Quote History Quoted:
It is real, but it was cycling long before the discovery of petro fuels or the Industrial Revolution.
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Of note, during warm climate periods the biosphere is typically much more robust and diverse - glaciers covering the land tends to reduce both the number of species and the number of animals in those species to something approaching zero in the local area.
If the Earth were to warm by a couple degrees celsius, it probably would create a lot of disruption (pretty much all change does - that is in fact what change is) to include mass extinctions as species found themselves in climates for which they were not evolved. In the long term, it would almost certainly result in an increase in the number and variety of plants and animals around the globe. About 125,000 years ago, the seas were roughly 5-8 meters higher than they are today, and it is believed that the temperatures may have been 1-2 degrees (C) higher than today as well. Obviously the seas rising 20 feet or so would be very disruptive, but it has happened before, and without human help (so far as we know - any Atlantis faithful want to chime in?).
Mike