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-Short Attention Span Theater-
Global warming taking earth back to dinosaur era
2006-09-08
Alright. That does it. I'm leaving.
Global warming over the coming century could mean a return of temperatures last seen in the age of the dinosaur and lead to the extinction of up to half of all species, a scientist said on Thursday. Not only will carbon dioxide levels be at the highest levels for 24 million years, but global average temperatures will be higher than for up to 10 million years, said Chris Thomas of the University of York.
Ummm... I don't think he's thinking of dinosaurs. 24 million or so years ago was the heyday of the monkeys, when the earth was warmer (yes) and the livin' was easy. Rather than working, we'll be able to sit around in the moist warmth — that arctic ice cap's gotta go someplace — scratching and eating bananas and copulating in the warm winter sun.
Between 10 and 99 percent of species will be faced with atmospheric conditions that last existed before they evolved, and as a result from 10-50 percent of them could disappear. "We may very well already be on the breaking edge of a wave of mass extinctions," Thomas told the annual meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.
Or we could be on a breaking wave of evolution, where existing species occupy new ecological niches, taking advantage of temperatures that are less severe than those of the present. No more mukluks in Skagway. No more winter colds. Too bad about the skiing industry, though.
Yummy New Jersey oranges ...
Scientists predict average global temperatures will rise by between two and six degrees centigrade by 2100, mainly as a result of the heat-trapping carbon dioxide being pumped into the air from burning fossil fuels for transport and power.
If it's warmer, then it'd stand to reason that there'd be less of a demand for burning fossil fuels, which'd to cause the temperature to stabilize, wouldn't it?
"If the most extreme warming predicted takes place we will be going back to global temperatures not seen since the age of the dinosaur," Thomas said. "We are starting to put these things into a historical perspective. These are conditions not seen for millions of years, so none of the species will have been subjected to them before," he added.
The figure given was 24 million years, which would be the early Miocene or late Oligocene, about 40 million years past the last of the dinosaurs. The Miocene was an age of greater species diversity than our age.
Posted by:Fred

#31  I think that no nukes would be used for surface targets, only for deep installations, so not much dust thrown into air.

Thus, no nukular winter and I for one welcome our new reptile overlords!
Posted by: twobyfour   2006-09-08 16:43  

#30  No worries folks. The nuclear winter we are going to have after bombing the f*ck out of Iran in the next couple years should off set it.
Posted by: Broadhead6   2006-09-08 16:16  

#29  AP, Where a mastedon has not walked by in 10,000 years.

Not that far back, ~3,500 years ago. There has been a dig in Yukon a few years back, and there was a mastodon bone with cutmarks that had to be done into a fresh bone--it is a quite distinct way the bone is striated. The stratification has been the same as the settlement and based on organic material left there, the settlement has been dated to ~1,600 BCE. I've got the info from someone who worked there. Sorry, sworn to not reveal any names.

The scientists were puzzled. The matter was resolved but introducing and introduction from an earlier strata. The bone, looking quite fresh and without any apparent mineralization, has not been carbon dated, based on theoretical considerations--it would mean too many books to rewrite.
Posted by: twobyfour   2006-09-08 16:07  

#28  Brontosaurus: the other white meat
Posted by: Fred   2006-09-08 14:12  

#27  It ain't the heat, it's the humidity...
Posted by: tu3031   2006-09-08 12:37  

#26  You can have it. They're stringy and the meat is gamy.

The Brontos, otoh, are nice and moist.
Posted by: lotp   2006-09-08 12:27  

#25  Dibs on the T-Rex!
Posted by: DarthVader   2006-09-08 12:24  

#24  Actually, they'll have been eaten by the brontosaurii instead.
Posted by: Abdominal Snowman   2006-09-08 12:18  

#23  Of course they won't be around. They'll have long since burnt up. Or been stomped by brontosaurs.
Posted by: Fred   2006-09-08 12:06  

#22  Some wise soul needs to compile all the BS that's beeen spewed about 'global warming' into one single reference, and store it in a safe place. Then when none of it has happened, in 100 years or so, their successors can retrieve it and rub it in the experts faces. Oh, wait....the 'experts' won't be around to humiliate......nevermind.
Posted by: mcsegeek1   2006-09-08 11:42  

#21  How in the hell does he think the Indians got to America?

Spring from Zeus' head like Athena? (It was Athena/Diana, wasn't it?)
Posted by: anonymous2u   2006-09-08 10:32  

#20  Then you haven't been reading much Reuters lately.
Posted by: Darrell   2006-09-08 10:32  

#19  ---- 80 percent of species had already begun moving their traditional territorial ranges in response to the changing climatic conditions. --

Like humans did during the Depression? They responded to changing climatic conditions by moving out of said drought area?

UUUUHHHHH - didn't the Indians and most who came before us did?

That is 1 of the most stupidest statements I have ever read.
Posted by: anonymous2u   2006-09-08 10:31  

#18  "Scientists predict average global temperatures will rise by between two and six degrees centigrade by 2100"
Actually, it's Celsius not centigrade, and they downgraded from three degrees to two degrees a couple of days ago. And it's still bullcrap -- they can't reliably tell us the weather three days from now.
Posted by: Darrell   2006-09-08 10:19  

#17  Gee, will the dinosaurs be coming back too?
Posted by: mojo   2006-09-08 10:10  

#16  Well, this is good news now that Florida is full. I guess we'll soon be talking about "Sunbirds" who summer in Nova Scotia, instead of "Snowbirds" who winter in Florida.

And, E. Fudd hits that nail on the head...that's an AWFULLY big range even for gaia-worshipping "scientists." Scott R's comment is also spot-on....they can't predict the temp/rain events for 2 days from now...how do they expect us to believe them prediciting something unpredictable in 100 years?
Posted by: BA   2006-09-08 09:59  

#15  Amazing that the fossil fuels are found 5 miles down in the Gulf Of Mexico...must have been a desert way back when...or was that the oily dino the swimmer era?

The problem is that the whole concept of the source of oil is based upon theory. Someone came up with the idea and now everyone a) just repeats it or does some reverse explanation were as the end result concept is justified by selected data. Just think that the theory of the earth as the center of the universe worked well for so long, that even centuries after Copernicus and Galileo, we still use the terms ’sunrise’ and ’sunset’ even though we understand it is us who are moving relative to the sun. And really, did the peasants have a need for the ‘facts’ when their betters were running everything. Why mess it up with details.
Posted by: Sleresh Jeck3466   2006-09-08 09:44  

#14  I agree with Mike. Having dinosaurs back would kick ass.

Global Warning: Putting the mental in environMENTALism since 1990.
Posted by: badanov   2006-09-08 09:28  

#13  Dinosaurs, eh? Kewel!
Posted by: Mike   2006-09-08 08:57  

#12  Last summer my six year old daughter told me that she had a photo of a dinosaur on her sleeping bag. Global warming.
Posted by: JFM   2006-09-08 06:25  

#11  LOL. Wahtever will happen to our digital watches and the litttle bits of green paper, I wonder...

I have a theory that the smokers will survive - while the "healthy" little pricks who wag their fingers die off - cuz they're accustomed to higher CO and CO2 levels...
Posted by: flyover   2006-09-08 05:05  

#10  Yeppo, AP. The Cremation of Sam McGee could have been avoided if only they had waited a few years.
Posted by: Phineter Thraviger1073   2006-09-08 03:06  

#9  Well, hells bells, sounds good to me. I never want to go back to those good olde winters in Interior Alaska, where we had low temps of -65 to -70F. Where the ice fog got so thick that we cut it with crosscut log saws and stacked it out of the way so we could see. When you had to steam trace the steam lines. Where a mastedon has not walked by in 10,000 years. Yep, Ima ready for tropical fish swimming the Yukon River. Bring it on. BTW, great graphic! LOL!
Posted by: Alaska Paul at Homer, Alaska   2006-09-08 02:45  

#8  scratching and eating bananas and copulating in the warm winter sun.

Works for me!
Posted by: anonymous5089   2006-09-08 01:56  

#7  I for one welcome our new reptile overlords!
Posted by: PBMcL   2006-09-08 01:49  

#6  "Up from the depths, 30 stories high, breathing fire, his head in the sky - Godzilla, Godzilla."
Some Galactic Velociraptors = the Devil = Nostradamus' "hideous beast" are just so silly.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2006-09-08 01:29  

#5  So they can predict climate conditions a hundred years from now, but they can't be sure if it's going to rain next Tuesday?
Posted by: Scott R   2006-09-08 01:19  

#4  Between 10 and 99 percent of species...

That's a rather wide range.
Posted by: E. Fudd   2006-09-08 01:14  

#3  Amazing that the fossil fuels are found 5 miles down in the Gulf Of Mexico...must have been a desert way back when...or was that the oily dino the swimmer era?
Posted by: Phineter Thraviger1073   2006-09-08 01:06  

#2  So that's what's taking us back 65 million years.
I thought it was the Islamofascists.
Posted by: GK   2006-09-08 00:48  

#1  moving is a good time to clean house!
Posted by: 3dc   2006-09-08 00:37  

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