if global temperatures are going to rise by about four degrees over the next 100 years as predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, that is where you get a huge difference in rates. What that suggests overall is that simply evolving to match these conditions may not be an option for many species.’

“The study indicates there is simply not enough time for species to change their morphologies – for example, by altering their bodies’ shapes so they hold less heat – to compensate for rising heat levels. Too many generations of evolutionary change are required. Nor is moving habitat an option for many creatures. ‘Consider a species living on the top of a mountain,’ says Wiens. ‘If it gets too warm or dry up there, they can’t go anywhere.’

“The crucial point of the study is that it stresses a fact that is often conveniently ignored by climate change deniers. It is not just the dramatic nature of the changes that lie ahead – melting icecaps, rising sea levels and soaring temperatures – but the extraordinary speed at which they are occurring. Past transformations that saw planetary temperatures soar took millions of years to occur. The one we are creating will take only a few generations to take place. Either evolution speeds up 10,000-fold, which is an unlikely occurrence, or there will be widespread extinctions.”

My Comment: There is no common solution to the problem of ecology, society and man. We must recognize the impasse of our egoistic development and our own inability to resist it by our own forces. Only by uniting in order to draw the upper Light that Reforms that creates the property of bestowal and love in us, will we, through our unity, be able to bring the planet to balance and prosperity, and ourselves to a higher spiritual state.
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