by Azmeera » Sat 8. Mar 2014, 04:14
Well, there are a number of theories as to what caused the dinosaurs' extinction, but I believe most scientists lean towards one of two current hypotheses: either something huge from space (like an asteroid, comet, or meteorite) impacted into Earth or there was a massive burst of volcano activity. What those two theories have in common in that they both end up with the atmosphere filled with debris (ash, dust, dirt, etc.), which would have choked off sunlight and killed off a lot of plant life. Even once the atmosphere cleared, with no plants to help exchange the carbon dioxide for oxygen the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would have skyrocketed. The more CO2 there is in the atmosphere, the more of the sun's light is reflected back to the Earth (and the less escapes back out into space), so the Earth's temperature rises. Significantly. So almost freaking everything on the planet died from lack of sun (which if it was a plant, it needed to make food), or lack of food (either because it was a plant-eater or ate plant-eaters, which died out), or it died because the temperature increased and massive climate change occurred.
The scary thing about this is that when we talk about global warming today, we're essentially talking about humans doing things (like burning fossil fuels) that create more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to the point where it is bringing about climate change at a faster rate than would occur naturally. So.... yeah. We may be doing the same thing that killed off the dinosaurs to ourselves. And we mocked them for their puny brains!
And like redneck said, it's quite possibly that what you're seeing is a result of global warming. As the temperature rises, the ice melts, there's more moisture in the atmosphere, which results in bigger, badder storms. The changing temps also cause weather patterns to shift. The intense cold in the US this winter has primarily been caused by the Jet Stream dipping very low to the south, which has pulled down polar air from the north. So while overall the global temperature is rising, what you see in any one place is climate change and often more extreme weather.
Does that make sense? More importantly, are you still awake?
Azmeera, Death's Behest
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