By: quailei

quailei — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 12:09:24 +0000

The scientists who carried out his study certainly did take account of natural variations in climate. In fact they were trying to find out why things have been happening within a certain time period that never happened just with natural variability and cannot be explained without taking humans’ contribution into account. Scientists are also finding that nature is having problems adapting to the rapid pace of change anthropogenic emissions have been causing.
I can’t go along with your view that”if humans don’t like these swings, it’s our prerogative to change or avert them”. We are conducting a huge experiment with the planet and all the life forms on it. Yes, inded, we are the stewards of earth. To me that means we should be trying to protect it, not running the risk of making it uninhabitable.
Incidentally, the scientist quoted also states that he is not describing a scenario as “good” or “bad”. The study just illustrates the extent to which our human activities have already initiated changes which will continue for thousands of years.

By: JayE

JayE — Mon, 25 Jan 2016 23:21:50 +0000

There is a relatively low scientific content here, and a high bias towards blaming humans for all of the ills of the earth, without reflection on the true nature of climate variability. The statement (or supposition) ice ages have led to advances in human intelligence is largely nonsense. It didn’t make monkeys, gorillas or chimps or dolphins any smarter. Why would it differentially “make” humans smarter? No reason is given, just idle speculation without any real science behind it. Regarding the earth’s climate, the one thing we absolutely do know for a fact is that it has always undergone (and likely will continue to undergo) wide swings in average temperature and variability. The primary reasons vary over time, ranging from variable solar output, orbital variations, volcanic activity, comet strikes and tectonic plate shifts. There is no ‘standard’ or ‘ideal’ climate, and all life adapts to the changes regardless of the reason. If humans don’t like these swings, it’s our prerogative to change or avert them. The more we learn, and the more our technology improves, the better we’ll become at it. Like it or not, we are now the stewards of spaceship earth. Once we get our population numbers under control, we can attempt to hold the earth to any range of variation we desire. There is no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ in this scenario. A measure of wisdom is needed and the willingness to re-calibrate if things go too far for our liking. Which is, let’s face it, more than mother nature ever did for us or any other species.

Comments on: Anthropocene: No ice age – more blizzards?

By: quailei

By: JayE