Global Lords: I Have Information System

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On October 11, the fifteenth United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP15) for the Convention on Biological Diversity will commence its first phase meeting in Kunming City, Yunnan Province.

In 2021, at a time when the impact of global warming on the ecological environment is becoming prominent, this conference is undoubtedly the most important of the United Nations and also the most significant international conference hosted by our country this year. This conference will adopt the theme of ”Ecological Civilization: Building a Shared Future for All Life on Earth,” advocating the advancement of global ecological civilization construction, emphasizing that humans and nature coexist as a community of life, and stressing respecting nature, conforming to nature, and protecting nature, striving to achieve the convention’s proposed sustainable use and benefit-sharing of biodiversity by 2050, reaching the beautiful vision of ”harmonious coexistence between humans and nature.”

As the conference begins, the outside world is most concerned about: What does global warming truly mean for Earth, humans, and other life forms? Today, let’s go back to approximately 55 million years ago and experience the ”Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM)” period, which might offer some insight to us today.

PETM commenced 10 million years after the dinosaur extinction

million years after the mass extinction of dinosaurs, the global average temperature suddenly began to rise sharply. During this period known as the ”Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM),” massive greenhouse gas emissions caused global temperatures to increase by at least 5 degrees.

Provided by Red Star News, during this period of global climate anomaly, due to atmospheric and oceanic turbulence, the global ecological environment underwent dramatic changes

It is reported that the root cause of this global climate change did not originate from the atmosphere but from beneath the oceans. To this, paleontologists and geologists have hypothesized that during the Paleocene or post-dinosaur extinction periods, the global climate experienced a certain degree of natural warming, leading to the conversion of large quantities of methane crystals into gas. The seabed emitted excess methane gas into water and air, and this greenhouse gas, stronger than carbon dioxide, rapidly warmed Earth, causing the average temperature to rise over 12 degrees in under 20,000 years, maintaining a stable level for over 70,000 years, and then embarking on a long, slow decline.

During this period of global climate anomaly, due to atmospheric and oceanic turbulence, the global ecological environment underwent dramatic changes: There was no ice at the poles, crocodiles settled in the marshes close to the grassy areas near the Arctic; subtropical forests covered the continent, extending all the way to northern latitudes; most deep-sea life became extinct, terrestrial animals reduced and migrated northward to breed and thrive in cooler climates, including some new animal groups like primates starting to establish a foothold here...

Provided by Red Star News, during this period of global climate anomaly, most deep-sea life became extinct, terrestrial animals reduced and migrated northward to breed and thrive in cooler climates

Everything that occurred during this ancient ”global warming” period is fully reflected in the fossil records. And amidst the intensification of current global warming, these records might help humans understand its impact on the ecological environment.

Extinction begins in the oceans

During this global warming, the marine ecosystem suffered the most fatal blow.

In a certain sense, Earth’s oceans function like a giant conveyor belt. Normally, cold air and seawater in the Southern Hemisphere mix, forming dense, cold ”deep water,” continuously maintaining movement. However, in the warmer PETM period, the high-temperature climate resulted in more rainfall in the Arctic, weakening ocean currents and changing the marine ecological environment.

Provided by Red Star News, in the PETM, the marine ecosystem suffered the most fatal blow

In less than 5,000 years, cold air and seawater in the North Atlantic began to mix, the change in water flow warmed the oceans. And the higher temperatures accelerated the metabolism of organisms in the water, increasing their food requirements. Conversely, however, the higher the water temperature, the less oxygen it contains, which led to mass extinction of deep-sea life. In summary, the warm PETM period placed marine life in a difficult survival situation: animals needed more food to sustain life, but the lack of oxygen made the living environment more hostile, and nutrients remained scarce, disrupting the ocean food chain.

The impact of this climate change lasted nearly 100,000 years, causing some species to perish due to failure to adapt. For example, a deep-sea species called ”benthic foraminifera” experienced a large-scale death due to such changes. Benthic foraminifera have long been the staple for many small marine organisms, and due to their abundance in fossil records, they are also a favorite of paleontologists studying evolution and extinction.

Scientists’ research found that during this period, over 35% of ”benthic foraminifera” went extinct, marking the only significant crisis for this species in the past 90 million years. Paleontologists speculate that their disappearance had a huge impact on the marine ecological chain.

Gradually ”shrinking” mammals

million years ago, before an asteroid obliterated all non-avian dinosaurs, the largest hairy creature on Earth weighed only 11 pounds (approximately 4.98 kilograms), roughly the size of an American badger. Approximately 1 million years later, as new ecological niches were cleared out by large-scale extinctions, the largest furry creature was about the size of a German shepherd.

Provided by Red Star News, moose