I think humans would survive better than any other vertebrate on land... suppose a gamma ray burst could kill us and almost sterilize the earth but leave some deep sea life alive. Though they too would experience a mass extinction, just not all of them. If nothing dramatic happens with technology life on Earth will end no later than 4-5 billion years from now when the sun goes into its red giant phase. In the past it happened more from extreme natural disasters that caused sudden change... that's about what we are. Takes a lot of resources to support billions of humans. Major change in the environment could certainly cause billions to die through collapse of industrial agriculture. But thousands or maybe millions could survive anything short of extreme radiation, total lack of food/ fresh water, or lack of oxygen. Civilizations can collapse pretty easily like with Rome. But some people still would live on, just like the Dark Ages
Dude if we didn't have leakage we would be living in a world close to Venus. - - - Updated - - - But it's not finite......... This is a fact....
I agree with you on the gamma ray blast.... That would be pretty terrible and catastrophic.. That would be like first putting humanity in a microwave and then putting them in an oven until they catch fire... Not good lol.. But humans having an extraordinary impact on the environment? that concept isn't even possible - that concept is for activists that like activism.
For perspective, before there was life on Earth, there wasn't much oxygen in the O2 form that we require to breath, and indeed is required for complex organisms to use energy efficiently. That oxygen came from cyanobacteria initially, before that all organisms were anaerobes. Now, if bacteria can be significant enough to vastly change the composition of the Earth's atmosphere, why couldn't humans do it? Not only do we have a pretty large biomass for an apex predator, but we have historically and increasingly survived and even become comfortable by changing our environment to suit our needs. So I don't think the question is whether humans can change the environment, but rather how much and how quickly.
Nah, we just goin' into a new era... Study: Human Imprint Has Thrust Earth Into New Geological Epoch January 07, 2016 The indelible imprint left by human beings on Earth has become so clear that it justifies naming a new geological epoch after mankind, experts said Thursday.
Well, I know how the Earth got it's atmosphere, and to bluntly answer your theory, well because humans aren't primordial soup - we're not bacteria - there are only 7.8 billion people on the planet and there are probably 7.8 billion bacteria in your hand right now..
Well bacteria are pretty small so comparing number of organisms doesn't mean much - it's more a matter of use of resources. It's true that bacteria utilize a much larger proportion of biomass than humans. However, humans are apex predators so you have to count all of the resources we control for food, and then we also use resources in a way that is way above and beyond just eating and shelter. Our cars are like a whole other organism feeding on the remains of prehistoric plankton and belching out the gases at a rate far beyond what humans do just for metabolism. And while the imprecision of climate science makes some people think humans can't affect the climate, all it really tells me is nobody understands it well. So how many cars, people, power plants, boats, planes, cities... how many would it takes it take to have a major impact on the climate? Could we have trillions of people and trillions of cars and colonize the oceans and burn every ounce of oil, every pound of coal, every clathrate and have no impact on the climate? I seriously doubt it.
No there are many many MANY species that have went extinct. By that I mean their genetic lineage completely falls off. There are some new species that have completely different genetic lineage compared to any other species on earth. Meaning they are either new (imports from space) or that species recently evolved on earth. A prime example of the above would be the, "Turritopsis dohrnii". That however, is irrelevant.
The problem is too many people think their cities are the center of the Earth.... I've been to places that have no humans within 100 miles... People generally do not realize how big the Earth is... People look at the smog in their cities and automatically assume it's the same everywhere on Earth, and that is the problem...
