Is global warming good for life?

Question

Every so often, global warming doubters make the argument that "warmth is good for life".

This strikes me as a completely brainless argument, because it provides no specifications. Under what conditions is it better for life that the environment be warmer? The suggestion is that life always thrives under warmer conditions, which would suggest that we'd be better off living on the Sun than on Earth. I hope we can all agree that this is a patently stupid suggestion. Obviously at some point (a tipping point, if you will), if the environment gets warmer then life will suffer. It will have a negative net impact on life.

Therefore I ask, can anyone defend the statement "warmth is good for life"? If not, I suggest that people stop using this foolish argument.

Answer 1

i think this is a stupid argument, the best temperature for any life form is one that it evolved to thrive in. Any rapid change in temperature or any other other condition is bad for life.

obviously an extremophile living in a thermal vent wouldn't do too good in a tundra in antarctica, just like a penguin wouldn't fair so well in the desert.

Answer 2

According to scientists, when the planet is warmer there's an increase in CO2 output delayed by several hundred years. This is what was found by taking ice core samples.

This is what they mean by more prosperity on the planet. Historically when animal life thrives it causes increases in the CO2 levels, which in turn nourishes the plant life.

Also, it's common sense that warmth promotes life. Anyone with a high school education in science knows this.

The planet is an ecosystem that adjusts with changes. After all, we know the planet was not only a lot colder in the past, but was also a lot hotter. After all, Greenland used to have crops growing on it.

I happen to think the planet is at a good temperature now and all these hysterics over "global warming" are propagated by uneducated people, or people who were paid off to promote this nonsense.

Answer 3

You might be surprised to hear that I agree with you on this one: I don’t actually believe that life would do better on the surface of the Sun than on Earth.

What I *do* believe is…

Warmer (up to a point) is better for life.

This means that, no, I don’t believe that if temperatures increased by, say, 100°C that all life would love it. It means that if temperatures rose by a few degrees, *some* life may be adversely effected, but that there would be more winners than losers.

This is demonstrated very clearly by the question…

Where is there more life? Antarctica, or the Amazon?

It could be argued that Antarctica is, technically, the biggest desert on Earth. While the Amazon rain forest has the greatest diversity of life.

Clearly, cold is not good for life. Warmth + water, however, seem to be very good for life (it's where life began, after all). And remember, a warmer world is expected to be a wetter world, too.

Research shows that, as temperatures rise, a (northern hemisphere, in this example) species’ northern limit expands pole-wards, while its southern limit moves very little, thus, its range *increases*.

People often mention corals dying off, but they actually evolved during the Mesozoic period that was significantly warmer than today, and when CO2 levels were over 1,000ppm. So, if corals are dying, it is unlikely to be caused by global warming or CO2.

At present, far more humans are killed by the cold during the winter than by the heat during the summer, so we'll be generally better off too.

Now, I know that you’ll cover your eyes and ears with your hands and scream “it’s not true, it’s not true!” But it is true dana. Generally speaking, life will be better off if the world were to warm a bit.

But yes, you right about living on the Sun. Life wouldn’t do very well there at all, so well done for spotting that.

Answer 4

This is of course both true AND false -- SOME life will thrive in warmer environments but not others -- Of course if it got TOO hot, ALL life would perish --

The best temp for HUMANS is about 72 degrees - That's the temp we flourish best in

But the fact is that the anti-science cretins would have you believe that cigarettes are good for you if they thought they could get away with it. They THRIVE on BS and love it when people are ignorant in matters of science.

Overall the effect of increased global warming on earth would hurt WAY more than it helped - higher extinction rate, stronger storms, more unbalanced and possibly crashing ecosystems

The stupids don't even look at this -- Why? Well, because they are STUPID.

Like this Mr Jello character above me. He thinks that because new species have been found that they NEVER EXISTED before we FOUND them. See what I mean? STUUUUUUUPIIIIIID

Answer 5

It isn't really possible to give a meaningful answer to this without restricting the context. Global warming won't sterilize the planet, in that sense it is not disastrous for life. It will make things very difficult for certain species to survive in their current ecological niches and geographical locations: tropical corals, for example. That doesn't mean corals will go extinct, they will migrate to higher latitudes where the water temperature is suitable for them, but the loss of the Great Barrier Reef as a living thing would be a bummer.

