The world’s ecosystem could see a dramatic shift: author
Posted June 7, 2012 12:25 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Another ice age? A world of deserts? Scientists think we could be in for a dramatically different global ecosystem. It might not be doomsday, but the shift could be swift and deadly.
“The change isn’t gradual and linear. It’s abrupt and often irreversible,” explains Arne Mooers, a professor of biodiversity at SFU, who adds this state shift is expected to be more than a couple of degrees.
“If we go back 11,000 to 12,000 years, we were under a kilometre of ice,” says Mooers. “Then, very quickly ,the earth went through a state shift and we can now grow banana trees in Vancouver.”
“The last 10,000 years have been the most benign, predictable years in all of earth’s history. It’s been a perfect time to be human,” he tells us.
But he think that’s going to change, “It would be very disruptive, but that doesn’t mean that we’re all going to die. Humans will survive.. almost for sure.”
Mooers claims we are to blame by changing the global temperature, using too much energy, and modifying the planet.
“The rate at which we are warming now is definitely faster than any time in human history and possibly faster than any time going all the way back to the dinosaurs,” he claims. “It’s not how hot it is; it has been warmer before for sure, but the rate at which we are moving is as fast as it has ever been.”
Mooers has always been interested in climate change, but this research really hit home.
“One of the things that really struck me was how worried the paleontologists are. They’ve seen how dramatically the earth can shift and they’ve measured that. And so if they are worried, that makes me worried,” he explains.
The study concludes we better not exceed the 50 per cent mark of wholesale transformation of Earth’s surface or we won’t be able to delay, or avert, a planetary collapse. It says we’ve already converted 43 per cent of landscapes into agricultural and urban areas, making Earth increasingly susceptible to an environmental epidemic.
Mooers’ findings have been published in a report looking at the potential for a global climate state shift, along with a team of over 20 other scientists from different fields.
