Date: 2024-06-30 Page is: DBtxt003.php L0300-Climate-historic-timeline
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CLIMATE CHANGE
GRAPHIC - KEY CLIMATE FACTS Scientists know a lot about what has happened in the past. They know how the system works, and that change is happening. Exactly how climate will change and how fast is not precise! |
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1. TIMELINE: THE LAST 600 YEARS
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The climate system trends towards an equilibrium where everything that makes up the system is in balance. This equilibrium constantly changes, but very very slowly for most of history.
The factors that move the equilibrium have been very constant for millions of years, but in the last few hundred years the role of people built systems designed to make people have a better quality of life have changed very rapidly and the climate equilibrium is being affected. Nobody knows what a new climate equilibrium will look like, but it is likely that it will result in global temperatures much higher than anything ever experienced in the earth's geological history, and may even result in the end of biological life as we know it. The graphic below shows how change has happened over more than 20,000 years! |
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2. TIMELINE: THE LAST 22,000 YEARS
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The climate trends during the last 100 years are 'off the chart'!
What this means may be difficult to predict with precision, but it is very clear that a massive change is in process. Worse, it is likely that mankind will not survive if the present trends are allowed to continue. This may sound 'alarmist', but the facts as I understand them speak for themselves. The idea that 'ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise' may be a good tag line for a radio show, but it is foolhardy to have this attitude in the face of an immense body of scientific information. | ||