Extinction events

[Ingwe]

[edit: This thread has been split off the Global Warming thread - Eärniel]

I just think that it shouldn't be so much of an issue of right and left, conservative and liberal, and how much money is up for grabs. Either way, there's a lot of propaganda. It's more about acceptance: there's certainly something going on. Most of us don't know what it is because most of us aren't scientists. All we can tell is what we read about on the net or the newspapers or see on TV or listen to on the radio. But we can see the effects of it. Early springs hit certain areas of the world, and there are noticeable changes every year for some people. I accept that there's an Earth-bound and Solar-bound cause to the recent warming, but that there's also a man-made cause to it as well. Whatever some politician is saying isn't about trying to save the planet, it's usually more about money...isn't that a surprise?

Methane goes up in the atmosphere from industry as well. It is more of a greenhouse gas than CO2. It is one of the elements that caused the Permian-Triassic extinction event. If you'll remember, that killed some 92 to 95% of the life on this planet. As long ago as that may have been, we're sort of over-due for an extinction event. Many think it'll be an asteroid. Some think a gamma ray burst will do it. And still, there are others on the opposite side who think that global warming will wipe us all out very quickly. No...it's a slow-killer. The world 100 years from now will be much different than the one we currently live in - no matter how the deck is played. It might be different in a good way, should the world accept that global warming is actually happening and do something to at least lessen it...or it could be in very much a bad way - where half or more of the Earth's life has slowly (for human standards) but quickly (in geological standards) disappeared. Some areas will be sweltering jungles that were once temperate areas. Great Britain may have climates similar to that of the Mediterranean by just 20 or 30 years from now. I'm not going to be a doom-sayer and state that this is truly what will happen, but it's a lot more likely than the 2012 or 2063 doomsday predictions. Cities will flood over, though. That part is probably true.

We just all have to do our own part in reducing the effects. Industry is necessary today, but it needs to be slowly converted over to clean and safe industry. I hope the people overall will make the right choices, but the year 2110 will definitely be somewhere between 100% totally screwed and a 100% utopia. I'm guessing it will be close to somewhere around...25 or 50% totally screwed, though. And that is not good.