If nature had some sort of auto-correcting mechanism to deal with the huge amounts of carbon we are suddenly returning to the biosphere, then you'd think you could spot that in the CO2 concentration readings. But they just keep going up, faster and faster. Shows no signs of slowing, much less stopping.

Last time all that carbon was in the atmosphere, the Earth's climate was *drastically* different. Much, much hotter. The current climate only became possible when various geological and biological processes scrubbed those trillions of tons of carbon out of the system, now we are rapidly returning it.

Of course, if you look at the long term climate patterns, there seems to b repeated long cold periods, interspersed with relatively short warm periods. And if the fairly regular cycles continue, we can see that most of modern human's existence has been within one such warm period. And that we may be creeping closer to whatever causes the repeated ice ages again (something solar related?). In any case, the problems associated with global warming are pretty minor compared to the problems we'd have if another Ice Age started. Last time glaciers made it down to just a handful of miles from where I live in St. Louis. In that case, a little global warming might be a very good thing! ;)
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'63 PV544 rat rod, '93 Classic #1141 245 +t