By the way, for those that are lacking the attention span to read the whole thing (yes, the whole thing, and not skim it), here is the "TL;DR" conclusion.
Quote:
Diminishing the range of biological surprises resulting from bottom-up
(local-to-global) and top-down (global-to-local) forcings, postponing
their effects and, in the optimal case, averting a planetary-scale critical
transition demands global cooperation to stem current global-scale
anthropogenic forcings. This will require reducing world population
growth and per-capita resource use; rapidly increasing the proportion
of the world’s energy budget that is supplied by sources other than
fossil fuels while also becoming more efficient in using fossil fuels when
they provide the only option; increasing the efficiency of existing means
of food production and distribution instead of converting new areas or
relying on wild species to feed people; and enhancing efforts to manage
as reservoirs of biodiversity and ecosystem services, both in the terrestrial
and marine realms, the parts of Earth’s surface that are not already
dominated by humans. These are admittedly huge tasks, but are vital if
the goal of science and society is to steer the biosphere towards conditions
we desire, rather than those that are thrust upon us unwittingly.
It is a far cry from the doomsday scenario portrayed in the media commentary on the paper. In fact, the paper is well written and logically sound, with some strong arguments. You can also see that it very soundly proposes a set of actions that need to be undertaken to (as the paper states) "steer the biosphere towards conditions we desire, rather than those that are trust upon us unwittingly".
Edited by dejanh - 6/11/12 at 11:38am
