In the usual course of events, Earth’s climate fluctuates naturally. Driven by subtle shifts in solar energy and the slightly wobbling tilt of our planet in space, Earth will experience periodic ice ages followed by interglacials (warmer times when the ice retreats). These changes normally operate over thousands of years.
But now something else has happened. Something new.
In an insanely dangerous gambit, capitalist industrialists decided to extract and burn hundreds of billions of tons of coal, oil, and gas. They counted on this to make them rich and powerful, which it did. What they didn’t count on — or didn’t care about — was the destructive impact it would have on Earth’s climate and environment.
The last time the average global temperature changed dramatically, when it heated up overall by about 3° Celsius, was at the end of the most recent ice age. This was a big shift and had a huge effect on the biosphere, driving many plant and animal species to extinction while allowing others to thrive. But that’s just how it goes. That’s what happens naturally.
The difference between then and now is that the previous 3°C temperature rise took place over a span of about 10,000 years. In geological terms, that’s considered fast.
Today, however, thanks to greedy murdering capitalist bastards, we are in the midst of a rapid heating event unlike anything ever seen in the whole history of Earth. The planet is heating so fast that species have no chance to respond or adjust. It’s so fast that scientists have no way of knowing how soon it will end or what all the consequences could be.
@breadandcircuses is doing us a great favour by exposing the causal connection of capitalist avarice to the tragic, unchecked global climate crisis that we’re facing. I strongly urge you to subscribe to his feed and, in fact, to go to his profile and read as many of his postings as you can.
@breadandcircuses This is misleading, because it uses antarctic ice data. Greenland ice data shows the younger dryas event, and it did change temperature much faster than you'd expect from antarctic probes.
It was naturally, but it was fast and a disaster. If it happened slower, it would have been less of a disaster.