Not to worry. Planet Earth and life itself will survive global warming.

[man4allcats]

Humans might not, though.

"...our current episode of global warming is a relatively minor event. Life will go on. Fast-living organisms with high metabolic demands like, say, humans, might suffer and die from the environmental consequences of a high CO2 atmosphere, but don't worry — the cephalopods will live on. They might even get a happy surge in numbers from the changes."

More here.

[Chulanowa]

1. Just from the quote, I knew it was Pharyngula

I, for one, welcome our new mollusk overlords

[Uncle Joe]

2. Cephalopods rock, carry on!

:yourock:

[redqueen]

12. +1

I <3 cephalopods.

[troubledamerican]

17. Sorry, Cephalopods... Check THIS out. We have plans for you.

http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/08/16/alaskas-lower-slate-lake-to-become-toxic-waste-dump/

[charlie]

19. Sweet Jeebus

Provide an "improved fish habitat"... Well shit, then. Why should Alaska get all of that magical stuff? Let's divvy it up and share with lakes in the lower 48. We'll get fat and happy off the bonanza of healthy fish.

What an asshat. A Democratic asshat.

[stopbush]

3. It's our destiny to go extinct on this planet.

It's happened to 99% of other species. Why should we be any different? All we're doing is hastening our demise. In that, we're unique.

[Auggie]

5. We could be evolution's greatest blunder

[Warren DeMontague]

7. What a goofy statement.

Evolution proceeds on "blunders". That's how it works.

We also might be evolution's most interesting "mistake". We might not only survive global warming, but also develop the ability to protect Earth's biosphere from the sort of regular disasters that killed the dinosaurs, i.e. large asteroid imacts.

Evolution doesn't "think" in terms of "good" and "bad", only survival. Either we'll survive, or we won't.

I happen to think that We Will Survive, but that's just my opinion.

[bertman]

13. What you mean "we", kemo sabe??!!

And who do you mean by "we"?

[Warren DeMontague]

16. I mean we.

We Will Survive.

[Enthusiast]

21. When the blunders turn out to be

adaptive by sheer good fortune.

[tama]

25. No doubt

if asswholes don't manage to wipe out most of the biosphere in nuclear holocaust, humans will keep on living on this planet for quite a while. That is not the question.

Question posed and opened by this imminent collapse is: How? What kinds of seeds of future ways of life are we planting with these lives that we are now living?

[trof]

4. Well that's a relief.

[Fuzz]

6. I find it funny when Republicans use this kind of argument, oh, and they do,

I've heard Rush use it while quoting Michael Crichton, while denying evolution in the next breath.

[stopbush]

8. Global warming is only a disaster when evaluated in human terms.

And as we're the only species capable of evaluating things, we need to take heed for our own survival.

Our planet has been through many extremely hot and cold spells. That's not going to change. If humans aren't here, the planet and the life on it doesn't care what happens. In fact, humans don't always care what happens. A tsunami that kills 250,000 humans is a major disaster. A tsunami that kills no humans but drowns 30-million cockroaches isn't a disaster (at least by most people's standards).

Lost in the RW excuses that seek to fix blame for global warming on non-human influences is the fact that no matter who or what caused it, humans will suffer because of it.

But then, they're idiots.

[Triana]

9. Youbetcha. I just responded to another post about the extinction of another species...

....and we're just gonna keep on until it's us,
too stupid to stop
sawing off the very branch upon which we're perched
no one wants to talk about where we're headed
nobody thinks about planet Earth
we're armed for our own demise
here we go, till we go
ain't nowhwere else for us to go
we're not armed to stay
we're armed to go away . . .

la de da...

© me

[create.peace]

10. "Their brains were small and they died...."

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=19116849

"From the first Earth First! rendezvous performance I ever caught on video, Sid performs one of his most popular songs, Mark Graham's, "Their Brains Were Small and They Died." Dakota Sid was one of the first musicians to devote his career to supporting the spirits of front-line eco-activists with songs specifically written and sung for us."

