THIS IS NOT OUR FIRST GLOBAL WARMING CLIMATE CHANGE

WE’VE DONE THIS MANY TIMES BEFORE

AND WE HUMANS ARE STILL HERE

AND THE PLANET IS STILL HERE

MODERN HUMANS (HOMO SAPIENS) EVOLVED FROM HOMO ERECTUS 200,000 YEARS AGO

AND SINCE GLACIATION CYCLES OF THE QUATERNARY ERA ARE 100,000 YEARS, WE MODERN HUMANS HAVE BEEN THROUGH TWO GLACIATION CYCLES AND TWO INTERGLACIALS. THIS INTERGLACIAL, THE HOLOCENE, IS OUR SECOND INTERGLACIAL AND IT WAS CREATED AFTER OUR SECOND GLACIATION HAD ENDED.

OUR FIRST GLACIATION WAS THE PRIOR GLACIATION CYCLE THAT HAD ENDED IN THE EEMIAN INTERGLACIAL ABOUT 120,000 YEARS AGO.

THE LAST TWO GLACIATION CYCLES ARE VISUALLY DEPICTED IN THE VIDEO BELOW.

OF PARTICULAR NOTE IN THE VIDEO IS THAT GLACIATION IS NOT A LINEAR AND PREDICTABLE TREND OF COOLING AND ICE FORMATION AND DEGLACIATION IS NOT A LINEAR AND PREDICTABLE TREND OF WARMING AND ICE MELT BUT BOTH LEGS OF THE GLACIATION CYCLE ARE VIOLENT AND CHAOTIC PROCESSES OF BOTH ICE FORMATION AND ICE MELT AT CENTENNIAL AND MILLENNIAL TIME SCALES. THE ONLY DIFFRFENCE BETWEEN GLACIATION AND DEGLACIATION IS THAT THERE IS A SLIGHT EDGE FOR ICE FORMATION IN THE GLACIATION PHASE OF THE CYCLE AND A SLIGHT EDGE FOR ICE MELT IN THE DEGLACIATION PHASE OF THE CYCLE.

THIS SAME CHAOTIC PATTERN IS ALSO SEEN IN INTERGLACIALS.

INTERGLACIALS ARE NOT A STATIC STATE OF A WARM LOW ICE CONDITION BUT A SERIES OF CHAOTIC CYCLES OF WARMING AND COOLING ALSO AT MILLENNIAL AND CENTENNIAL TIME SCALES.

IN OUR FIRST GLACIATION CYCLE WE WERE PALEOLITHIC HUMANS –

ESSENTIALLY WE WERE ANIMALS BUT WITH A MORE DEVELOPED BRAIN THAN THE OTHER ANIMALS THAT GAVE US BETTER GRUNT COMMUNICATION AND BETTER TOOLS OF STICKS AND STONES FOR HUNTING. BUT WE WERE ESSENTIALLY TWO LEGGED ANIMALS LIVING ISOLATED LIVES IN CAVES WITH IMMEDIATE FAMILY AND HUNTING AND EATING OTHER ANIMALS INCLUDING OTHER HUMANS. WE WERE CANNIBALS.

THE AMAZING THING IS THAT AS MUCH AS WE ARE AFRAID OF OUR SPECIES BEING KILLED OFF BY THE CURRENT WARMING CYCLE OF THE CURRENT INTERGLACIAL CALLED THE HOLOCENE, OUR PALEOLITHIC ANCESTORS SURVIVED TWO VIOLENT AND CHAOTIC GLACIATIONS, TWO VIOLENT AND CHAOTIC DEGLACIATIONS, AND THE PREVIOUS INTERGLACIAL, CALLED THE EEMIAN THAT WAS A STRONGER AND MORE VIOLENT INTERGLACIAL THAN THE HOLOCENE WITH HOTTER WARMING CYCLES THAN WHAT WE HAVE TODAY. THE EEMIAN INTERGLACIAL IS DESCRIBED IN A RELATED POST: https://tambonthongchai.com/2018/12/21/eemian/

