Polar ice sheets melting at record pace
Re: Polar ice sheets melting at record pace
by The Comrade » Tue Dec 04, 2012 8:06 am
in the case of such rapid change they don't adapt. you get what's called an extinction event. it doesn't matter if it has happened before it's not something to be so blasé about
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Re: Polar ice sheets melting at record pace
by WizardfromOz » Tue Dec 04, 2012 8:07 am
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Re: Polar ice sheets melting at record pace
by Boris Johnson » Tue Dec 04, 2012 9:10 am
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Re: Polar ice sheets melting at record pace
by Spider » Tue Dec 04, 2012 9:56 am
Define "blink of an eye".
Major ecological crashes have generally taken millions of years to recover from. We just don't know what will happen on a global scale due to a food chain crash in the ocean, for example. 99.9% of all species that have ever existed are now extinct, so that's not really the issue here....its the amount of time it takes for the system to rebalance, and how many people die as a result. Even with things running as they are...small increases in food prices create a threat of famine all over the developing world. The vast bulk of humanity is totally uninsulated from the effects of an ecological crash.
The problem is underestimating the effect of loss of keystone species on the systems that allow humans to grow food, for example.
Major ecological crashes have generally taken millions of years to recover from. We just don't know what will happen on a global scale due to a food chain crash in the ocean, for example. 99.9% of all species that have ever existed are now extinct, so that's not really the issue here....its the amount of time it takes for the system to rebalance, and how many people die as a result. Even with things running as they are...small increases in food prices create a threat of famine all over the developing world. The vast bulk of humanity is totally uninsulated from the effects of an ecological crash.
The problem is underestimating the effect of loss of keystone species on the systems that allow humans to grow food, for example.
Last edited by Spider on Tue Dec 04, 2012 10:02 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Polar ice sheets melting at record pace
by WizardfromOz » Tue Dec 04, 2012 9:58 am
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