On
the Supersonic Track to Extinction
15
January, 2015
Where
is the “Misanthropocene”
right now in relation to past extinction events? The chart below
tells the tale. Notice that our current rise in GHG’s is
essentially instantaneous in relation to past warmings which took
place over thousands of years. As far as scientists can tell, the
current warming from industrial civilization is the most rapid in
geologic time. Ice core and marine sediment data in the
paleoclimatology archive have revealed brief periods of rapid warming
and there is no reason to believe modern man is immune to such
catastrophic and abrupt climate events. In fact, we know that the
Arctic is already warming twice as fast as anywhere else on the
planet.
Earth sensitivity to climate change is now thought to be
possibly double
that of previous estimates. An
entirely different planet can result from just a
slight change in temperature:
We’re about halfway towards the same CO2 levels as the Paleocene Thermal Extinction, but our speed of trajectory surpasses even that of the Permian Extinction:
In 2005, Lee R. Kump and fellow scientists published a paper describing what would become known as the Kump hypothesis, implicating hydrogen sulfide (H2S) as the primary culprit in past mass extinctions. According to OSHA, “a level of H2S gas at or above 100 ppm is immediately dangerous to life and health.” Prior to Kump’s study, the working theory had been that some sort of singular, cataclysmic event such as an asteroid strike was to blame for all mass die-offs, but Kump and colleagues proposed that a global warming-induced asphyxiation via hydrogen sulfide gas(H2S) was to blame for snuffing out life under the sea, on the land, and in the air. In past mass extinctions,volcanic eruptions and thawing methane hydrates created greenhouse-gas warmings that culminated in the release of poisonous gas from oxygen-depleted oceans. Humans with their fossil fuel-eating machines are unwittingly producing the same conditions today. The Kump hypothesis (elevated CO2 with lowering O2 levels) is now regarded as the most plausible explanation for the majority of mass extinctions in earth’s history:
In the short term as both poles completely melt away and the Equator-to-Pole temperature gradient declines, the hydrologic cycle and storms will intensify, jet streams will be altered, global air circulation and ocean currents will be rearranged (especially in northern latitudes), and sea levels will rise. While some local winds will slow down, other areas may actually increase due to local temperature gradients becoming more influential than global ones. New research has indicated early warning signs of a collapse in ocean circulation. When that happens, the oceans ultimately turn into stagnant, anoxic pools belching deadly hydrogen sulfide into the atmosphere.
As
others have noted, our energy, transport and building infrastructure
was not constructed to withstand a mutated planet
blindly molded by over seven billion humans. For example,
think of all those massive wind farms rendered useless by alterations
in local wind patterns, hydro-power shut down due to devastating
droughts, solar farms destroyed by large hail storms, etc.
Many
are under the delusion that we’ll be able to turn this process
around with “green energy” while ignoring that such
technologies are derivatives of fossil fuel or that increased
efficiencies will lower our carbon footprint while ignoring Jevons
paradox. Countless other self-reinforcing feedbacks loops
driving our socioeconomic system come into play as well such as
rampant overpopulation (Overpopulation
key driver of climate change, mass extinction),
chemical pollution (“Every
year, up to 400 million tonnes are produced and a thousand new
substances concocted“),
and capitalism’s inherent growth dynamics:
The monstrous capitalism we see today is the result of capitalism’s inherent growth dynamics. To give one modern-day example, the solar energy industry/movement began with the conception of local, i.e. decentralized, and roof-top solar electricity generation for local consumption. Today we see projects like Desertec (huge solar power plants in the Sahara that would supply 15% of Europe’s total electricity needs) and competition between European and Chinese solar panel producers for larger chunks of the world market. – Link
The
destructive trend has been inexorably cumulative:
…the
central trend is verifiable: mass die-offs are on the rise,
increasing by one event per year for the last 70 years.
“While
this might not seem like much, one additional mass mortality event
per year over 70 years translates into a considerable increase in the
number of these events being reported each year,” explained
co-author Adam Siepielski, a biologist at the University of San
Diego. “Going from one event to 70 each year is a substantial
increase, especially given the increased magnitudes of mass mortality
events for some of these organisms.” - Link
If
we shed our anthropocentric blinders, the harsh reality is that
nothing of substance is being done to prevent our own extinction, and
after looking back at humanity’s track record for slowing down
this beast of globalized industrial civilization even one iota, any
sane and rational person would have to conclude that there are forces
at work well beyond the control of any one group of people, any
state, or even any one country. Humans have the dubious honor of
being the earth’s first sentient beings to have thoroughly
documented their own demise while arguing with each other over whose
fault it is. And the longer the Keeling
Curve stretches skyward,
the greater the odds that we will pull the trigger on a
geoengineering scheme to slow down the inevitable:
Do
these experts—the top scholars and scientists researching the
subject in the world—think we will see geoengineering in our
lifetime?
“Let’s
see it for ten years,” the emcee said. A few scientists cautiously
raised their hands. Twenty and 30 years saw some more converts.
When he called out “fifty years,” more than half the room
had their hands up.
That,
according to the experts, is a 50-50 shot that someone is going
to try, this century, to engineer the Earth’s climate. To hack
the planet. - Link
Techno-capitalist
carbon man’s fetish with high-tech gadgetry has already gotten the
best of him. Just look at us glued to our iphones, tv’s, internet,
and sundry other social media tools. We’re addicted to and
dependent on our technology, and the idea of pulling the power plug
on this way of life is unthinkable, not to mention fatal, for those
raised within its confines.
“In
Earth’s history we see climate changes over time, and we know that
some of these climate changes were associated with enormous
biological destruction. How could we believe that the same sort of
experience moving into the modern-day wouldn’t do the same thing?”
~ Dr. Peter D. Ward
I don't hate people, some of my best friends are people.
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