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- One piece of evidence is the deposition of carbon in the Earth's ocean sediments. They tell us about the oceans' massive carbon intake at the time of the Permian period, showing evidence of a dangerous amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Other deposited sediments from the same time period also show unnatural amounts of mercury, providing evidence of volcanic eruptions at the end of the Permian period. Lastly, comparing it to other time periods, there was an abundant number of fossils in the rock layers from the Permian period suggesting a mass extinction event.
- But how do we know what happened? It was hundreds of millions of years ago!
- Wow, so almost everything went extinct just from changes to the climate? Isn't that happening to our world right now with global warming raising temperatures?
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- Yes, Jay, that is basically what's happening to the Earth right now. Instead of volcanic eruptions this time, we are the reason why climate change is happening. We emit so much greenhouse gas through deforestation, burning fossil fuels like coal and oil, transportation, food production, goods manufacturing, and so much more. With our current emissions, we are projected to increase global temperatures by 1.5 degrees celsius by 2050 and 2-4 degrees celsius by 2100.
- 2-4 degrees Celsius? If we keep going like this, what will happen to the Earth and all of life on it? Won't something like the Permian extinction happen again?
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- Unfortunately, you are right. Firstly, ice sheets and glaciers will melt and raise sea levels, just like what happened in the Permian period. Arctic animals will lose their homes as the ice melts, and animals on other lands will experience flooding and therefore major habitat loss. Greenhouse gases and pollutants will also increase the acidity in our oceans, making it inhabitable for many aquatic species and also contaminating drinking water for terrestrial species, us humans included.
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