As a biologist I’m watching the warming of the planet with great concern. I’m seeing the species creep in the UK as various species of insects are appearing further north than before and plants are flowering at different times.
Globally I’m looking at melting glaciers and ice-caps, thawing tundra and bleaching coral.
I’m observing climatic changes as weather patterns display extraordinary changes – droughts, floods, hurricanes, cooling, heating, forest fires and delayed monsoons.
I’ve watched the increasing global warming of the planet and rising sea levels with some dismay.
We have had tropical ages and ice ages in the past. We would not want either if they can be avoided. Both would be a disaster for civilisation as we know it.
It seems strange to me that a supposedly intelligent species should trigger a set of circumstances that would be catastrophic to its own survival. But that’s what we are doing.
Hopefully we won’t trigger a complete runaway greenhouse effect – like has happened on Venus.
Venus‘ atmosphere consists mainly of carbon dioxide, with clouds of sulfuric acid droplets. The thick atmosphere traps the Sun’s heat, resulting in surface temperatures higher than 880 degrees Fahrenheit (470 degrees Celsius).
Venus was probably just like us at one point – a sister waterworld. I wonder what went wrong there? It wasn’t some intelligent life triggering a disaster was it?
