more reasons to try to curb global warming

Expert Says It Was Hotter 247M Years Ago
CAVE JUNCTION, Ore. - John Roth shined his flashlight on a black streak flowing through the cream-colored marble forming the walls of the Oregon Caves.

The graphite line is graphic evidence of dramatic global warming that consumed so much oxygen that it nearly wiped out all life on the planet 247 million years ago, said the natural resources specialist for the Oregon Caves National Monument.

"It was the biggest extinction by far of all time," he said. "Geologists and paleontologists all agree on that. ... The extinction that killed the dinosaurs about 65 million years ago, that wasn't anything compared to this."

Yet, like the huge meteor striking the Gulf of Mexico that many scientists believe wiped out the dinosaurs, the global warming at the end of the Permian period resulted in deadly amounts of carbon dioxide that killed most land animals, he said.

Scientists aren't certain what caused the episode some 247 million years ago. They estimate that temperatures ranged in the low 100s year-round for thousands of years, he said.

"Its kind of scary that we don't know for sure what caused the worst catastrophe of life on this planet," he said.

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Let's hope that we don't recreate that scenario by our own hands, this time!