Most people say "warming is good for life" because of the original Idso et al. studies showing increased plant productivity in CO2 enriched atmospheres. However, more recent work in FACE systems (see link below) shows the enhanced growths measured originally by Idso et al. in greenhouses are not born out under more realistic conditions. Plus there is some evidence that the increase in tropospheric ozone will reduce plant productivity, and then there is the whole C3/C4 issue, so that realistic estimates of increased crop yields due to CO2 fertilization are very modest, on order of a few per cent. So even in that restricted context, it doesn't really make sense to claim warming or higher CO2 concentrations, are good for life. Higher temperatures and more acidic oceans are certain to be highly destructive to a lot of ecosystems and some of the specialized species contained therein.

While there aren't many things that will be affected for the good, on the whole life will continue. Men may come and go, but Earth abides.


Edit: Yeah yeah yeah, the mesozoic era was warmer on average, but corals evolved at higher latitudes where the water was approximately the same temperature as the tropics today. Australia, home the the Great Barrier Reef, has been moving northward towards the tropics since corals evolved. Assuming corals will survive in the tropics in a warmer modern world based on a higher average global temperature in a prehistoric world with a different land mass arrangement implies a lack of subtlety in reasoning. YMMV.

Answer 6

"better off living on the Sun than on Earth. "

What a joke. And you pose as a scientist? Why not flip this around? When you claim that global warming will cause species to go extinct, let me make the claim that this is brainless because you are suggesting that we would be better off living on the dark side of the moon.

Read for a change. How many new species were discovered around the world in the last couple of years? It seems like every other week there's a new news article describing new mammals, fish, flowers,insects, and birds.

I'm sure you don't believe me. I don't say what you want to believe. Maybe you're being paid by a political party?

It's easy to be a follower.

Answer 7

Of course warming is good for life. Numerous proxies indicate that the Holocene maximum was as warm or warmer than today, and this period lasted for thousands of years. Every animal you see walking around today including the polar bears survived the Holocene maximum just fine. These outlandish predictions of species going extinct because of a warming climate have no evidence to support it.

Answer 8

Yes, global warming is good for life. If we judge global warming from our own perspective we will only think about our own selves and our own comfort. The polar bear is going to completely disappear from the wild in just a few more years. What we need to understand is what is going to happen to life is going to be spectacular over the long run. Many if not most of us are going to go the way of the dinosaur. Plants will wither and die. The planet itself will take on grotesque changes. There will be survivors though. And these survivors will have the ability to adapt themselves even further as the temperature continues to rise. These new adaptations will allow these new species to not only survive but as a part of their survival they MUST thrive and that will be the part you are asking about. You may not like this new life on the planet. But, it will be the life that will be full of vitality in the end. It is called survival of the fittest. That is the way nature is and will always be.

Answer 9

Noting that life thrives around thermal vents in the ocean and many other examples of extremes in temperature. I don't know how you can be that specific unless you are narrowing your definition of life to say, humanity

Plagerized;
Though the term "cold" has plenty of meaning in the everyday world, in physics terminology, it does not. Cold and heat are analogous to darkness and light: again, darkness means something in our daily experience, but in physical terms, darkness is simply the absence of light. To speak of cold or darkness as entities unto themselves is rather like saying, after spending 20 dollars, "I have 20 non-dollars in my pocket."

Answer 10

It is people in cold places who make these remarks about their world seeming better ,they are not considering the millions who live in already hot places.

And this is early days For global warming ,so far the biggest changes are at microscopic levels ,but the effects will rise up the food chain,it is already affecting insects and their actions
And what happens to them will affect those who eat insects and so on .we are on top so we will be affected more drastically later .
and those on climatic frontiers will be affected first ,the very cold and hot places ,

Although rising food prices will be noticeable just like how much drinking water we got will be
.
Most people views here are for their world only ,but America is NOT the whole world however much they wished it was

To have a reasonable opinion on the effects of global warming as opposed to life on earth ,one has to have a global view , some basic education in the sciences as well as info on climatic events world wide and the disasters that have affected and are affecting Humanity ,including what is happening in agriculture and with the Environment in general


and if we know the past figures for these as well
then we are in the position to make a comment that actually means something.

Assuming we want a human perspective ,

For a lot of life intense heat is favorable
plants as well as moving things

Scorpions and Lizards may be over the moon about global warming ,perhaps the world is preparing its self for the Anunaki .