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In reply to the discussion: Global Warming: Why do people believe that humans will go EXTINCT? (Seriously) [View all]muriel_volestrangler
(101,295 posts)113. I must admit I'd forgotten the idea of a global fire storm
but I was under the impression that people were turning away from the idea that it had been lethal the world over - eg
In 2003 Claire Belcher, Margaret Collinson and Andrew Scott were searching the world for specimens of charcoal at the K/T boundary that could signify a global firestorm, possibly triggered by an asteroid strike. In the 2004 Geology Graduates Newsletter, Claire wrote about her fieldwork in North America with Margaret. They published a paper in Geology (2003, v.31, p.10611064), entitled "Fireball passes and nothing burns" the role of thermal radiation in the K/T event: evidence from the charcoal record of North America", which received a lot of attention in the press at the time with headline comments such as "a lack of roast dinosaur on the menu at the K/T Boundary no fiery extinction for dinosaurs". But by no means was everyone convinced. Claire and others at RHUL in Earth Sciences and Biological Sciences set about analysing the "soot" at the K/T boundary and have found that it has a distinctive signature comparable with that produced by the combustion of hydrocarbons and not plant material. It is not due to combustion of living biomass from global wildfire but is instead related to the combustion of hydrocarbons. So the dinosaurs were not roasted to death but their demise was due to other factors, possibly dust and soot in the atmosphere from the Chicxulub impact that could have blocked out sunlight, causing temperatures to drop and food sources to become scarcer. Claire suggests that the dinosaurs could have ended up suffering from cold, or poisoning by some of the noxious gases.
http://eswww.rhul.ac.uk/gn2009/pages/research/res3.html
http://eswww.rhul.ac.uk/gn2009/pages/research/res3.html
I'd also point out that the distribution of humans in modern society would help some survive even a firestorm - eg those at sea, deep within non-flammable buildings, those in areas without large amounts of combustible plant material (the idea of the firestorm seeming to be that the ejecta from the initial impact goes back up to the edge of space, and spreads thousands of miles horizontally, and spreads the energy enough around the world to start fires), or even those who found a cave.
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Global Warming: Why do people believe that humans will go EXTINCT? (Seriously) [View all]
AverageJoe90
Aug 2012
OP
Sorry, I've never been a good speechwriter....half-decent, maybe...........=(
AverageJoe90
Aug 2012
#2
I never said I believed in the Gaia hypothesis. The planet exists-it has nothing to do with us.
hobbit709
Aug 2012
#19
Humans have far more sophisticated language, and planning abilities
muriel_volestrangler
Aug 2012
#41
I think you're claiming things about the K/T extinction that are not known
muriel_volestrangler
Aug 2012
#86
Global warming won't kill humanity, just our civilization. We will end up "Fallout"-style.
DetlefK
Aug 2012
#23
Because we care more for $$ and killing each other than improving our plight and future options?
hlthe2b
Aug 2012
#27
There's a group of weirdos on DU who claim we must emigrate to space, "to survive as a species".
Romulox
Aug 2012
#32
No, but *reality* does. It's as silly as anything labeled "woo" on these boards. nt
Romulox
Aug 2012
#37
It's so far beyond the present capabilities of humanity so as to be science-fantasy. That's what.
Romulox
Aug 2012
#99
Going to the moon was so far beyond the present capabilities of humanity
4th law of robotics
Aug 2012
#115
And yet we don't live on the moon, some 50 years later. Just wishing for it isn't enough. nt
Romulox
Aug 2012
#116
The technology required doesn't exist. You frame as if it does, and we've decided not to use it. nt
Romulox
Aug 2012
#128
"the governments of the world are going to have to get off their fat lazy asses"
Speck Tater
Aug 2012
#107
It's also a dubious goal. Most of humanity might prefer to preserve our actual, viable home. nt
Romulox
Aug 2012
#117
The fantasy of living in space is not equivalent to the Civil Rights movement. My god. nt
Romulox
Aug 2012
#132
There was a group of weirdos who claimed you could sail west from Europe...
Comrade Grumpy
Aug 2012
#59
There was also a group that claimed you could make gold from lead. Some people are wrong, too. nt
Romulox
Aug 2012
#98
There is no evidence that humanity can find a home in space to escape extinction on earth.
Romulox
Aug 2012
#130
I mean, why don't we just TELEPORT to our "New Eden" in the cosmos. It's *possible*, after all!
Romulox
Aug 2012
#131
Err Dinosaurs species went extinct all the time so number 1 is confusing a species and a clade
Johonny
Aug 2012
#36
Only problem with that is, there's never been a life form such as humanity before.....
AverageJoe90
Aug 2012
#96
And only 50 before the tired Godwin meme gets advertised... well played you too!
LanternWaste
Aug 2012
#77
Can't agree with that first sentence because there's no proof that that's true for ALL of them.
AverageJoe90
Aug 2012
#75
One Reason Some People Believe Global Warming Will Drive Humans to Extinction
On the Road
Aug 2012
#55
That's simple - because most of the species that ever lived have done just that
hatrack
Aug 2012
#56
Worse comes to worse, we pack the kids in the car with a few 12 packs of water and some seeds...
Junkdrawer
Aug 2012
#91