I love this song, first heard Dana Lyons sing it at an environmental weekend thing in NW WA.

[Xzanther]

11. You don't count on Technology

Technology grows by leaps and bounds everyday.. Our processors get 200% more efficient and powerful every 6 months.. Honestly, I think that is what sets us apart from other species the most, Our ability to construct very very very complicated tools. I see ourselves overcoming this and eventually leaving Earth and finding other habitable planets. If you guys haven't noticed.. The internet is globalizing the World.. People can no longer get away with things they could before the 24 hour media cycle.. We are going to prevail. Think positive and help the cause and we can do it! Also remember... We are ultimately humans.. We don't have to be Earthlings to be humans. Anyways, I know I sound a bit coo coo, but it's just me being optimistic so I don't fall into depression.

[NecklyTyler]

14. It is our technology to mine and burn coal that has gotten us into this mess

I doubt more of the same will get us out.

The solution is to quit pouring pollution into the atmosphere, but that is going to take the population of Earth making some lifestyle changes.

[Xzanther]

18. True.. but it's why we are developing technology from...

viewing the natural world. Earth and even the universe has the best technology of all because there is almost no waste generated from it's processes. If we can mimic mother nature down to the smallest molecules then I tell you sir.. Technology will save us. Oh and what happens when we overpopulate earth? We surely can't fly off this planet by ourselves.. so we will have to use technology to bring us out of all of this. The very essence of Progressive is to progress everything.. not only certain things like how we treat the planet.. but also in exploration. Oh, and I am sorry for my poor grammar.. I'm an example of our poor education system.

[NecklyTyler]

22. I am not going to allow myself to be take in.

I am quite leary of the "Science will save us tomorrow, so let's pollute and live large today" argument.

[greyl]

20. "that is going to take the population of Earth making some lifestyle changes"

Mmm, not really. Just our culture.
There are plenty of human cultures on Earth still living in a way that didn't contribute to this mess.

edit: "plenty" isn't the best way to say it, because their numbers are rapidly dwindling. Call it hundreds of cultures.

[NecklyTyler]

23. The Western Capitalist, corporate economy has us trained to alway want the next new shiny thing

Our basic social fabric is based on constantly obtaining 'new, better, and faster' things. The corporate economy has responded by implementing processes to supply the new things, but in order to survive, it requires an ever increasing demand.

We live in a world gripped in a positive feed back loop of demand generating more production which generates more demand. American culture has at its very core the belief that "I want my kids to have better than I had" and people spare no effort in fulfilling this belief.

Today we are faced with each person in the population of China wanting to own a car (just like the Americans do). The present path is unsustainable. We can either take control of where are going, or just continue as we are and lose control when the system collapses

[tama]

27. Yup

hundreds of cultures. Thousands and thousands wiped out by "our culture"... or in my case, your culture, cause I belong more to the wiped out & forcefully homogeniced lot.

[tama]

29. What makes you think

that an Earthling species that has fouled up it's own planet of birth a) should b) would be allowed to conquer and foul up the rest of the universe?

If we want to reach out to other worlds, we need first to clean out the mess we've caused here. And rather than by rocket science, we can find these other worlds deep down in our deepest selves.

In the end, it's a holistic universe where wholes and parts reflect each other and when we look through the lense of telescope at our galaxy, what we see is a reflection of our own minds.

[populistdriven]

15. the only way to permanently kill a lake is to fill it in and pave it over

life always finds a way

[Cetacea]

24. I see dead people.

[tama]

26. Interesting

Do you talk with them and what do the spirits of ancestors tell you?

[Humbertink]

28. Not just global warming!

We, the russians, chinese, etc. could launch all of our nukes and some life would still survive!

[Canuckistanian]

30. Cartoon on the subject from the 19th Century

"You will at once perceive," continued Professor Ichthyosaurus, "that the skull before us belonged to some of the lower order of animals, the teeth are very insignificant the power of the jaws trifling, and altogether it seems wonderful how the creature could have procured food."