Earth has suffered irreversible damage

[foxytina_69]

http://sympaticomsn.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1112197299985_10?hub=TopStories

[eve]

Thank you for the link foxytina.

[tails4wagging]

Scary!!!!.

But I think the Earth is stronger than we think, we humans are just another species in the earths life and the earth is capable of detroying us before we could destroy the earth!!

[1vegan]

I'm afraid most people won't see it till it hits them in the face though :(

[Seaside]

Though I don't use it at this time, I have a BA in geology. The geologic time scale is divided into many segments, and the one of the criteria used for defining each segment is the number of species which goes extinct at a certain time, leaving room for new species to develop. The original extinction event occured many hundreds of million years ago when all that existed were anaerobic forms of life which thrived on the methane and ammonia gas atmosphere. There was a mutation, and green algae types of organisms started producing oxygen as a poisonous waste gas, polluting the original atmosphere, destroying 99% of the life forms then existing, and making room for new organisms which became dependant upon oxygen for their life processes.

This has happened many times, not just to the dinosaurs. I sometimes think that mother nature has designed us to be the catalysts for the next extinction event. There are forms of life in existence right now that will thrive on the carbon dioxide and methane atmosphere we seem intent on creating, and someday, millions of years from now, some intelligent creatures whose forms we cannot imagine will look at the fossil record and say "If it wasn't for these hominids filling our atmosphere with the carbon dioxide and methane we must have to live, and wiping out 99% of the known species at the time, we would not exist today!" :rolleyes:

[Cal]

someday, millions of years from now, some intelligent creatures whose forms we cannot imagine will look at the fossil record and say "If it wasn't for these hominids filling our atmosphere with the carbon dioxide and methane we must have to live, and wiping out 99% of the known species at the time, we would not exist today!" :rolleyes:
I really like that idea! :)

[Seaside]

I really like that idea!

Thanks Cal!

[kokopelli]

Though I don't use it at this time, I have a BA in geology. The geologic time scale is divided into many segments, and the one of the criteria used for defining each segment is the number of species which goes extinct at a certain time, leaving room for new species to develop. The original extinction event occured many hundreds of million years ago when all that existed were anaerobic forms of life which thrived on the methane and ammonia gas atmosphere. There was a mutation, and green algae types of organisms started producing oxygen as a poisonous waste gas, polluting the original atmosphere, destroying 99% of the life forms then existing, and making room for new organisms which became dependant upon oxygen for their life processes.

This has happened many times, not just to the dinosaurs. I sometimes think that mother nature has designed us to be the catalysts for the next extinction event. There are forms of life in existence right now that will thrive on the carbon dioxide and methane atmosphere we seem intent on creating, and someday, millions of years from now, some intelligent creatures whose forms we cannot imagine will look at the fossil record and say "If it wasn't for these hominids filling our atmosphere with the carbon dioxide and methane we must have to live, and wiping out 99% of the known species at the time, we would not exist today!" :rolleyes:

That's an intriguing idea!

But I've read that aerobic organisms can actually gain more energy from their inputs than anaerobic ones (ie using oxygen allows for more efficient energy transformation)...so anaerobic life forms would be very different, I suppose, and possibly not capable of developing the same degree of complexity as their aerobic counterparts. But who knows?

It reminds me of all the discussion recently over whether water is necessary for life to exist on other planets, or whether life forms could evolve based on an alternative compound.

I agree with you and tails4wagging, we may destroy ourselves, but the earth will recuperate and life will go on evolving....until the sun dies!!!!

[Seaside]

That's an intriguing idea!

Thanks kokopelli! It's just a little science fiction fantasy I like to think about when I start to despair of the global situation.