But there are others -- shrinking forests, biodiversity loss, fisheries collapse, food shortages, higher commodity prices and civil unrest, to name a few.
Evidence of human-caused catastrophe mounts daily with grim reports from sea, sky and land: disappearing species, the collapse of fisheries, deforestation, the shrinking ozone layer, higher concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide, oceanic dead zones, warming temperatures, extreme weather, rising sea levels, depleted aquifers, melting glaciers, thawing permafrost.
Mr. Brown, a former state senator here, has pushed to change federal regulation of the region's fisheries – a fractious issue stoked by federal and regional efforts to protect shrinking fish populations — introducing two pieces of legislation intended to allay the impact of federal regulations last year.
They talk of shrinking quotas, of backroom deals with the Spanish, Danes or French, and most of all, a sense that UK fisheries ministers have been too soft with their competitors.
The study by Villy Christensen of the University of British Columbia's Fisheries Centre confirmed some previous indications that populations of predator fish at the top of the food chain, such as cod, tuna and groupers, have suffered huge declines, shrinking by around two-thirds in the past 100 years.
The population is shrinking.
The permafrost is shrinking.
Elsewhere, forests are shrinking.
