• evranch@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    they might just carry on until this planet is molten

    The odds of true runaway warming are very low, the planet has both been much hotter and had much higher CO2 levels in the past. The Holocene is actually a cool period, geologically.

    We’re just going to make it too hot to grow enough crops to feed the world.

    • possibly a cat@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      The planet has never heated at this rate before, and it is causing havoc on cycles that would naturally integrate emissions over millennia. From what I’ve read, we can’t confidently put a number on the current risk.

      • kmkz_ninja@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        The lake Toba Eruption caused a 4°C drop in global temperatures, covered asia in inches to feet of ash, and may have taken the climate 1000s of years to recover.

        Even more extreme, the lava floods that created the Siberian Traps 250 million years ago raised ocean temps to 40°C, killed off 90% of all life, and might have taken millions of years to recover.

        We are tiny. The climate and the Earth are formidable. Sure, we might have the capacity to destroy all multicellular life on earth, but she’s recovered from even worse.

        We shouldn’t ever give up, but I think the earth is capable of handling even our worst fuck-ups.