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Life isn't exactly neutral to the environment. CO2 levels were down to 260 ppm in the the last 5,000-7,000 years. 20,000-25,000 years ago CO2 levels were down
by Aerroon 3y ago
Life isn't exactly neutral to the environment. CO2 levels were down to 260 ppm in the the last 5,000-7,000 years.
20,000-25,000 years ago CO2 levels were down to 180-190 ppm.
If CO2 levels had dropped to 150 ppm it would've been a catastrophe. Most plants need at least 150 ppm CO2 concentration for photosynthesis. Life could've just wiped out most of life by accident relatively recently.
The chance of that happening now is impossible because of us, but it goes to show that life is not as in balance with the world as we like to think.
- kaba0 3y agoSure, and a “bit” back the first photosynthesis producing oxygen wiped out almost everything on the land, as O2 is just such a reactive gas. As I wrote, life is not an intelligent design, it has no way of knowing better and thinking of the future: that leftover banana will rot as fast as it can and afterwords leave everything dead in its wake. It just so happened that some form of equilibrium is always met and that Earth has many kind of buffers to change. But it can’t outcompete us in burning coal, we are the new microorganism that almost killed everything by inventing photosynthesis.