What we’re doing to the Earth has no parallel in 66 million years, scientists say

[WhiteTara]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/03/21/what-were-doing-to-the-earth-has-no-parallel-in-66-million-years-scientists-say/

Such is the result of a new study in Nature Geoscience, led by Richard Zeebe of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and colleagues from the University of Bristol in the UK and the University of California-Riverside.

“If you look over the entire Cenozoic, the last 66 million years, the only event that we know of at the moment, that has a massive carbon release, and happens over a relatively short period of time, is the PETM,” says Zeebe. “We actually have to go back to relatively old periods, because in the more recent past, we don’t see anything comparable to what humans are currently doing.”

That’s why this time period is so crucial to study — as a possible window on our own.

There’s no doubt that a lot of carbon — about as much as contained the fossil fuel reserves that humans have either already burned, or could still burn, combined — made its way into the atmosphere during the PETM. The result was a major warming event that lasted over 100,000 years. But precisely how rapidly the emissions occurred is another matter.

[Jarqui]

1. Washington Post has gone downhill so badly I don't know how much credit

to give the article's accuracy. It is frightening. If it overstates the problem and scares some folks into doing something about it, then it's not such a bad thing.

[So Far From Heaven]

2. The period is the Early Eocene climatic optimum, EECO.

Best paper I've read on it is Eocene atmospheric CO2 from the nahcolite proxy, Elliot A. Jagniecki, et. al., Geology, December 2015; v. 43; no. 12; p. 1075-1078.

Sets a new lower limit of CO2 (atmospheric) of 680 ppm, not 1150.

Times up! We will reach at least 500 ppm by 2050. That's why Hansen and a whole lot of us think Paris sucks.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

5. OK, so I am capable of at least translating scientific papers enough so that I think I understand...

...them. And the gist I get is alarm.

And then you say "Times up!" and then cite a ppm count for 34 years from now. So, it's nice to be able to ask this of someone who seems to know the inside scoop: How bad is it - right now?

I'm 51. If I live another 40 years, what will I see happening in the world just before I check out? What will my kids and grandkids and great-grandkids have to live with after I'm gone?

[So Far From Heaven]

8. How bad is it?

Let's put it this way;

You stand zero chance of avoiding significant climate change. Zip. Nada.

Well, YOU may miss the significant stuff, and your grandchildren may miss the really significant stuff but their children won't.

Curiously enough, it's consumers that are to blame, NOT corporations. Everything you buy has a carbon cost attached. YOUR purchasing (and mine and everyone else's) is driving greenhouse gas emissions.

That's why NO proposed plan will work.

By the way, that number, 500, will happen no matter what at this point.

[NickB79]

13. You'll get to see the largest mass extinction event since the dinosaurs kick of in ernest

And better than even odds that in the next 40 years you'll get to see human civilization start to unravel across the globe as climate shifts create hundreds of millions of refugees fleeing unhabitable portions of the planet.

[So Far From Heaven]

15. Please cite either.

Mass extinctions MAY occur given suggested target inputs to models. There may be mass migrations as well. However, I have seen zero credible articles showing effects anywhere near this 'cataclysmic' within 40 years. Especially if you read the research and understand the limitations that are never put out in the media. Hyping this stuff is counter productive.

I'll be glad to eat crow if the research is there and credible. I've got three daughters and a grandson.

[Scootaloo]

6. Paris was negative

A bunch of world leaders, all in their own little jets, flew alllll the way around hte world, to be escorted in their own motorcades through Paris, to reach a palce where htye would have all the lights and gizmos on, and eat food imported from all over the world. They would spend several days beign fted and treated, and would end up putting on very solemn faces, nodding like htye know something, and agreeing, after long, very serious deliberation and negotiation, that you... are not... orcs climate change is real. They then ate some more global imports, piled back into their motorcades, back to their jets, flew all over again, and came back to their respective countries to pontificate about all the serious work that they had done in Paris, but for right now we need to keep fracking and drilling and burning and chopping here in their own nations, becuase if we don't, then some other nation would and that's not fair, is it?

Paris was a fucking puppet show, and the usual loyalist sheep sang their "two legs GOOD! Two legs GOOD!" song around here because our president was among those leaders being wined and dined.

[So Far From Heaven]

9. I'm starting a blog on this stuff and

I have a post about an article that Naomi Klein is interviewed. It's titled 'Climate Change Activists, Your Hypocrisy is Showing'. There were 40000 'activists' flying to Paris to be present at a meeting to stop doing what they just did.

Gotta be careful and not overstate models and extremes, though. That's as bad or worse. That's why I've studied the geological record papers as much as possible. They (geologists) have a lot of trouble with stats and errors, but their research is really good for the most part.

[Fumesucker]

14. Can I get an Amen?

Say Hallelujah!

There are still a few posters left on DU who are worth reading.

[Orrex]

3. Yeah, but 67M years ago the dinosaurs really fucked up the environment

Way to go, you Cretaceous assholes.

[So Far From Heaven]

10. This is after the Dinysoars.

Besides, a dinosaurs' gotta do what a dinosaurs' gotta do.

[Jackie Wilson Said]

4. ...

Does

Not

Matter


Koch brothers say no, not true so the GOP says no not true.

And forget about China, right?

Burn baby burn.

[So Far From Heaven]

11. Quit buying shit from China. Two birds with one stone. (nt)

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. This is why the but the supreme court argument is so much of a joke to the kids

they don't expect the USSC to really matter in their lifetimes becuase of climate change.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

12. Keeping in mind that Venus cycles with temperatures so hot that the planet's crust melts.