SUMMARY OF THE EEMIAN INTERGLACIAL POST LINKED ABOVE:

The Eemian interglacial started 130,000 years ago and ended about 115,000 years ago when the Last Glacial Period got started. Despite the usual claim that the intensity of “post industrial anthropogenic global warming” is unprecedented, it is generally agreed that the Eemian, at times, was warmer than the the present by as much as 5ºC. In general, the Eemian is described as hotter than today with January temperatures 3ºC to 5ºC higher and July temperatures 2ºC to 4ºC higher but with large fluctuations in temperature between conditions hotter than today and colder than today. The Eemian is characterized by rapid fluctuations between warm and cold periods in multi-decadal time scales. Fluctuations in winter temperatures correlate with rise and fall of sea level. The changes are described as abrupt climate change over decades with great regional variability. It is generally agreed that Eemian climate was more unstable than the Holocene. A significant feature of the Eemian is sea level rise and fluctuations in sea level caused by fluctuations in temperature. Sea level rise of 3 to 6 meters are reported by some authors and 5 to 9 meters by others and is attributed to a complete disintegration of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Some authors cite sudden warming of 5ºC to 10ºC and “massive surges of icebergs into the North Atlantic” as a perturbation of ocean circulation that was responsible for abrupt climate change in the Eemian. The obsession of climate science with ice sheet collapse and devastating sea level rise due to a collapse of the WAIS seen in the current warm cycle of the Holocene can be related to events in the Eemian but not to the post LIA period of the Holocene. WE CONCLUDE THAT OUR PALEOLITHIC ANCESTORS EXPERIENCED AND SURVIVED A MORE VIOLENT INTERGLACIAL WARMING THAN WHAT WE HAVE TODAY IN OUR CURRENT WARMING CYCLE OF THE HOLOCENE.

THE NEXT GLACIATION:

FOLLOWING IN THE HEELS OF THE EEMIAN INTERGLACIAL, OUR PALEOLITHIC ANCESTORS SURVIVED THE NEXT GLACIATION AND ITS VIOLENT DEGLACATION INTO THE HOLOCENE INTERGLACIAL DESCRIBED IN A RELATED POST LINK: https://tambonthongchai.com/2019/06/11/chaoticholocene/ .

THESE EVENTS TOOK US TO THE FIRST OF MANY GLOBAL WARMING CYCLES OF THE HOLOCENE:

EARLY IN THE HOLOCENE INTERGLACIAL OUR PALEOLITHIC ANIMAL ANCESTORS FOUND THEMSELVES IN A STRONG 4,000-YEAR GLOBAL WARMING CYCLE OF THE HOLOCENE CALLED THE “HOLOCENE CLIMATE OPTIMUM (HCO)”. THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT THEY SURVIVED THE GLOBAL WARMING AND THE PLANET SURVIVED THE GLOBAL WARMING. AND WE THEIR DESCENDENTS ARE STILL HERE AND ALIVE AND WELL. AND THE PLANET IS STILL HERE AND LIFE ON EARTH IS STILL HERE. GLOBAL WARMING DID NOT DESTROY THE PLANET NOR LIFE ON EARTH, NOR THE HUMANS. THE HCO WAS JUST AS HOT IF NOT HOTTER THAN THE GLOBAL WARMING WE ARE IN NOW WHICH WE HAVE BEEN TAUGHT TO FEAR.

