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It was the rise of phytoplankton that created the atmosphere necessary for human life. It will be the collapse of the phytoplankton that will eliminate the the

It was the rise of phytoplankton that created the atmosphere necessary for human life. It will be the collapse of the phytoplankton that will eliminate the the atmosphere necessary for human life. Humans won’t be around to see the planet warm.

ahevia 5y ago
This is unnecessary doomerism. Yes our situation is not exactly the brightest but is doomposting on HN really the best action you can take? Humans will still be around to see the planet warm. The question is will individuals & society band together to limit that warming & adapt?
- rc_mob 5y ago
  First step to solving a problem is acknowledging that the problem exists. It feels like you have yet to take that first step.
  - TeMPOraL 5y ago
    No, they did take that step. But the very next step is correctly scoping the problem. It's the one at which so many people fail.
- wsjtho55 5y ago
  Is trying to “correct” doomposting on HN with poetic trifles the best action you can take? Useless rhetoric online sure requires a lot of computers. Band with society to use them less disposably.
- adflux 5y ago
  The main problem with doomtalk is the defeatist attitude that usually accompanies it. Utterly useless way of thinking
twofornone 5y ago
When we discover novel failure points in the complex, chaotic global climate system about once a year, why are you so sure that there aren't undiscovered biologic or geologic climate regulating mechanisms that will buffer the geologically recent greenhouse spike and maintain a livable temperature range? That's the danger of a rigid, politically enforced orthodoxy. Your research becomes extremely one sided. And in a non-empirical field your speculation can go pretty far off into the deep end before you're proven wrong; especially when all of your predictions require hundreds of years to measure with any certainty. Life has persisted through dozens (if not hundreds) of climate disturbances, and even though temperature swings look like blips when plotted, they most likely occur over hundreds-thousands of years. There are proposed mechanisms by which a sudden global temperature increase may in fact trigger an ice age through various geologic or globally biologic phenomena. You wont see much published on that side of the climate conjecture, but a lack of literature in the modern research climate does not imply invalidity.
ripper1138 5y ago
Ridiculous. Humans burning fossil fuel for 200 years is nothing compared to the mass extinctions that have occurred in the past, and yet the atmosphere is still here.
gattilorenz 5y ago
The paper claims the opposite, instead of a collapse of phytoplakton there will (likely) be an increase: > Our study indicates that positive summer temperatures and a sufficient nutrient supply are key factors determining the present-day distribution of green snow algae on the Antarctic Peninsula. With the IPCC’s projected 1.5 °C global temperature increase, it is predicted that the 0 °C isotherm will increase in elevation and that positive degree days will become more commonplace and occur further to the south. This will likely open up new snow for colonisation by green snow algae, should an appropriate dispersal mechanism allow transfer to new areas. [...] > A warming Peninsula, therefore, may see a shift towards fewer, larger snow algae blooms, resulting in a significant increase in biomass on larger outlying islands and the mainland. The coupled loss of blooms from smaller islands would be insignificant with respect to biomass and may be mitigated by southward range expansion or an earlier growth season. However, with multiple and often unknown species recorded within patches of green snow algae, and little known about the dispersal mechanisms, life cycles and plasticity of snow algal species, losses from these islands could represent a reduction of terrestrial diversity for the Antarctic Peninsula.

ahevia 5y ago

This is unnecessary doomerism. Yes our situation is not exactly the brightest but is doomposting on HN really the best action you can take? Humans will still be around to see the planet warm. The question is will individuals & society band together to limit that warming & adapt?

rc_mob 5y ago
First step to solving a problem is acknowledging that the problem exists. It feels like you have yet to take that first step.
- TeMPOraL 5y ago
  No, they did take that step. But the very next step is correctly scoping the problem. It's the one at which so many people fail.
wsjtho55 5y ago
Is trying to “correct” doomposting on HN with poetic trifles the best action you can take? Useless rhetoric online sure requires a lot of computers. Band with society to use them less disposably.
adflux 5y ago
The main problem with doomtalk is the defeatist attitude that usually accompanies it. Utterly useless way of thinking

twofornone 5y ago

When we discover novel failure points in the complex, chaotic global climate system about once a year, why are you so sure that there aren't undiscovered biologic or geologic climate regulating mechanisms that will buffer the geologically recent greenhouse spike and maintain a livable temperature range? That's the danger of a rigid, politically enforced orthodoxy. Your research becomes extremely one sided. And in a non-empirical field your speculation can go pretty far off into the deep end before you're proven wrong; especially when all of your predictions require hundreds of years to measure with any certainty. Life has persisted through dozens (if not hundreds) of climate disturbances, and even though temperature swings look like blips when plotted, they most likely occur over hundreds-thousands of years. There are proposed mechanisms by which a sudden global temperature increase may in fact trigger an ice age through various geologic or globally biologic phenomena. You wont see much published on that side of the climate conjecture, but a lack of literature in the modern research climate does not imply invalidity.

ripper1138 5y ago

Ridiculous. Humans burning fossil fuel for 200 years is nothing compared to the mass extinctions that have occurred in the past, and yet the atmosphere is still here.

gattilorenz 5y ago

The paper claims the opposite, instead of a collapse of phytoplakton there will (likely) be an increase: > Our study indicates that positive summer temperatures and a sufficient nutrient supply are key factors determining the present-day distribution of green snow algae on the Antarctic Peninsula. With the IPCC’s projected 1.5 °C global temperature increase, it is predicted that the 0 °C isotherm will increase in elevation and that positive degree days will become more commonplace and occur further to the south. This will likely open up new snow for colonisation by green snow algae, should an appropriate dispersal mechanism allow transfer to new areas. [...] > A warming Peninsula, therefore, may see a shift towards fewer, larger snow algae blooms, resulting in a significant increase in biomass on larger outlying islands and the mainland. The coupled loss of blooms from smaller islands would be insignificant with respect to biomass and may be mitigated by southward range expansion or an earlier growth season. However, with multiple and often unknown species recorded within patches of green snow algae, and little known about the dispersal mechanisms, life cycles and plasticity of snow algal species, losses from these islands could represent a reduction of terrestrial diversity for the Antarctic Peninsula.