Engineering360: "Is a Sixth 'Mass Extinction' on the Way?"

Yep, just a itchy-finger away on the big red button.

And yet all geological and fossil records show that during the Carboniferous period (~4000+ PPM CO2 levels and literally named for the huge abundance of carbon that was in play at the time) the planet was more biologically diverse and plentiful than it had or has ever been.

By those standards we are dangerously low on carbon and CO2 and living in a cool biologically brown and stunted, not lush and green, time.

i thought that meteorites were the causes for mass extinctions of the past. big meteorite hits earth, kicks up lots of dust, causes tectonic plates to move causing pressure on magma which in turn more volcanic eruptions, causing lots of gas-dust-smoke (burning vegetation from magma). all this causes nuke winter which kills vegetation and animals soon follow.

so now your telling me that this will somehow all happen with an uptick of more plant food? please explain without giving me a website to send money to pay for the energy bill to Al Gore's 10,000 sq ft. mansion.

Bull crap is composed largely of carbon. So is Prof Rothman. Is there a strong correlation?

The carboniferous period had very high oxygen levels (animals were larger, the few amphibians and arthropods that were), as well; global temperatures were higher, the atmosphere was thicker, winds were stronger... it wasn't just high carbon and biodiversity...

Most mass extinctions are caused by climate change-- either by CO2 Overturning Pulses in a Stratified ocean (from induced thermobaric instability), Anoxia in a Stratified Ocean, or Acidfication. Even so, these events release 0.2 gigatonnes per year, whereas anthropogenic addition is over 10 gigatonnes per year.

Otherwise, abnormal volcanic activity takes the cake on mass extinction.

Get your head in the game, dudes.

https://xkcd.com/1732/

Looked at your chart and the only problem is that the right hook at the bottom doesn't appear to be actually happening. .6 deg C drop since last year and ice inventory in the arctic increasing according to NASA.

We can only hope it will put us out of our misery.