It's the Pace that's Killing Us

While the planet has warmed in the past, it has never warmed this fast.  It's the pace that's killing us.  

Recent research suggest the last time it was this warm was 4,000 years ago.  The lead up to that record high temperature 4,000 years ago is what's important.  The lead up back then was thousands of years.   The pace was very slow.

The current lead-up is happening over 100 years -- we're in it now.  That's a hundred years versus over a  thousand; a sprint compared to a marathon.

This pace indicates that the current warming is not natural but man-made.  By pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere through burning fossil fuels on a large scale, which we didn't start doing until about 100 years ago, we created a warming trend on steroids.

"The main culprit is carbon dioxide, and its levels have jumped in the last 100 years. In the 11,000 years prior, it only changed 'very slowly,'" said climatologist Shaun Marcott in CNN.

So the current warming is happening much faster, what's the big deal?  Isn't faster better?

No, speed kills, in this case.  One thing for sure about adaption, it takes time.  100 years is not enough time for humans or millions of other species to adapt, and thus survive.  That's why global warming  is a huge, crazy scary problem.

“We and other living things can adapt to slower changes. It’s the unprecedented speed with which we’re changing the climate that is so worrisome,” said Dr. Michael Mann in the New York Times.

Fight climate change, support clean energy. 

image: angryrunner.com