
Long before the dinosaurs, hefty herbivores called pareiasaurs ruled the Earth - curtis
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2016/february/chinas-ugliest-fossil-reptiles.html
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erikb
We have been here for 4 mio years, right? So with their 10 mio years they are
still quite ahead of us. Who knows if we can make it that long.

~~~
grondilu
> We have been here for 4 mio years, right?

Depends on what you mean by "we". Our genus is a few millions years old
indeed, but our species is only about 200,000 years old.

~~~
leeoniya
and we've only existed on an industrialized, environment-affecting scale for a
few hundred years.

our rate of population growth and disregard for sustainable consumption is not
gonna work out well for us. i suspect our habits will need to change
drastically for humans to make it even another 1,000 years.

~~~
Aeolos
You are being rather optimistic.

Current projections have parts of the planet already uninhabitable before the
end of the century (uninhabitable as in "you die even in shade and with plenty
of water"). We are messing up our grandchildren's lives.

~~~
ssmoot
Do you have any links to further reading on that? This is the first time I've
ever heard anything like that. It's pretty alarming.

~~~
Aeolos
This is the first relevant article I read [1]. I've since gone through google
scholar and there is lots of relevant research. "Alarming" doesn't begin to
cover it.

[1] [http://arstechnica.com/science/2015/11/persian-gulf-
temperat...](http://arstechnica.com/science/2015/11/persian-gulf-temperatures-
may-be-at-the-edge-of-human-tolerance-in-30-years/)

Edit: as a summary, researchers claim that parts of the Persian Gulf will
reach the "threshold temperature" within the next 30 years, hampering human
development in these regions. "Threshold temperature" is the temperature where
the human cooling mechanisms shut down, i.e. 35C at 100% humidity or 45C at
50% humidity.

Once you reach this temperature, even healthy individuals are at risk of fatal
hyperthermia. Note that this doesn't have to be sustained over the whole year
- even a few days per year will likely trigger mass-migration. Climate change
is likely to be the single most important issue we will have to deal with in
the near future (we = human race).

~~~
ssmoot
The scientists that published that paper also produced a video to downplay the
media's reporting of it:
[http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2015/10/27/climate_c...](http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2015/10/27/climate_change_heat_waves_won_t_make_persian_gulf_uninhabitable.html)

> "Such conditions (the wet-bulb temperature exceeding 35C) would occur only
> once per decade"

No doubt climate change is an issue, but taking the unique environment of a
place that's already pretty brutal to justify such an alarming statement is
stretching a bit I think.

~~~
Aeolos
That is not the only report. There appears to be a consensus that this will
happen at the latest by 2100. This report claimed only 30 years.

And all these are not taking into account the record temperatures in the
Arctic circle that are currently being recorded (+4C than last century), which
increases the chances of runaway greenhouse effects.

As I said, use google scholar. This is not a conspiracy, these are changes
that are happening _right now_.

~~~
grondilu
An expression like "runaway greenhouse effect" is normally only used to
describe what happened on planets like Venus. IIRC on Earth there is a
consensus about something like that to have "virtually no chance" of being
induced by anthropogenic activities.

The fact that you're so quick in using that expression suggests to me that you
either don't know what you're talking about, or you just enjoy scaring people.

~~~
Aeolos
"Runaway greenhouse effect" is what could happen if the methane deposits in
the Arctic Siberian tundra are released to the atmosphere. See [1] for more
information.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_methane_emissions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_methane_emissions)

Edit: if it's not obvious, "runaway effect" is another term for "positive
feedback loop". The first paragraph of the linked article reads:

> Arctic methane release is the release of methane from seas and soils in
> permafrost regions of the Arctic, due to deglaciation. While a long-term
> natural process, it may be exacerbated by global warming. __This results in
> a positive feedback effect, as methane is itself a powerful greenhouse gas.
> __

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willvarfar
They are described as "hefty" and "huge herbivores", and yet the scale on the
skeletons suggest they are the size of a rabbit?

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DrScump
Where do you live that rabbits get to be 1-3 meters long and up to 600 kg?

~~~
davidw
They're what dropbears feed on in Australia.

~~~
DrScump
This is why we can't have nice megafauna things.

