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posted by martyb on Sunday September 24 2017, @08:28PM   Printer-friendly
from the better-whack-it-back dept.

Seeker reports on the finding of Daniel Rothman, a geophysicist at the MIT. The layman version in Seeker

...Daniel Rothman, [is] a geophysicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who built a database of fossil records going back half a billion years. Rothman found the periods in which large percentages of existing species died off coincided with big swings in the carbon isotopes found in those records, suggesting the planet's carbon cycle was out of whack.

[...] human civilization has been pumping more carbon into the environment by burning carbon-rich fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas. On the current trajectory, the oceans are expected to absorb at least another 300 billion tons of carbon by 2100 — an amount that could end up producing long-term changes to the environment, Rothman concluded.

[...] Rothman isn't alone in warning of a potential extinction. Some scientists argue a sixth such event is under way already, with about two species a year disappearing and thousands seeing their populations and ranges shrink.

The more arid study is published in Science Advances and the full text is freely available.

The abstract goes like this (with my emphasis):

The history of the Earth system is a story of change. Some changes are gradual and benign, but others, especially those associated with catastrophic mass extinction, are relatively abrupt and destructive. What sets one group apart from the other? Here, I hypothesize that perturbations of Earth's carbon cycle lead to mass extinction if they exceed either a critical rate at long time scales or a critical size at short time scales. By analyzing 31 carbon isotopic events during the past 542 million years, I identify the critical rate with a limit imposed by mass conservation. Identification of the crossover time scale separating fast from slow events then yields the critical size. The modern critical size for the marine carbon cycle is roughly similar to the mass of carbon that human activities will likely have added to the oceans by the year 2100.

I hope our grandchildren will be able to live, even if I have doubts they'll be able to forgive us.


Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: -1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 25 2017, @12:46AM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 25 2017, @12:46AM (#572496)

    There are individual volcanoes that will emit a greater volume of greenhouse gases in a single day than all human-related activity emits within a single year. And there are many of these volcanoes.

    The reality is that human activity isn't making even the slightest dent in nature. Nature itself can outdo humans many times over.

    That's why carbon taxes are such a sham. The only impacts they have are harmful, and they're totally ineffective when it comes to making any positives changes.

    Starting Score:    0  points
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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by IndigoFreak on Monday September 25 2017, @12:58AM (1 child)

    by IndigoFreak (3415) on Monday September 25 2017, @12:58AM (#572498)

    I have heard the opposite.
    Here is one article that says volcanoes do not surpass human activity.

    https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/earthtalks-volcanoes-or-humans/ [scientificamerican.com]

    • (Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 25 2017, @02:05AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 25 2017, @02:05AM (#572517)

      You shouldn't link to old articles that Winston hasn't fixed yet. They were still talking about global warming instead of climate change.

  • (Score: -1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 25 2017, @02:01AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 25 2017, @02:01AM (#572514)

    "-1, Troll" is the same as "5, Triggers Leftists".

    • (Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Wednesday September 27 2017, @01:48AM

      by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Wednesday September 27 2017, @01:48AM (#573608) Homepage Journal

      I will be asking for a major investigation into MODERATOR FRAUD, including those registered to moderate in two sites, those who are illegal and even, those registered to vote who are dead (and many for a long time). Depending on results, need to strengthen up moderation procedures! 🇺🇸