AS IT TURNS OUT, OUR MODERN HUMAN ANCESTORS DID MORE THAN JUST SURVIVE THE HCO GLOBAL WARMING PERIOD OF THE HOLOCENE:

THE HCO GLOBAL WARMING CYCLE OF THE HOLOCENE GAVE US THE RIGHT KIND OF A WARM CLIMATE FOR OUR PALEOLITHIC ANCESTORS TO COME OUT OF THEIR CAVES, TO CLEAR THE FORESTS, TO BEGIN FARMING, AND TO BUILD HOMES AND TO CREATE COMMUNITIES OF HUMANS. THIS EVENT WAS A GIANT STEP IN THE ADVANCE OF THE HUMAN SPECIES FROM OUR PALEOLITHIC STATE TO WHAT IS CALLED OUR NEOLITHIC STATE, FROM THE OLD STONE AGE TO THE NEW STONE AGE, AND EVENTUALLY FROM HUMAN ANIMALS TO HUMAN CIVILIZATION. HUMAN CIVILIZATION IS A CREATION OF THE HCO GLOBAL WARMING OF THE HOLOCENE., THE SAME INTERGLACIAL WHOSE WARMING CYCLES WE HAVE BEEN TAUGHT TO FEAR..

SINCE THE NEOLITHIC REVOLUTION:

THE MODERN HUMANS THAT WE ARE TODAY AND THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION OF THE HUMANS THAT WE HAVE NOW LEARNED TO FEAR BUT THAT GAVE US THE THE VERY HIGH STANDARD OF LIVING WE ENJOY TODAY, ARE ULTIMATELY THE CREATION OF GLOBAL WARMING OF THE NEOLOTHIC REVOLUTION THAT CREATED HUMAN CIVILIZATION OUT OF THE CAVE ANIMALS THAT WE WERE. THE HCO GLOBAL WARMING BROUGHT US OUT OF THE CAVES AND BROUGHT US TOGETHER AS A COMMUNITY TO BUILD HOMES AND TO FARM AND TO CREATE COMMUNITIES OF HUMANS.

THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION THAT WE HAVE BEEN TAUGHT TO HATE AND FEAR IS THE THE MOST RECENT STEP IN THIS ADVANCE OF HUMAN CIVILIZATION WHERE THE INTELLIGENCE, THE INGENUITY, AND THE CREATIVITY OF HUMANS GAVE US THE HIGH STANDARD OF LIVING AND THE RAPID ADVANCE IN TECHNOLOGY THAT WE ENJOY TODAY. YET IT IS SOMETHING THAT WE HAVE ALSO BEEN TAUGHT TO FEAR AS A DRIVER OF GLOBAL WARMING WITH GLOBAL WARMING ALSO SOMETHING THAT WE MUST FEAR AS A DRIVER OF THE DESTRUCTION OF THE HUMAN CIVILIZATION THAT WAS CREATED BY GLOBAL WARMING.

CONCLUSION:

THE HUMAN ADVANCE FROM THE ANIMALS OF THE PALEOLITHIC ERA TO THE FARMERS OF THE NEOLITHIC ERA TO THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION OF THE MODERN ERA AND THE RAPID ADVANCE IN HUMAN TECHNOLOGY AND HUMAN POPULATION HAVE CREATED (1) THE IDEA THAT WE ARE OR OUGHT TO BE IN CONTROL OF NATURE, AND (2) THE INNER FEAR THAT WE ARE NOT IN CONTROL WITH A FEAR OF THE FUTURE IN THE SENSE OF ADVANCING INTO AN ERA OF THE UNKNOWN.

THIS ODDITY IS PERHAPS THE CREATION OF THE RELATIVE BREVITY OF OUR CIVILIZED STATE. OF THE 200,000 YEAR HISTORY OF US HOMO SAPIEN MODERN HUMANS, WE WERE CANNIABALISTIC PALEOLITHIC ANIMALS FOR THE FIRST 192000 YEARS (96% OF OUR EXISTENCE AS HOMO SAPIEN MODERN HUMANS) WITH HUMAN CIVILIZATION AND OUR CIVILIZED STATUS A VERY RECENT INNOVATION IN THE LAST 8,000 YEARS (4% OF OUR EXISTENCE AS HOMO SAPIEN MODERN HUMANS).

