> And it could be again...
It could. On the other hand Earth could become the next Venus, if climate change runs out of control. No?
It could. On the other hand Earth could become the next Venus, if climate change runs out of control. No?
For one, Earth is much further away.
But most importantly, we have no clue if our current carbon levels are any sort of maxima in regards to what the planet can handle. We just have our own little recent industrialized history, and some charts about the past that are, at best, educated guesses.
As George Carlin would say, "The planet will shake us off like a bad cold"
Climate change is more important for our species survival much more so than the planet. The planet will be fine. The planet will recover after we're gone.
Look at how:
- no other earth based space faring civilization has evolved before us.
- other intelligent species do not seem well equipped to do so, as it's hard to evolve tools without hands / prehensile organs (cetaceans), or when your lifespan is short or you're not social (octopuses & squids).
- we used up pretty much all easily accessible fossil fuels for our industrial revolution and they may take hundreds of millions of years to reconstitute, and it's unclear if anyone could evolve an industrial civilization without that kickstart of easy energy.
It's far from certain that if we disappear earth will get another good shot at evolving a space faring civilization before it's too late.
Just because we were the first doesn't mean we'll be the last. A billion years is a very very very long time, and there are multiple billions of years in the Earth's future.
I don't understand what you mean about it having been in full swing for a century before that.
needs citation
The article mentions massive amounts of C02 released 500 million years ago by volcanic activity in the Siberian Traps. The dinosaurs evolved on an Earth with six times the amount of C02 in the atmosphere we have today. So we're nowhere near a maxima. It's just a question of how difficult climate change will be for our civilization and parts of the biosphere we rely on.
Comedians such as Carlin were highly intelligent, part of what made their genius. His jokes are typically funny because they contain much truth that otherwise few others would say.