2 ms·
Also critical, which you failed to notice, is the fact that this anthropogenic-forced climate change is happening 10,000+ times faster than prior unforced clima
by toss1 2y ago
Also critical, which you failed to notice, is the fact that this anthropogenic-forced climate change is happening 10,000+ times faster than prior unforced climate changes. Changes that took a million years now happen in a mere century.
Systems require time to adapt and this is essentially demanding ecosystems adapt to an explosive shock wave.
When speed increases by orders of magnitude, the phenomena become not only quantitatively different, they are fundamentally different. For example, consider sipping your coffee only 1000x as fast as normal; instead of ~one seconds from table to lip, it's a millisecond. You'll need to accelerate your cup to 2000 fps, almost Mach3, then decelerate it. In is not even close to the same sort of event, considering the required explosive-level forces involved.
Some ecosystems, such as certain bird nesting patterns can move that fast. But others, such as trees with a reproduction cycle of centuries — and the habitats dependent upon them, may be wiped out before their younger generation can establish itself closer to the poles...
With climate change, it really is true that speed kills.