Global Warming Essential for Human Life
I'm no scientist, but I can't help but wonder if perhaps global warming might actually be a good thing. Hasn't the earth been warming for tens of thousands of years? Why race to solve global warming? I might argue, that global warming is preserving a climate needed for human life to continue.
After doing some research on my own, I have discovered that we are in fact in an ice age and have been for the past couple million years. Within this ice age, called the Quaternary Period, there have been about 80 glacial periods, where parts of the earth ice over (Antarctica, Greenland). The "ice" periods are called glacial periods and the warm periods (one of which we are in now) are called interglacial periods, and last between 10,000 to 30,000 years. The current warm period began between 10,000 to 15,000 years ago and since then, glaciers and ice sheets have been melting and sea levels rising. It is during this warm period (interglacial period), that conditions became optimal for human life and agriculture.
During the "ice" periods there are low level of CO2 on earth and during the warm periods, there are high level of CO2. We should not be surprised that levels of CO2 are rising. It's supposed to happen. If the CO2 levels were to go down substantially, we would be headed toward another ice period, where agriculture and human life would cease to exist.
Human life on earth will end one day when the earth gets too cold. It's naive to think that the earth's temperature will remain constant. Noteworthy is the fact that we are already at the end of a warming cycle. Based on historical data going back millions of years, we are headed towards the next ice (glacial) period. If CO2 levels drop, the next ice age may be only 15,000 years away. However, the release of CO2 from buried coal, oil and fossil fuels could be providing the earth an insulating blanket thereby preserving a climate in which humans can survive longer, maybe another 50,000 years.
Andrew Revkin wrote in the NY Times in 2003, "It may seem that human-driven global warming, althought perhaps a disaster on the scale of centuries, may be a good thing in the long run if it fends off the next ice age awhile." I might agree.
After doing some research on my own, I have discovered that we are in fact in an ice age and have been for the past couple million years. Within this ice age, called the Quaternary Period, there have been about 80 glacial periods, where parts of the earth ice over (Antarctica, Greenland). The "ice" periods are called glacial periods and the warm periods (one of which we are in now) are called interglacial periods, and last between 10,000 to 30,000 years. The current warm period began between 10,000 to 15,000 years ago and since then, glaciers and ice sheets have been melting and sea levels rising. It is during this warm period (interglacial period), that conditions became optimal for human life and agriculture.
During the "ice" periods there are low level of CO2 on earth and during the warm periods, there are high level of CO2. We should not be surprised that levels of CO2 are rising. It's supposed to happen. If the CO2 levels were to go down substantially, we would be headed toward another ice period, where agriculture and human life would cease to exist.
Human life on earth will end one day when the earth gets too cold. It's naive to think that the earth's temperature will remain constant. Noteworthy is the fact that we are already at the end of a warming cycle. Based on historical data going back millions of years, we are headed towards the next ice (glacial) period. If CO2 levels drop, the next ice age may be only 15,000 years away. However, the release of CO2 from buried coal, oil and fossil fuels could be providing the earth an insulating blanket thereby preserving a climate in which humans can survive longer, maybe another 50,000 years.
Andrew Revkin wrote in the NY Times in 2003, "It may seem that human-driven global warming, althought perhaps a disaster on the scale of centuries, may be a good thing in the long run if it fends off the next ice age awhile." I might agree.
Comments
Thanks for your very thoughtful and articulate comments. However, I must disagree. It's not necessarily a bad thing when species die off, it has been happening since the beginning of time. This is normal when you look at the history of the earth over millions of years. The earth's climate changes constantly and with each major climate change different species of animals will find it ideal and florish. It just so happens that the climate we find ourselves in now is ideal for humans. Also, who is to say the icecaps are not supposed to melt? Maybe that's what they are supposed to do. Or maybe a complete ice sheet will blanket the earth one day. In either case, I think it's pretty arrogant of man to think he can control these things. Even if man is contributing to global warming, at least we are preventing the next ice age. There is no way humans are going to be able to hold today's temperatures constant, so the earth is either going to be warming or cooling and it's not really up to us to decide. And it's a certainty that the human species will cease to exist one day. I don't worry about it.
Truly yours
George Stefanakis
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