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* A CO2 level of 7kppm is not compatible with human flourishing. * Consensus is that the elevated CO2 levels of the Ordovician-Silurian and Jurassic-Cretaceous

by burke 9y ago

* A CO2 level of 7kppm is not compatible with human flourishing. * Consensus is that the elevated CO2 levels of the Ordovician-Silurian and Jurassic-Cretaceous periods came on over tens or hundreds of thousands of years, not mere tens or hundreds. This gave life a chance to adapt. * Previous mass extinctions have been caused by things like complete ocean ecosystem collapse and massive asteroid impacts. Despite the fact that most of our current loss of biodiversity is mostly related to our homogenization of our surroundings, and not primarily climate change, it is certainly noteworthy and a little horrifying that it's reached a scale that comparison is meaningful. People talking about worrying about the Earth are just using synechdoche to refer to humanity as we know it. I wish everyone would quit painting a strawman over this. The Earth will obviously be fine; I don't think any reasonable person will argue this point. Humanity's future is somewhat less clear.

Turing_Machine 9y ago
"A CO2 level of 7kppm is not compatible with human flourishing." Yes, that's higher than we would like. It's also 17 times higher than the level the original article is freaking out about. "Consensus is that the elevated CO2 levels of the Ordovician-Silurian and Jurassic-Cretaceous periods came on over tens or hundreds of thousands of years," Link to this "consensus"? Thanks. "it is certainly noteworthy and a little horrifying that it's reached a scale that comparison is meaningful." Anything can be "compared". Did you look at the chart in the Wikipedia article? The current extinction rate isn't even a blip. "The Earth will obviously be fine; I don't think any reasonable person will argue this point." Really? So I've just been imagining all the people who are worried about turning the Earth into Venus? I mean, I agree that these people are unreasonable, but there certainly are a lot of them.

by burke 9y ago

Turing_Machine 9y ago

"A CO2 level of 7kppm is not compatible with human flourishing." Yes, that's higher than we would like. It's also 17 times higher than the level the original article is freaking out about. "Consensus is that the elevated CO2 levels of the Ordovician-Silurian and Jurassic-Cretaceous periods came on over tens or hundreds of thousands of years," Link to this "consensus"? Thanks. "it is certainly noteworthy and a little horrifying that it's reached a scale that comparison is meaningful." Anything can be "compared". Did you look at the chart in the Wikipedia article? The current extinction rate isn't even a blip. "The Earth will obviously be fine; I don't think any reasonable person will argue this point." Really? So I've just been imagining all the people who are worried about turning the Earth into Venus? I mean, I agree that these people are unreasonable, but there certainly are a lot of them.