The award-winning Australian scientist Frank Fenner, who helped eradicate small pox in 1980, is professor emeritus at Australian National University. He claims the human race's "unbridled consumption" and population expansion makes our existence unsustainable. From The Times of India:
"Homo sapiens will become extinct, perhaps within 100 years," Fenner said. "A lot of other animals will, too. ... It's an irreversible situation. I think it's too late. I try not to express that because people are trying to do something, but they keep putting it off."
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He said that since humans have entered an unofficial scientific period known as the Anthropocene—the time since industrialisation—we have had an effect on the planet that rivals any ice age or comet impact, the Daily Mail reported.
I guess you have to applaud him for trying to spare the feelings of those procrastinating environmentalists. In addition to over consumption and population growth, Fenner says climate change will play a significant role in the demise of our species, though in his mind that's just the beginning of our environmental problems. Notably absent from his vision of the apocalypse: the violent takeover by the machines.
Image via Daily Mail
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