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as we look back at Earth's story we
learn that its climate has been vastly
different throughout its history
when dinosaurs roamed the land earth was
void of ice the sea level was hundreds
of meters higher and the temperature 10
degrees warmer than it is today modern
science has learned that there is a
direct relationship between the
concentration of greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere in the earth's temperature
greenhouse gases are like a blanket
around the earth absorbing just the
right amount of heat from the Sun to
make life possible the higher the
concentration the warmer the temperature
in Earth's more recent history it has
endured a series of long ice ages
during each ice age life struggles to
survive imagine a one-mile thick sheet
of ice on top of Chicago
all the forests died
most of the life in the forest die as
very little can survive in these extreme
conditions
every hundred millennia a slight change
in the earth's tilt allows the planet to
absorb just enough additional heat to
thaw some of the ice
life expands for a few thousand years
during this interglacial period before
retreating again as the earth tilts back
and falls into another Ice Age
enter human beings from the Earth's
perspective humans are new to the scene
we've been here for a blink of an eye
but we've been busy as the earth entered
its most recent interglacial period
humans began deforesting the earth to
fuel their nation civilizations it is
calculated that more greenhouse gases
were released into the atmosphere
through deforestation then all the gases
emitted from the burning of fossil fuels
humans unknowingly to them
warmed the earth delaying the onset of
the next Ice Age it turns out that
there's a safe zone when it comes to
greenhouse gas concentrations that keeps
earth at just the right temperature for
life as we know it to thrive
any less and we freeze anymore and we
fry
in the last few decades we've blown past
this safe zone way too fast for life
today to adjust as we continue to
destroy the forests for animal
agriculture
and find destructive new ways of
extracting fossil fuels adding evermore
greenhouse gases to the atmosphere while
our actions have had devastating impacts
to many species on the planet
they've also enabled humans to develop
the technology necessary to monitor
Earth's composition like the part of the
brain that helps stabilize and regulate
our body's temperature humans now have
the ability to help earth regulate its
temperature we've already been doing it
unconsciously for thousands of years
perhaps it's time we become conscious of
our role on the planet as the thermostat
species
when we choose to stop eating animals
the land used for raising those animals
can be restored to forests and those
forests can sequester all of the
greenhouse gases we've emitted during
the fossil fuel age bringing us back
within the safe zone where life as we
know it and thrive this requires that
humanity undergo a metamorphosis from an
egocentric consumer culture to an eco
centric life enriching culture we have a
unique opportunity in this pivotal time
in history to realize our full potential
by considering ourselves stewards of
life
applying the lessons we've learned
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to nurture the conditions for life to
thrive
for all of Earth's remaining years
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you