- WELLINGTON (IANS) - Human
beings face extinction by the end of this century if they continue on their
current growth path with its disastrous ecological consequences, a top
New Zealand scientist has warned.
-
- Peter Barrett, who has spent decades in Antarctic
research
and studying climatic change, said an increasing number of scientists
thought
the fallouts of industrial progress could be more catastrophic than
commonly
believed, reports Xinhua.
-
- "After 40 years, I'm part of a huge community of
scientists who have become alarmed with our discovery, that we know from
our knowledge of the ancient past that if we continue our present growth
path, we are facing extinction," Barrett said.
-
- "Not in millions of years, or even millennia, but
by the end of this century."
-
- Barrett, the director of Victoria University's Antarctic
Research Centre, was presented the prestigious Marsden Medal in
Christchurch
Wednesday for his 40-year contribution to Antarctic research.
-
- Barrett's warning underlines comments he made last year
that even the Kyoto Protocol on global warming, regarded as too severe
by many, would not be enough to avert a climatic disaster.
-
- Two of the world's largest sources of pollution, the
US and Australia, have refused to adopt the protocol.
-
- "Research on the past Antarctic climate has an
ominous
warning for the future," Barrett said.
-
- "We need an international commitment to an effective
solution, if we are to survive the worst consequences of this grandest
of all human experiments," he said.
-
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reserved.
-
- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/926307.cms
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