Geeze this conclusion seems rather counter intuitive, a much smaller human population's pre-modern agriculture had enough of an impact on climate so much as to prevent an ice age?
Ancient farmers spared us from glaciers but changed Earth's climate: study
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Re: Ancient farmers spared us from glaciers but changed Earth's climate: study
#12If indeed ancient farmers (that were like 1/100 our population) already had "profoundly changed Earth's climate", so much for the "human activity couldn't be the reason for climate change today" argument...
Re: Ancient farmers spared us from glaciers but changed Earth's climate: study
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
“Give me a half tanker of iron, and I will give you an ice age.” - John Martin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Martin_(oceanographer)
What’s the downside to that strategy? It seems like a no-brainer at first glance
That we barely know enough about how our changes will affect the ecosystem at large, and can get feedback loops that get out of control.
Re: Ancient farmers spared us from glaciers but changed Earth's climate: study
#14Rises the question which temperature is the "right" one. Assuming we can control climate change at some point in the future Like having a clima-council which votes to lower or rise the temperature. Would definetly cause conflicts between very hot and cold nations
There's a very large band for the "right" temperature. The problem is the rate of change. Given enough time, the ecosystem will adapt.
That large band exists only for mediterran regions. Some regions are already living on the hot/cold edge
Re: Ancient farmers spared us from glaciers but changed Earth's climate: study
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
“Give me a half tanker of iron, and I will give you an ice age.” - John Martin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Martin_(oceanographer)
What’s the downside to that strategy? It seems like a no-brainer at first glance
I think the main downside is that we are quite sure what would happen. The primary effect (a giant fucking algae bloom) is pretty well known. But the secondary effects are hard to predict and could be very negative.
Running experiments on the planet we live on is usually frowned upon.
Re: Ancient farmers spared us from glaciers but changed Earth's climate: study
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
“Give me a half tanker of iron, and I will give you an ice age.” - John Martin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Martin_(oceanographer)
What’s the downside to that strategy? It seems like a no-brainer at first glance
Guess they would have to scatter the metal so that the algae have more iron surface area.
Would make it hard to remove if it turns out bad
Re: Ancient farmers spared us from glaciers but changed Earth's climate: study
#17As mentioned in the article, one of the interesting things about this is that it provides support for an earlier date for the start of the anthropocene, as opposed to a date in e.g. the 50s.
Re: Ancient farmers spared us from glaciers but changed Earth's climate: study
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
What’s the downside to that strategy? It seems like a no-brainer at first glance
I think the main downside is that we are quite sure what would happen. The primary effect (a giant fucking algae bloom) is pretty well known. But the secondary effects are hard to predict and could be very negative. Running experiments on the planet we live on is usually frowned upon.
> Running experiments on the planet we live on is usually frowned upon.
We are in a big fucking experiment right now: what happens if we release fucktons of CO2 into the atmosphere? Most of the developed world doesn't give a fuck.
Re: Ancient farmers spared us from glaciers but changed Earth's climate: study
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
What’s the downside to that strategy? It seems like a no-brainer at first glance
I think the main downside is that we are quite sure what would happen. The primary effect (a giant fucking algae bloom) is pretty well known. But the secondary effects are hard to predict and could be very negative. Running experiments on the planet we live on is usually frowned upon.
> Running experiments on the planet we live on is usually frowned upon.
You don't like to test in PROD?
Re: Ancient farmers spared us from glaciers but changed Earth's climate: study
#20Anyone fascinated by this article, I highly suggest reading Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. I just recently picked it up after seeing it recommended on a couple of threads here and it did not disappoint. Humans have been affecting ecology for a long long time. If you are like me, you're probably wondering what you can do to mitigate some of the effects, while legislation and societal action is important. I also recomme…
Thanks for this. I’ve been interested in permaculture since coming across it at festivals but I’ve been put off how everyone seems to be selling courses. This is the first free one I’ve found. It feels a bit like minimalism where everyone tried to practice it by selling ebooks about minimalism.