4,000 years ago.

Caral, the Americas' oldest civilization, located north of present day Lima, Peru, faced a grave crisis as a result of climate change some 4,000 years ago, archaeologists said.

"Droughts were so severe that they could have lasted between 60 and 130 years, which could explain why there were social crises in (civilizations like) Caral, Moche and Tiahuanaco," archaeologist Ruth Shady, director of the Caral Project, told Efe.

If only they had taxed the coal and petroleum industries they could have stopped this.

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/lifesty...ilization/

Makes me hope & pray we do not see droughts like that (on our scale). That would be disastrous.

(06-13-2015 08:00 PM)Ole Blue Wrote:  Makes me hope & pray we do not see droughts like that (on our scale). That would be disastrous.

Looking at the big picture .... man has built an incredibly complex and interconnected society. But it's all very fragile, like the most elaborate ant colony ever built. And it won't take much for it to all come apart.

Civilization is a thin veneer. Under that, man is still an animal.

(06-13-2015 09:19 PM)UConn-SMU Wrote:  

(06-13-2015 08:00 PM)Ole Blue Wrote:  Makes me hope & pray we do not see droughts like that (on our scale). That would be disastrous.

Looking at the big picture .... man has built an incredibly complex and interconnected society. But it's all very fragile, like the most elaborate ant colony ever built. And it won't take much for it to all come apart.

Civilization is a thin veneer. Under that, man is still an animal.

Well said.

(06-13-2015 09:19 PM)UConn-SMU Wrote:  

(06-13-2015 08:00 PM)Ole Blue Wrote:  Makes me hope & pray we do not see droughts like that (on our scale). That would be disastrous.

Looking at the big picture .... man has built an incredibly complex and interconnected society. But it's all very fragile, like the most elaborate ant colony ever built. And it won't take much for it to all come apart.

Civilization is a thin veneer. Under that, man is still an animal.

You're exactly right. All it takes is one terrible thing to happen and boom, we're dying off. Kind of a scary thought -- something that would keep you up at night worried if you are hyper-environmentalist. I am glad I don't worry about it all night, but part of me feels like I should...

(06-13-2015 10:38 PM)Ole Blue Wrote:  

(06-13-2015 09:19 PM)UConn-SMU Wrote:  

(06-13-2015 08:00 PM)Ole Blue Wrote:  Makes me hope & pray we do not see droughts like that (on our scale). That would be disastrous.

Looking at the big picture .... man has built an incredibly complex and interconnected society. But it's all very fragile, like the most elaborate ant colony ever built. And it won't take much for it to all come apart.
Civilization is a thin veneer. Under that, man is still an animal.

You're exactly right. All it takes is one terrible thing to happen and boom, we're dying off. Kind of a scary thought -- something that would keep you up at night worried if you are hyper-environmentalist. I am glad I don't worry about it all night, but part of me feels like I should...

But here's the problem I have. You'd think those hyper-environmentalists who stay up at night worried about this would be hard at work developing solutions. So far they've produced virtually nothing. Shouldn't the effort be devoted to finding solutions, not inducing hysteria?

(06-13-2015 09:19 PM)UConn-SMU Wrote:  

(06-13-2015 08:00 PM)Ole Blue Wrote:  Makes me hope & pray we do not see droughts like that (on our scale). That would be disastrous.

Looking at the big picture .... man has built an incredibly complex and interconnected society. But it's all very fragile, like the most elaborate ant colony ever built. And it won't take much for it to all come apart.

Civilization is a thin veneer. Under that, man is still an animal.

couldn't agree more or stated it better.....very well phrased

(06-14-2015 01:15 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(06-13-2015 10:38 PM)Ole Blue Wrote:  

(06-13-2015 09:19 PM)UConn-SMU Wrote:  

(06-13-2015 08:00 PM)Ole Blue Wrote:  Makes me hope & pray we do not see droughts like that (on our scale). That would be disastrous.

Looking at the big picture .... man has built an incredibly complex and interconnected society. But it's all very fragile, like the most elaborate ant colony ever built. And it won't take much for it to all come apart.
Civilization is a thin veneer. Under that, man is still an animal.

You're exactly right. All it takes is one terrible thing to happen and boom, we're dying off. Kind of a scary thought -- something that would keep you up at night worried if you are hyper-environmentalist. I am glad I don't worry about it all night, but part of me feels like I should...

But here's the problem I have. You'd think those hyper-environmentalists who stay up at night worried about this would be hard at work developing solutions. So far they've produced virtually nothing. Shouldn't the effort be devoted to finding solutions, not inducing hysteria?

I'd confess to being far more "worried" (not day to day, nor up at night) about our entire energy delivery structure and various grids, their susceptibility to a whole variety of malfeasance and malcontents wishing us ill than I am to some far off boogie-man that might, one day, maybe melt a glacier.

These folks are taking pot shots now. Testing the fences, (so to speak as Jurassic Park is back in the theatres), seeing how protected they are and at the same time, how vulnerable they are.

Any of you who have been through a prolonged outage, such as a hurricane, hit by a tornado, even bad-ass thunderstorms that knocked stuff out for days, even a couple weeks, like we had here some years ago will know what I'm talking about.

We/I drove miles to get gas, ice, diapers, food, a shower, whatever else. But I always had somewhere I could "go". Might be 30-40 miles away, but it was available.

Now, multiply that by months. By millions of people. A large metropolitan area with very dense population. In the heat of July. No A/C, no water, no food deliveries, nor sales due to no electricity to sell stuff. No gas, as pumps are all automated. No this, that, or anything else we all take for granted.

It would be sheer anarchy and very much a "survival" game at that point.

That kind of thing is a far greater concern, and we see it frequently in places like NYC where pipes explode since they were installed in 1915, than a polar bear taking a sauna.

We haven't had the wooly mammoth running around lately either. Did australopithecus scream and yell and demand someone elses money over that as well?

Guessing, no.

Human civilization is a thin veneer and the earth is an application surface that refuses to be permanently bound to it. It doesn't matter how many coats you apply or how deep into the grain you rub; the earth will spit out, shake it off, and keep hurtling around the sun doing the dance of calamitous volatility. This planet does what it wants to do and we creatures clinging to its outermost layer can only hang on.

Depressing thread of the year award

(06-14-2015 10:12 AM)shere khan Wrote:  Depressing thread of the year award

As long as UConn wins the AAC BB tournament next year and Memphis wins the football championship, all is well.