Humans Soon To Be Extinct :: essays research papers fc

Table of Contents Abstract.....................................page Body.........................................pages Bibliography.................................page Appendix.....................................pages Structured List.........................page Figures.................................page Figures.................................page Figures.................................page Figures.................................page Figures.................................page Figures.................................page Figures.................................page Abstract Ever since Dewey McLean (1978) proposed a dinosaur extinction theory that states that a climatic change killed the dinosaurs, it has become the single most accepted theory for the dinosaur extinctions within the scientific community. It is called the dinosaur- greenhouse extinction theory. It says that a climate change via the greenhouse effect killed off the dinosaurs. My paper takes this proposed theory and relates it to the world today. Some of the things that happened back then are also happening now, and if the dinosaur- greenhouse extinction theory is indeed true, then we are also in danger of dying from the greenhouse vertebrate killing mechanism, abrupt atmospheric changes, and the other effects caused by the increased greenhouse effect and people should know about the consequences of what we are doing to the earth. My paper examines the similarities occurring in the two time periods and the possible results that we may soon be facing in the very near future. I am hoping that exposure to the inevitable danger that we are soon going to be facing, will spark action and concern within whomever reads my paper. It is a problem that we all have tended to shrug off and not worry about, but if we don't start worrying about it soon, there will not be anyone around to worry about. The time for action is now. We may still be able to change the future. Humans Soon to Become Extinct? Can it be? Roughly sixty-five million years ago a tremendous extinction of global proportions hit the planet earth. This global extinction was so severe that it has defined the boundary between two periods of geologic history called the Cretaceous and the Tertiary periods. All but a few mammals on land and water became extinct. (McLean,1978,p.1) The best known of these extinct animals from this mass extinction are the huge and mighty dinosaurs. What killed them nobody really knows and probably will never know, but scientist haven't hesitated to theorize about it. There have been theories ranging from human involvement to disease to even aliens. However, of all the theories of the so called K-T extinctions, the single most accepted theory is called The Volcano Greenhouse Theory. This theory states that a chain of volcanoes in India, called "the Deccan Traps", released vast quantities of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into earth's atmosphere trapping heat from the sun, (McLean,1988,p.2) and turning earth's surface into "the hot, sterilizing, hell of a major greenhouse." (McLean 1981,p.1) If the dinosaurs did in fact die from the Volcano-Greenhouse theory, then we are also in danger of becoming extinct from the Vertebrate