When Too Little CO2 Nearly Doomed Humanity

townhall.com ^ | 6/4/2017 | Dennis Avery

[rktman]

Aside from the expected protests of Al Gore and Leonard Di Caprio, the public didn’t seem to raise its CO2 anguish much above the Russians-election frenzy the media already had going. Statistician Bjorn Lomborg has already pointed out that the Paris CO2 emissions cuts would make only a 0.05 degree C difference in earth’s 2100 AD temperature. And that’s in the unlikely event that all parties actually kept their pledges.

During the last Ice Age, however, too little CO2 in the air almost eradicated mankind. That’s when the much-colder water in the oceans sucked most of the CO2 from the air. There were only about 180 parts per million in the atmosphere, compared to today’s 400 ppm.

The Ice Age’s combined horrors—intense cold, permanent drought, and CO2 starvation—killed most of the plants on earth. Only a few trees survived, in the mildest climates.Much of the planet’s grass turned to tundra, which is much less nourishing to the herbivores we depended on for food and fur. Cambridge University’s recent studies say that, worldwide, only about 100,00 humans were left alive when the current Interglacial warming mercifully began.

[ROCKLOBSTER]

I wasn’t being critical, just trying to point out that maybe the 1000 degree lava, and elevated ground temperature may be melting the ice, despite the -58F average air temperature.

Contrary to the moonbat claims.

[snowtigger]

3. Define the “correct” mean sea level for the planet.

You might also ask about the "mean sea level" mark established in the 1840s on the Isle of the Dead, in Tasmania. The sea level was studied for three years to establish a "mean". Today "mean" sea level is approximately 18 inches below this mark.

[rktman]

Denier!👹🌡

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

CO2 is actually a poison too, but only in amounts around a few percent or more. This is what a lot of people think made the air unbreathable in the movie Avatar. We don’t exactly have to worry about that, though. - Telepathic Intruder

CO2 is not “a poison”...or people would die whenever a fire extinguisher was discharged, or dry ice was present. It’s the issue of using up all the O2 in a sealed space that kills people.

Dosage makes the poison. Anything - even water - is toxic in high enough dosage.

But given that people and animals inhale air with less than 1% CO₂ and exhale air with, I assume, at least 10% CO₂ concentration, I suspect that a great many things are more poisonous than CO₂.

[Telepathic Intruder]

Well, I don't know how I drifted from the point that CO₂ is NOT a pollutant. It's a necessary part of the ecosphere that life can't exist without, all of it being carbon-based. We can have a lot more CO₂ in the atmosphere than right now without it being harmful. The science of "doom" is just bad science, and the CC models are lacking real world examples--we don't know for sure what will happen if things change.

[huldah1776]

don’t give them any ideas. Without plants and food they can have their communist revolution.

[huldah1776]

I LOVE IT! Think about RUSSIA! What an abundance of food! A little radioactive, but hey! I would be a bummed about no snow though. I am a snow bunny. Going to Siberia for ice cream is on my bucket list.

[ROCKLOBSTER]

Inert gases such as CO2, argon, nitrogen and helium are not poisonous, no more than is a pillow, but if you have no oxygen going into your lungs, you will smother.

Example: N2 is 78% of the atmosphere, a pretty high percentage, but we get by just fine with the available oxygen.

On the other hand, carbon monoxide is genuinely poisonous.

[huldah1776]

Does that take in continental plate movement?

[PIF]

But that is their idea - the return of Earth to pristine condition ...

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Should We Celebrate Carbon Dioxide?

[snowtigger]

Good question. I don’t know the answer. However they picked that location for a variety of reasons, one of which was the type of rock.