In the blizzard of climate prevarication we've had to endure
this winter, because, you know, it still gets cold in January,
some important points get lost. It's not just about temperature!
That stuff we spew into the atmosphere does damage in many ways.
When we humans burn fossil fuels, we pump carbon dioxide into
the atmosphere, where the gas traps heat. But much of that
carbon dioxide does not stay in the air. Instead, it gets sucked
into the oceans. If not for the oceans, climate scientists
believe that the planet would be much warmer than it is today.
Even with the oceans’ massive uptake of CO2, the past decade was
still the warmest since modern record-keeping began. But storing
carbon dioxide in the oceans may come at a steep cost: It
changes the chemistry of seawater.... ....But there’s a crucial
difference between the Earth 100 million years ago and today.
Back then, carbon dioxide concentrations changed very slowly
over millions of years. Those slow changes triggered other slow
changes in the Earth’s