Читать книгу Carbon Counter - Mark Lynas - Страница 17

 Mass extinction scenario: the end-Permian mass extinction 251 million years ago was associated with six degrees of warming, and wiped out 90% of life on earth. No one is sure what happened, but a combination of volcanic CO2 releases and methane hydrates may have been the cause. (This was much worse than the end-Cretaceous mass extinction, 65 million years ago, which wiped out the dinosaurs.)

 Huge firestorms sweep the planet as methane hydrate fireballs ignite.

 Seas turn anoxic (without oxygen) and release poisonous hydrogen sulphide.

 Humanity’s very survival as a species is in question.

(Note: this list is a very potted summary of a book called Six Degrees, also by Mark Lynas, published in March 2007 by Fourth Estate.)

If none of this sounds very appealing, then you’re reading the right book. This guide aims to show how you can help to avoid these disasters by reducing your personal contribution to global warming. The table on page 29 indicates the changes that are needed on a global scale to avoid each successive degree of global warming.