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Half the truth is worse than the whold truth
I'm sure this will meet with skepticism because my assessment of a very popular notion never gets quickly accepted. But hear me out.
I apparently am one of the few who has noticed something odd about the whole (politically motivated, created by a politician) "climate emergency movement". Sorry but that's the first thing that must be brought forth: few if any climatologists actually predict "climate catastrophe." The use greater caution and don't make that declaration, they say basically, "it might happen." And I see ordinary people unaware that they're mistaken to quote the late Carl Sagan when he described the planet Venus as what could happen due to "greenhouse gases." He's not here to ask but I cannot see anyone that honest and intelligent thinking that Earth could literally end up with an 800º F atmosphere. NOT GONNA HAPPEN (anytime before the year 2 billion "AD").
As for "The Uninhabitable Earth" by Mr. Wallace-Wells, that's exactly what the title and text is trying to pull over our adult objective eyes.
As follows: First paragraph points: (1)
Re: author's first paragraph in Chapter One ("Cascades") Ahem, taking the weakest most suspect and most flawed arguments as the whole argument is NOT a credible or proper tactic. Of course we've all heard the statements by both special interests and simply uneducated people seeking to minimize what is happening with Earth's Climate. That's Red flag #1.
Paragraph Two: Wallace-Wells begins by saying the "idea" that asteroids caused all the know extinctions is obviously false or mistaken. The problem is: HE believes that so many people mistakenly believe this, he must speak against it. Well - This has never been true! The discovery of the Chicxulub Crater in the western Gulf of Mexico DID show paleontologists that it was a factor and a major one. But very soon some paleontologist began questioning even that one single cause for the Cretaceous extinction. It COULD NOT have been the single cause without leaving evidence that would have been quite easy to find all around the world. Some of them have said that the continents being connected at the time allowed mass migrations which made spreading disease much easier and there was already climate changes which had already caused declines in several dinosaur species. The asteroids impact was a final blow.
Secondly but important, he says, "...in fact all but the the one that killed the dinosaurs involved climate change..." This isn't even a scientific statement! Because he presents it as such is clearly reason for suspicion. The full story is: climate change took place in that Cretaceous Extinction 66-65 million years ago because several things had combined: first the continents were all bunched together making for a hot dry interior of gigantic size. Second, there was a period of massive volcanic activity which pumped lava over an area of 200,000 sq. miles to a depth of 6600 feet! This was a "super volcano" which would make the Yellowstone look weak because it's atmospheric emissions were several times greater (and much greater than that caused by humans today). And the eruptions lasted tens of thousands of years. Today there is no comparable source which would affect both land and sea life to that degree. It's important to note: our greenhouse gas emissions will drop to near zero in about 150 years when we exhaust the supply of fossil fuels! EVERYONE agrees on this!] Climate change played a role too in that extinction event. So did the over specialization of some dinosaur We are not overspecialized, we're the most widely adapted species on Earth. That's Red Flag #2.
If you want, you can easily check the fact that during the "Period of the Dinosaurs" (Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods combined) the climate was almost entirely even warmer than the "catastrophe level" currently given by our saviors in the Democratic Party (since this is entirely a political party issue). Not only that, CO2 levels (determined by years of geological evidence) was higher than what is predicted to bring catastrophe on all the people on Earth "in the near future." From fully accepted evidence: we also know that the Earth was covered from pole to pole with plant life - until the climate changed TO COLD. No flooding killed any whole species, either. Only because humans have built in low lying areas will people be affected and have to move to more sensible nearby land. DON'T invest in shoreline property! That's not a "catastrophe," it's just smart financial advice. These FACTS have been in high school text books for years. There is no need to go looking for all those sources which either answered limited questions or which Wallace-Wells didn't even ask.
February 2019 · Books · verified purchase