Rise in global temperatures

While Earth was created about 4.5 billion years ago, science has reported five mass extinctions during the past 50 million years. These were caused by nonhuman events. The first four extinctions occurred because of major geologic changes (expansive glacial periods, intense volcanic eruptions, global warming, etc.) and the fifth was due to a cosmic attack on Earth (huge asteroid impact).

Scientists believe we are in the sixth extinction, which has been most recently influenced by the increasing rise in global temperatures. This can be traced back most recently to our industrial era beginning in the late 19th century with the rise in temperatures due to coal, oil and gas being used as energy producers.

Now countries around the world greatly depend on these fossil fuels. We need to push climate change deniers off our path to survival and elect a U.S. president who demands the reduction of fossil fuels and strongly supports their replacement with alternative energy sources such as wind generators and solar panels.

While climate has shaped “modern” humans over the past 200,000 years, and more specifically during the past 6,000 years when civilizations started existing, now we, more than ever, need to shape climate if we want to survive extinction perhaps as early as the end of this century.

“Though it is a possible future, it’s not a preordained future,” Mann writes.

Thank you, Michael Mann, for a research-based and realistic perspective about our fragile climate moment. Now let’s use the truth and become active and make our contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions!