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Originally Posted by licker
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The fact that things have been warmer in the past is also not at all an argument for why warming back up to those temperatures would be beneficial for humankind as a whole, because our current societies were built during a colder period and the warming is causing a LOT of damage to the environment. That is an undisputed fact and only a fool would argue nothing should be done to mitigate that damage.
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This is funny. Our societies may have been built during colder times (I assume you are talking about 5-10k years ago?) , but proliferated as the temperatures got warmer.
Warm is better than cold for crops, for animals, for people (as a general statement). As you say, only a fool would argue the contrary. |
Warm is not always better for crops, animals and people. You'd have to be a fool to argue that it is. Most animals will not find it easier to survive in warmer climates, as many animals and plants are adapted to a specfic range of temperatures. The ones that will are usually endotherms, and a few other larger species. The one's you are familiar with. The animals and plants they eat are somewhat more fragile, and will collapse in the face of rapid climate change. Someone already mentioned coral reefs- they have already reached their threshold. Something fun? Coral reefs recycle a significant amount of C02 back into oxygen, and support a huge number of species. When they die, an appreciable amount of animals will go with them.
A number of animals and plants in various areas live in what, until now, was a remarkably stable climate- equatorial climates, usually. They can't migrate readily and those that normally would are in many cases trapped due to development of surrounding land. There are a huge number of animal and plant species that are likely to go extinct because it will get warmer.
Evolution isn't going to save anything's bacon that doesn't reproduce faster than fruitflies, as a lot of this is happening too quickly.
Speaking of fruitflies, a trait has been spreading in more northern flies that until recently was only found in flies from southern climates, and that trait was linked to climate. They are winning the race against climate change, but fruitflies are incredibly mobile and have a remarkable level of gene diversity and cross populaiton breeding due to human transportation of them. Most species that have been looked at are not nearly so likely to take it in stride.