|
The evidence is overwhelming that our planet is
warming. It's also pretty clear that humans are playing a part albeit an
apparently small part.
From what I can gather through various
publications is that the Earth's average temperature has been cycling for
millennia. An interesting article on Wikipedia explains that warming,
cooling, warming, etc., with bouts of dramatic changes, result from many
factors, including us.
The illustration at right is one way to visualize global temperatures.
The average line is a bit of a misnomer since many scientists
feel that Earth spent a long time chilling in a deep freeze where
even equatorial areas would be snow covered.
Human influence won't likely affect the direction of temperature change
but it will influence the rate of change along with its peak.
A large volcanic eruption, for example, can block light and lower the
temperature far more than all human influence to date. Same with a meteor. It depends on a lot of things since some
factors work to cool and others work to warm. We all probably know the
term "Nuclear Winter." It refers to the theory that, in a
cataclysmic nuclear attack, atmospheric dust would drop global
temperatures dramatically.
We should still act responsibly and limit the rate of
change as much as we can but must be realistic about what's
coming, even without human intervention. That's been the way of our planet
for a long, long time. Our limited life spans make it seem cataclysmic,
and indeed it could eventually be, but they'll be more local than global
in scope. Humanity has gotten to the point where it
would probably survive such changes albeit with
great tribulation.
The End
The end is certainly coming, just not from global
warming. Miami will,
for example, eventually become submerged and there's no amount
of emissions reduction that will change it. The ocean level will rise over the
next 100,000 years as it has many times in our past. We may slow down the
process, and we should, but we aren't going to stop it.
Large meteors will hit
the Earth and extinctions are likely as they have been before. But the
greatest certainty is that our sun will exhaust its fuel and, in the
process, engulf Earth in a searing expansion. The remnants of life
will disappear long before the 10,000 degree finale. That's global warming!
We as a species must eventually get along well enough to step off this
solar system lest we become the crispy leftovers in a celestial oven. Don't worry, though, you've got a few billion
years to prepare.
|
 1.
This chart shows global temperature fluctuations over the past millennia.
It's just another way to view the past and impending trends. 2.
Stars
larger than the sun will end like this—in a brilliant supernova
explosion. Our sun's death will start by first growing much larger, frying the earth, then going out with a whimper.
It will begin cooling as a white dwarf star until the end of time. There
won't even be a black hole to intrigue distant observers—it
doesn't have enough mass for that.
 30
Second exposure from Australia of Comet McNaught (c/2006 P1). Inset, added
by FootFlyer, is Photographer Richard Shelton. |
