Discussion»Questions»Environment» How do we know Global Warming and climate change is not the Earth returning to a previous temp and state before it became comfortable to hum
Yes, dinosaurs (so far as we know) metabolized as we do and emitted CO2. That CO2 was absorbed by the plant life extant at the time, just as plants absorb the CO2 you and I emit as we metabolize.
What the dinosaurs did NOT do is pump massive amounts of stored hydrocarbons out of the Earth's crust, burn them, and produce CO2 far in excess of the capacity of the plant life to remove from the atmosphere. Humans are doing that.
This isn't conceptually difficult. All it takes is the honest desire to look at the actual science.
There have been both Big Freezes and Big Heats. But fortunately the Earth have never had a climate extreeme so severe that it killed the deep sea life too.
Exactly the earth goes through cycles. We have had ice ages and warm stages. There are places that go from lush tropical forest with lots of rain to dry vegetation free desert on a regular basis. This does not mean we should not try to take care of our planet.
When I walk down the street, I'm not worried about floating away.. Is that because I UNDERSTAND gravity?? Nahh.. It's because the scientists do. When I get a shot at the doctors office, do I think it'll help my condition? I DO. Oh, not because I UNDERSTAND biology. It's because the scientists do..
So, for those same reasons, when scientists tell me that man is warming the earth, I believe 'em...
Humans have not been around for very long, less than a million years, but our ancestors did live through previous glaciations and interglacials (warmer phases). They simply kept South of the cold regions - Southern England was in Arctic tundra. They wouldn't known about Ice Ages and things, they simply accepted what was what, and lived the best they could in areas comfortable for them, like Southern Europe and corresponding American and Asian regions. As the climate ameliorated they advanced Northwards.
The difference between them and us now is that there were far less of them, and they were not burning vast amounts of coal and oil or using vast amounts of other minerals and occupying large areas of habitable land.
Ann additional difference between them and us is that they did note rely on steel furnaces, grain silos, chemical plants or other similar huge installations that are nearly impossible to take along as you 'move south' (or in this case: north). There is a limit to how much heavy industry we can just abandon and then build a copy of somewhere else.
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