Interesting
PARIS (AFP) – An extraordinary burst of global warming that occurred around 55 million years ago dramatically reversed Earth’s pattern of ocean currents, a finding that strengthens modern-day concern about climate change, a study says.
The big event, the Palaeocene/Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), saw the planet’s surface temperature rise by between five and eight degrees C (nine and 16.2 F) in a very short time, unleashing climate shifts that endured tens of thousands of years.
Color me unimpressed. While the story is interesting from an historical point of view (I love all those programs on National Geographic, Discovery Science Channel, etc), this information is being used as another hysterical cry about global warming.
I am not familiar with their being large scale industry 55 million years ago. But, they have their facts down
What unleashed the PETM is unclear. Most fingers of blame point to volcanic eruptions that disgorged gigatonnes of carbon dioxide, or coastal reservoirs of methane gas, sealed by icy soil, that were breached by warmer temperatures or receding seas.
So they do not know the cause, other then speculation. And that is the problem with those pushing the global warming issue: they do not have concrete facts. Speculation, computer models, nitpicked data, and hysteria. I am all for saving the environment, clean air, clean water, stopping deforestation, etc. But, I want to see reality, not hysteria.
