Privileged Planet: factors controlling climate (Introduction)

by dhw, Friday, July 24, 2020, 11:36 (1365 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: Worth downloading and quick skimming to see moving figures:
https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-earths-climate-changes-naturally-and-why-things-are-...

The heading continues: why things are...different now.

QUOTES "The main control knob for Earth’s climate through deep time has been the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, since carbon dioxide is a long-lasting greenhouse gas that blocks heat that tries to rise off the planet."

"Each year, the burning of fossil fuels emits about 100 times more carbon dioxide than volcanoes emit — too much too fast for oceans and weathering to neutralize it, which is why our climate is warming and our oceans are acidifying."

DAVID: A complex of activities evolved the Earth which made it comfortable for us today.

May I respectfully suggest that this is NOT the message at all. The article lays great emphasis on the role carbon dioxide plays in our climate, and it traces the link way back into the history of Earth’s disastrous climate changes, all of which were previously caused “naturally”. The article points out that today’s climate change is man-made, and it is proceeding too fast for Nature to neutralize it. The list of past catastrophes provides a warning to us of an approaching catastrophe. The warming of our climate and the acidifying of the oceans will NOT make the Earth comfortable for us, and the implication would therefore seem to be that we should take action now to prevent a catastrophe on the level of those described.


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