IT WILL TAKE US SOME TIME TO FULLY GRASP AND MANAGE OUR NEW STATE OF EXISTENCE AND OUR CIVILIZATION. IN THE MEANTIME WE ARE STILL IN AWE OF OUR CIVILIZATION AND NOT SURE WHAT TO MAKE OF IT SUCH THAT OUR IMAGINATION RUNS WILD AND CREATES THINGS LIKE THE ANTHROPOCENE AND GENESIS WITH THE HUMANS IN CHARGE OF NATURE, IN CHARGE OF THE OCEAN, IN CHARGE OF THE PLANET, AND IN CHARGE OF THE CLIMATE. AS OUR CIVILIZED STATE MATURES WE WILL UNDERSTAND IT BETTER AND PERHAPS WE WILL BE ABLE TO SEE THINGS DIFFERENTLY.

IN THE MEANTIME WE WILL STILL WORRY ABOUT OUR PLANETARY RELEVANCE AND HUMAN ACTIVITY AS A THREAT TO THE PLANET. THE IRRATIONAL WORRYWARTISM OF THE HUMANS IS SEEN IN THE CHRISTIANITY CULTURE OF THE GLOBAL NORTH THAT CONTAINS THE GENESIS ASSUMPTION WHERE HUMANS HAVE DOMINION OVER NATURE AND THIS DOMINION ASSUMPTION TAKES US TO OUR ASSUMED ROLE NOT AS PART OF NATURE BUT AS THE MASTERS AND MANAGERS OF NATURE AND BY EXTENSION, AS THE MANAGERS OF THE PLANET ITSELF AS EXPLAINED IN A RELATED POST: LINK: https://tambonthongchai.com/2020/03/30/the-humans-must-save-the-planet/

IN THE RELATED POST LINKED ABOVE, WE NOTE AS FOLLOWS:

THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF PLANETARY ENVIRONMENTALISM: 

Here we argue that the concept of the Anthropocene and of human caused planetary catastrophe by way of things like the industrial economy running on fossil fuels are inconsistent with the relative insignificance of humans on a planetary scale. Consider for example, that even as humans are worried about things like carbon pollution and the population bomb in terms of the planet being overwhelmed by the sheer number of humans on earth, humans, like all life on earth, are carbon life forms created from the carbon that came from the mantle of the planet but a rather insignificant portion of it. In terms of total weight, humans constitute 0.05212% of the total mass of life on earth. Yet we imagine that our numbers are so huge that the planet will be overwhelmed by our population bomb. All the life on earth taken together is 0.000002875065% of the crust of the planet by weight. The crust of the planet we see in the pictures from space and where we live and where we have things like land, ocean, atmosphere, climate, and carbon life forms, is 0.3203% of the planet by weight. The other 99.6797% of the planet, the mantle and core, is a place where we have never been and will never be and on which we have no impact whatsoever. In terms of the much feared element carbon that is said to cause planetary devastation by way of climate change and ocean acidification, a mass balance shows that the crust of the planet where we live contains 0.201% of the planet’s carbon with the other 99.8% of the carbon inventory of the planet  being in the mantle and core. 

(THE CONCLUSION WE DRAW FROM THIS MASS BALANCE ANALYSIS IS THAT:  

1. The crust of the planet where we live is an insignificant portion of the planet.
2. Life on earth is an insignificant portion of the crust of the planet. 
3. Humans are an insignificant portion of life on earth. 

Although it is true that humans must take care of their environment, we propose that the environment should have a more rational definition because the mass balance above does not show that humans are a significant force on a planetary scale or that they are in a position to either save it or to destroy it even with the much feared power of their fossil fueled industrial economy. And that implies that it is not possible that there is such a thing as an Anthropocene in which humans are the dominant geological force of the planet.

Like ants and bees, humans are social creatures that live in communities of humans so that when they look around all they see are humans. This is the likely source of our human oriented view of the world. Paul Ehrlich’s overpopulation theory is derived from his first visit to India which he described as “people people people people people!” It is this biased view of the planet that makes it possible for us to extrapolate Calcutta to the planet and come up with the fearful image described by Jeff Gibbs as “Have you every wondered what would happen if a single species took over an entire planet?”