Skeptics and Deniers: Global Warming and Mass Extinction

The impacts of global warming on species outlined by the World Wildlife Fund:
http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/aboutcc/problems/impacts/species/

Polar bears, sea turtles, clownfish, flamingos. These are only a few of the species that are known to be "threatened by climate change" and "endangered by global warming". We're aware that human activity has been contributing to global warming, driving many towards extinction. But what if someone told us that we're not, in fact, responsible for this? 

Fred Singer and Dennis Avery, in Chapter 6 of Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1,500 Years, present the view that there is no proof animals become extinct due to rise in temperatures. As they support the idea that the current temperature trend is not anthropogenic, they state that we're not bringing about extinction of various organisms, at least not through warmer climates. They add that the development in certain technologies is the key to the protection of wildlife. They also criticize the sensationalist ways of some politicians and environmentalists in building their support for their work. This blog post will be exploring some of their ideas as part of the on-going Skeptics and Deniers series.


Have there actually been any cases of extinction?

In 2004, the international journal Nature published an article: Extinction Risk from Climate Change. It warned that global warming, caused by human activity, would wipe out approximately one million species of flora and fauna in the next half-century. Climate models predicted rapid changes in the ecosystem and ecological processes; the shifts in the Survival Envelope would lead to the elimination of many species. This article reflected the difficulty for most species to adapt or move habitat in time during the abrupt changes in the environment. The book, however, claims that this is contradictory to findings in other research.

Citing research in other scientific journals and literature, the book says that most of the world's animals formed the current physical forms in the Cambrian period, which was part of the Paleozoic era. The writers use this as a reason why it would be reasonable to assume that these animals, which survived more extreme climate cycles and conditions throughout all this time, would be able to survive the current climate change. They say that this intrinsic ability to adapt and evolve in new conditions is why we do not have to worry about extinction.

Here's a question. Have there been any recent instances of extinction due to the rise in temperatures? The writers' answer is "none". Some researchers anticipate the extinction of 20% of the world's wildlife species in the next forty years, which will likely show a 0.8°C increase. After this piece of information, the writers inform us that the last 150 years, which showed 0.6°C increase, resulted in no extinction of any species due to the rise in temperatures. 

When I read this part, something  sprang up to my mind. We cannot treat the change - rise in temperature - as itself alone. For example, if it was the increase in CO2 levels that brought about a warmer climate, we need to take Ocean Acidification into consideration. So, when the writers said that the rise in temperatures threatened no species towards extinction, I wondered: "How did they figure out the influences of just one factor - a warmer climate?"  I do assume that the researchers and writers would have studied all the influences and conditions before reaching their conclusion. Still, when I read a sentence later in the chapter - that no evidence that global warming kills coral reefs means the two are "not related in any way" - made me doubt whether the book was accurate, unbiased, and scientific. 

I'll be continuing my comments on Global Warming and Mass Extinction in the next post! Cheers :)