Alternative Theories for Global Warming - Snowball Earth?
Global warming is a threat?
OK, I will admit that greenhouse gasses are a threat to our species. But why must we limit our thinking to such a short term threat?
Scientists seem to generally accept that our planet more often then not experiences ice ages then it deals with warm global temperatures.
While in the short term, global warming is going to cause discomfort to mankind, the real long term threat facing our species are the ice ages.
Science Daily reports on research into how changes in our planet's axis and orbit effect climate. The piece reports that major climate shifts are:
There are many other theories out there about how relatively recent abrupt changes in environment might have been caused by cataclysmic game changers like comet or meteor collisions with our planet as well as massive volcanic eruptions caused by tectonic plate movements. However one thing is generally agreed upon by almost every researcher. Planet Earth spends more time in ice ages then it does in temperate or even warm climates.
Perhaps our species will be intelligent enough to avoid otherwise possible extinction through our better now understood knowledge of how we can affect our planet's climate. Perhaps with our understanding of greenhouse gasses we can mitigate the effects of global cooling. Quoting the Science Daily piece:
OK, I will admit that greenhouse gasses are a threat to our species. But why must we limit our thinking to such a short term threat?
Scientists seem to generally accept that our planet more often then not experiences ice ages then it deals with warm global temperatures.
While in the short term, global warming is going to cause discomfort to mankind, the real long term threat facing our species are the ice ages.
Science Daily reports on research into how changes in our planet's axis and orbit effect climate. The piece reports that major climate shifts are:
...ultimately linked to slight shifts in solar radiation caused by predictable changes in Earth's rotation and axis.I have even heard that some researchers think that at one point our entire planet was completely covered with ice. Such an event was caused by the tectonic drift which caused our continents to group together disrupting oceanic currents along with the axis wobble and changes in our planets orbit coming together to cause what they call Snowball Earth.
There are many other theories out there about how relatively recent abrupt changes in environment might have been caused by cataclysmic game changers like comet or meteor collisions with our planet as well as massive volcanic eruptions caused by tectonic plate movements. However one thing is generally agreed upon by almost every researcher. Planet Earth spends more time in ice ages then it does in temperate or even warm climates.
Perhaps our species will be intelligent enough to avoid otherwise possible extinction through our better now understood knowledge of how we can affect our planet's climate. Perhaps with our understanding of greenhouse gasses we can mitigate the effects of global cooling. Quoting the Science Daily piece:
Sometime around now, scientists say, the Earth should be changing from a long interglacial period that has lasted the past 10,000 years and shifting back towards conditions that will ultimately lead to another ice age...What is the bigger threat to our species? Global warming or global cooling? I guess it depends on whether you want to think short term or long.
posted by Little David at 8/09/2009 08:55:00 AM
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