Earth was frozen for MILLIONS of years. What does that teach us about today?

If you take a look at global temperature graphs that span millions or billions of years, you can see that our planet’s temperature has made wild swings. In fact, the Earth used to be completely covered in snow and ice! So, what’s the big deal about a few degrees of warming today? In this episode of Weathered, we take a deep dive into Earth’s climate history in order to better understand our current moment.

Weathered is a show hosted by weather expert Maiya May and produced by Balance Media that helps explain the most common natural disasters, what causes them, how they’re changing, and what we can do to prepare.

Thumbnail image credits: NASA, Ian Webster and C.R. Scotese

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[Mama_lilith]

What usually doesn’t get brought up enough is the previous cooling and heating spells that the earth has gone through that were only quick in a geological sense, are associated with huge die offs. 75-95% of all species die offs. We are changing the climate 100-1000 times faster than many of those. It’s not just humans at risk, it’s all things that grow, crawl, swim, and fly. Everyone needs to shed this denial and waiting for the next generation to fix it. I have hope but very little.

[after_midnight]

"Planet isn't going anywhere. We are!" George Carlin

[yaninity]

"Everything we've built depends on a stable climate."
Powerful phrase!

[joestrat]

I'm sorry to disappoint this optimistic young lady with my comment. I'm well old enough to have witnessed a drastic change in climate over my relatively (in geologic terms) very short time as an observer. In-my-lifetime is an incredibly short amount of time considering the temporal scale of past temperature swings. The science is clear. This is not a red flag, it's a five alarm fire. It's an existential threat to us and millions of other species. Life will survive, but perhaps not without a major reboot. Rebooting nature is not something our species will survive. We have responded very poorly to something we've known for decades due Too little too late shall be our collective epitaph.

[Kangaroo_Caught]

Unfortunately, in my opinion, the people who choose to watch videos like this are probably already doing their best to minimise their fossil fuel consumption across transport, packaging, etc.
The people who need to be convinced are those driving petrol and diesel powered vehicles larger than they really need, the management of polluting companies. Without them getting on board with us, politicians will continue to pay lip service to what we know needs to be done while telling us, "Now don't you worry about that."

[landy]

I take comfort in the thought that the earth and physical life will likely survive the human era. We had our time and other life forms will have theirs.

[cavemanindustries]

Rate of change and the ability for us and nature to adapt. The way I see it, everybody wants to keep exploiting nature for the improvement of the quality of our lives. But in order to keep doing it, we need to keep nature going.

[markhodge]

Faith is either blind or based on passed events. To have faith that humanity can solve this is of the blind variety. There is no evidence that the selfish nature of humans can be switched off. The majority of people could want to reverse the trend, but don't want to pay the price. Those in power will always want to maintain the status quo. Things always change after the event with humans. We'll survive, but not without tremendous social upheaval first.

[PeterSedesse]

If you are a farmer you understand. A slightly later last freeze in the spring or a slightly earlier first freeze in the fall can wreck your whole year. At the same time many plants require a winter freeze for a certain number of days, and many trees cant tolerate any freeze. Our farms and food supply infrastructure and economies are built upon stable, predictable yearly temperatures.

[flyingbicycles]

And remember: if you think warming so far doesn’t look that bad, it will only stay that way if we stop all fossil fuel combustion tomorrow. Otherwise it just keeps going up and up.

Like the Simpsons meme: warmest year of your life *so far*

[Atheistbatman]

I’m a horticulturist that has been commenting this for 3 yrs and now others are seeing similar in their areas world wide.
No earthworms in Rome GA or fly larvae in trash cans for 3 summers 3 years.
Vegetable crops stopped growing after 2 nights warmer than days two yrs in a row. Days were 75F but 2 nights got to 80F and everything stopped growing did not die did not grow just sat and immature fruit rotted on plants…tomatoes corn okra eggplant squash all herbaceous vegetables were affected.
Hardly any birds almost no bugs. Haven’t cleaned a bug splatter off car in 15yrs…in GA!
My name is Jimmy Greer and I’ve called every research horticulturists I could find on the planet and we all see horrific things.
TALK TO RESEARCH HORTICULTURISTS!

[sixvee]

“I accepted to come to this meeting to have a sober and mature conversation. I’m not in any way signing up to any discussion that is alarmist. There is no science out there, or no scenario out there, that says that the phase-out of fossil fuel is what’s going to achieve 1.5C.”
- Sultan Al Jaber, President of COP 28, also CEO of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company

Seems more and more likely, scenario SSP5-8.5 of the IPCC assessment may come to fruition (or at least the higher end of the spectrum). I say enjoy what you can, while you still can; pity the generations to come.

[MacMcNurgle]

Imagine a world where the ports don't work due to sea-level rise. Then factor in the desertification of agricultural lands and we may not have the ability to feed the people. That will bring the three horsemen. Famine, disease and war. I'm normally optimistic in nature. However my life has shown me humans are very tribal and typically going to protect their own interest in the first place. I have a group of friends I am meeting this week. All smart and successful professionals. The four blokes are in long term relationships with kids and houses and have nine cars in the four families. They all know climate change is serious but the safety and comfort of their families comes first. I doubt that will change in my lifetime.

[lord]

The weather patterns in my area of the midwest have changed. We are 10-20 inches of rain less than what people are used to for going on 5 years now. What that shows up as is long periods of drought broken by brief intense rains that the current landscape is unable to adequately capture. Its crazy that I find myself simply hoping it is a decade long change like what lead up to the Dustbowl, as opposed to a permanent climate shift.

[fernandoherranz]

Great video and Maiya May is incredible! I don't have a lot of faith in the current power structure that could have a positive impact on climate change and global warming. The temptation is too great (and easy) to keep entrenched habits going. But there are people out there who make a difference every day: driving less or not at all, planting and caring for trees, composting, recycling, turning off lights when not being used, etc. This gives me some hope.

[gingerscholar]

it's not about the few degrees, it's about the impact that few degrees brings. rising sea levels, more violent storms, harsh droughts, water oxygenation, and more. there's a reason why sudden changes in temperature are found with mass extinctions.

[jamesbrady]

Don't worry the earth will continue just fine W/O mankind .

[Rnankn]

The point is important. The climate is destabilizing, but at rate of change beyond any that could occur naturally. So the vulnerability is with us. It is our civilization that cannot handle uncertainty. Although, I’m concerned other animals will be unable to adapt, because evolution is gradual.

[RyanonBasss]

as if we individual singular households can make a difference. it's mostly multinational corporations that are dumping tons and tons of co2 into the air without repercussions. we need to hold them accountable

[Windgoddess]

There has been absolutely no significant amount of snow in Chicago and December’s almost over.