I just read about how the Joshua trees & small mountain animals and plants are going to die, of GW.?

Question

My question is simple. If they are going to die out completely now if we do not resort to costly measures and surrender our freedoms as necessary to immediately reverse Global Warming, just why did they not die out in the Middle Ages warming?? No politicians and Alarmed Scientists to protect them then...how are they still around and thriving? And how did the Polar Bears make such a rapid comeback, or did the artic not melt in the middle ages?

Answer 1

Global warming is a natural earth process, much like the process that began and ended the last ice age. I don't believe that humans are going to reverse it.

Answer 2

Sorry for the long answer, you asked an interesting question and I felt it deserved some real explanation.

"The middle ages" What in the world are you talking about? Are you talking about the inter-glacial periods when the ice sheets retreated periodically? During the interglacial periods the ice caps never melted completely. Probably why polar bears and other extreme cold weather animals survived.

Very briefly here's the deal with climate changes in the past: When the climate changes ecosystems are expanded or contracted between the north and south poles.

For instance, during the last glacial period, thick ice covered the US east coast all the way down to Penn. Imagine if the edge of the Artic Circle was down near Philadelphia. From Philadelphia south to the equator you would have all the eco systems that now stretch from way up in northern Canada to the equator.

So during the last ice age NC (where I live) had a much cooler climate with colder winters. Hemlock forests, animals that you would associate with Canada; moose, woolly mammoth, etc... Because so much water was tied up in the ice sheet covering the land, the beach was way out at the edge of the Continental Shelf. A very different place. You would not have seen Possums or alligators or palmetto palms - things you associate with the south here then.

Today, the ice ages are long over and NC's ice age ecosystem has migrated north to Canada and a new one has replaced it. The moose and hemlock and fir trees went to Canada. The pine trees and alligators moved in. But some creatures, like woolly mammoths, died out instead of making the change.

Often you see an ecosystem island - NC has one in a park called Hemlock Bluffs where the easternmost and southernmost stand of hemlocks grow. These trees are the offspring of hemlocks that grew in this same spot during the last ice age. The trees grow on a north facing bluff. It is too hot for them anywhere other than this one bluff.

If any Joshua trees survive the current climate trend to hotter temps they may be a similarly isolated, in slightly cooler spot than where they are now. Most of the ones who sit in the heart of the desert can't adapt to any hotter temps and will eventually die.

The difference between the climate change during the last ice age and today is that today's climate change seems to be happening very very quickly.

If you look at a map of temperature readings from the last 100+ years (as long as we've been recording) you can see a dramatic trend upward in temperature...this upward trend matches human population expansion and industrialization. Higher population with more industry means more carbon emissions. Carbon holds the heat of the sun inside our atmosphere warming things up.

If the current trend continues there will be winners and losers. Perhaps you'll be able to grow Georgia peaches in Canada; but you'll be stuck with fire ants and palmetto bugs too (ugh!)

Answer 3

Global warming is a scam and u bought into it sorry. It is the Gov wanting more taxes and now they have a taste look out. The Joshua tree is so rugged they will be living long after every thing else is gone. I lived in the desert for 10 years and they are tough.

Answer 4

No, the arctic did not melt during the middle ages. I am sure it melted somewhat but not as a whole. I haven't read about the species you mention but the ones who can't follow the temperature zones as they move towards the poles - in places like islands, mountain tops etc. - are at risk of dying out unless they can adapt quickly enough.