16,000 B.C.: Maximum extent of Glaciers in the last Ice AgeMankind has been blamed, in the past several decades, for burning excess amounts of fossil fuels and contributing to the global warming problem. This concern has reached a fever pitch in recent years. Man's arrogance and greed are generally considered the root of the problem that will lead to the destruction of life on Earth. I offer an alternate viewpoint: Man's greatest gift to the planet Earth has been the burning of fossil fuels and the release of greenhouse gases.
To reach this conclusion, one has to look far back into the history of life on Earth. During the reign of the dinosaurs, from approximately 65 to 225 million years ago, our planet had a very warm climate and the atmosphere was filled with carbon-based greenhouse gases. Vegetation and life were abundant. Over the course of millions of years this vegetation and other living matter died and gradually became buried underground. Since all life forms are carbon-based, carbon was buried along with them. After many millions of years, this decaying matter turned into carbon-based oil, coal or natural gas, i.e. fossil fuels.
Unfortunately, as all this carbon became buried underground, it also became separated forever from the Earth's atmosphere. As many greenhouse gases are carbon-based (carbon dioxide, methane, etc), the planet slowly began to lose its greenhouse characteristics, and the climate turned cooler. By 65 million years ago, the Earth had cooled significantly, the dinosaurs had disappeared, and warm-blooded mammals began to dominate. The planet became progressively cooler, and ice ages began to manifest themselves with increasing frequency. As recently as 18,000 years ago, the Earth was in the grips of a major Ice Age. The land that is now the city of Boston was buried under a mile of ice at this recent time!
In order for life on Earth to continue, and to avoid having the planet transform itself into an uninhabitable ball of ice, the carbon that had been buried for hundreds of millions of years needed to be released back into the atmosphere, and quickly. All of man's intellectual and cultural achievements pale in comparison to his single most important triumph: man figured out how to release essential carbon back into the atmosphere, thus avoiding an impending frozen and lifeless Earth. Thanks to man's accomplishment, life on Earth will continue; unfortunately, the fate of man himself is not so clear. The new warmer atmosphere may not favor warm-blooded mammals like humans. After achieving our primary function, we will have to await what God has in store for us...
I will leave you with Robert Frost's Fire and Ice:
To reach this conclusion, one has to look far back into the history of life on Earth. During the reign of the dinosaurs, from approximately 65 to 225 million years ago, our planet had a very warm climate and the atmosphere was filled with carbon-based greenhouse gases. Vegetation and life were abundant. Over the course of millions of years this vegetation and other living matter died and gradually became buried underground. Since all life forms are carbon-based, carbon was buried along with them. After many millions of years, this decaying matter turned into carbon-based oil, coal or natural gas, i.e. fossil fuels.
Unfortunately, as all this carbon became buried underground, it also became separated forever from the Earth's atmosphere. As many greenhouse gases are carbon-based (carbon dioxide, methane, etc), the planet slowly began to lose its greenhouse characteristics, and the climate turned cooler. By 65 million years ago, the Earth had cooled significantly, the dinosaurs had disappeared, and warm-blooded mammals began to dominate. The planet became progressively cooler, and ice ages began to manifest themselves with increasing frequency. As recently as 18,000 years ago, the Earth was in the grips of a major Ice Age. The land that is now the city of Boston was buried under a mile of ice at this recent time!
In order for life on Earth to continue, and to avoid having the planet transform itself into an uninhabitable ball of ice, the carbon that had been buried for hundreds of millions of years needed to be released back into the atmosphere, and quickly. All of man's intellectual and cultural achievements pale in comparison to his single most important triumph: man figured out how to release essential carbon back into the atmosphere, thus avoiding an impending frozen and lifeless Earth. Thanks to man's accomplishment, life on Earth will continue; unfortunately, the fate of man himself is not so clear. The new warmer atmosphere may not favor warm-blooded mammals like humans. After achieving our primary function, we will have to await what God has in store for us...
I will leave you with Robert Frost's Fire and Ice:
Some say the world will end in fire;
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those that favor fire.
But if I had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
