RE: Global Carbon Cycle [was RE: Number of carbon atoms in the Earth's biomass]

From: Spike (spike66@comcast.net)
Date: Thu Jul 24 2003 - 09:14:54 MDT

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    -----Original Message-----
    From: Andrew Clough...

    ...Still, it seems absurdly anthropomorphic to claim that we are rushing
    in to
    save the Earth just in time...

    The term anthropomorphic isn't the one you are
    looking for perhaps, which means assigning human-like
    characteristics to animals, such as Bambi-izing deer.

    ...When the solar system (and galaxy and...)
    blooms we'll be able to claim credit, but even if every human alive were

    killed off instantly, I bet another species could evolve to intelligence

    before the big ice comes...

    We needn't assume intelligence is necessary. I
    could imagine some kind of bug or worm that somehow
    manages to dig its way down to the oil fields or
    coal seams and break down that carbon.

    But it does leave some questions, such as why was
    it so late in the game before a archaeo-carbon
    scavenger evolved? Carbon based life on this
    planet was already very much in decline before
    the last few thousand years when human started
    digging coal, and the last couple hundred when
    we started pumping oil. Perhaps the fact that
    we came late suggests that it is not at all
    inevitable that any archaeo-carbon scavenger
    arise in the general history of life, and that
    most planets are not thus rescued. We may
    go to other planets and find that the most
    common case is for the planet to be sterile,
    yet have fossil rich carbon layer somewhere
    below the surface.

    spike



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