Comment #439463 by Steve Zara

'These things will create global disruption on a scale never seen before'

Seen by what? Spiders? Dragonflies? Crocodiles? Humans? Or just humans in the last few thousand years? You're certainly correct on the last point, but let's keep some perspective here. This isn't going to be the Permian-Triassic Extinction event take two.

I take comfort from the fact that our ancestors have survived 100 to 200 thousand years of climatic variation. They managed to spread from Africa, through dozens of different environments - including the freezing tundras of the northern hemisphere during the last severe phase of the 'ice age' - to populate almost the entire planet. And they did so at a time when their greatest scientific achievement was a stick that was used to hurl another, pointier stick a little further. Given the level of our current technical achievements, I'm really not that worried.

People are always afraid of change.