DailyDirt: What Will Humanity's Legacy Be?

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Wed, Jun 11th 2014 5:00pm — Michael Ho

Humans have obviously had a significant impact on the Earth. We've killed off various species and built stuff that may long outlast our grandchildren (e.g., the pyramids, the Long Now clock, nuclear waste facilities, etc.). At some point, we might want to think about what we'll leave behind after we're gone ourselves. Here are just a few links on planning for the future for our world.

A professor of water management looked at humanity's overall environmental footprint -- and concluded our behavior is unsustainable. It's not such a big surprise, but the report also points out that technology alone probably won't bring us back to sustainable levels if we don't alter our consumption habits. [url]
Economically, though, maybe you shouldn't worry too much -- and just consume as much as you can when you're young and able to enjoy it. If you're not planning to live too long, it doesn't make much sense to save for the future or work long hours hoping that you'll be able to enjoy retirement someday. [url]
Humanity's new, long-lasting techno-fossils might be plastiglomerates -- a new type of rock made up of plastics, volcanic sediment and various other kinds of beach debris. These plastic rocks might not last as long as other kinds of geological materials, but their traces could become a distinguishing feature of the Anthropocene era. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

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Filed Under: anthropocene, environment, footprint, global climate change, impact, long now, plastic, plastiglomerates, rocks, sustainability

12 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 11 Jun 2014 @ 5:26pm

Dick selfies and cat videos
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JWW (profile), 11 Jun 2014 @ 6:26pm

Sure, out of water
Because if we develop economical desalination capabilities, that won't change a thing, right?

Remember, however unlikely that seems, 200 years ago everyone thought the fastest you could cross the country was measured in weeks. Flying was not considered in the realm of possibility.

We will develop desalination technology, because we're going to need it.
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- Jake, 12 Jun 2014 @ 2:01am
  
  Re: Sure, out of water
  You mean, "if we develop economical desalinisation technologies before the shit hits the fan", which is far from guaranteed. If we threw Manhattan Project levels of money at crash R&D programs to develop nuclear fusion then there's a reasonable chance of having something shovel-ready a decade later, but do you want to try getting that through Congress?
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- Anonymous Coward, 12 Jun 2014 @ 9:33am
  
  Re: Sure, out of water
  Blind faith in technology no different than believing in an invisible man in the sky.
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  - John Fenderson (profile), 12 Jun 2014 @ 9:52am
    
    Re: Re: Sure, out of water
    True, but I'm not seeing much "blind faith" in technology.
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  - Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 12 Jun 2014 @ 1:44pm
    
    Re: Blind faith in technology no different than believing in an invisible man in the sky.
    Difference being that technology actually has a track record of working.
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Lawrence D�Oliveiro, 11 Jun 2014 @ 9:02pm

Legacy To Whom?
I don�t understand who this successor to Humanity is supposed to be. If they share our values and feelings (such as caring about our legacy), then why not call them �Humanity�? If they don�t, then who the hell cares?
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- Anonymous, 12 Jun 2014 @ 3:21pm
  
  Re: Legacy To Whom?
  Those dang dirty apes!
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mdpopescu (profile), 11 Jun 2014 @ 11:19pm

Empty
Wow, that first article is the biggest pile of crap I've tried to read in a long time. Besides an overuse of the word "footprint", does anything in there actually have a meaning?
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Watchit (profile), 12 Jun 2014 @ 3:35am

10,000 year clock
Reminds me of the 10,000 year clock from the Long Now foundation. Just recently read up on that and it's pretty neat.
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Jun 2014 @ 6:33am

Humanity is like a bacterium in a petri dish, it eventually dies from its own waste. Sad thing is, we are aware (some of us) of our impending doom and yet refuse to do anything to stop it.
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- Lawrence D�Oliveiro, 12 Jun 2014 @ 11:38pm
  
  Re: Humanity is like a bacterium in a petri dish
  Who was stupid enough to trap that bacterium in the petri dish?
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