What is the ideal Global Climate?

Question

Our planet has gone through many climate changes in the past. Both hotter and colder than it is right now. So what should Earth's Optimal Global Climate be? And are you sure we had been living during that optimal climate?

David, I didn't ask whether I'm right or not about what happened in the past, but what people feel would be an Optimal Global Climate.

Bob - Where do you get the idea that the climate has been stable during the time of humans? Since that isn't true. We've had mini ice ages and warming trends during the time humans were known to inhabit the earth. It has not been a constant.

Trevor, I do appreciate your answer a lot.

Answer 1

There's no such thing as an ideal global climate - what's ideal for one species is fatal to another. Some species can adapt and evolve better than others and can ride out long term climate changes more easily than others.

In the half billion years of climate history that we have to work with there have been four complete ice age cycles, during each warm and cool period the ecology of the planet has been very different.

During the coldest periods when average global temperatures fall to 5°C there are mass extinctions and life is restricted to a few small parts of the planet and to those species that have adapted to live in bitterly cold environments.

During the hottest periods, temperatures at these times reach almost 35°C, life is much more abundant and the entire planet is covered with a much more diverse range of plants and animals.

Comparing the hottest and coldest periods is like comparing a tropical rain forest to a tundra region.

Humans are extremely adaptable, there's very few other species that can live in the range of environments that humans can - from the coldest inhabited place on the planet (Vostok, Antarctica) to the hottest (Dallol, Ethiopia) there is a temperature range of 80°C. From our point of view, by adapting we can live almost anywhere.

If humans were unable to adapt (ie. no clothes, shelter etc) then an ideal temperature for us would be around 28°C which is considerably warmer than the planet is now and is a temperature found equably in a very few places such as Singapore.

In terms of what the temperature of the planet should be were it not for global warming then the answer is 13.6°C. This is where the natural cycles that have always governed our climate in the past dictate we should be at now, the actual temperature is 14.6°C.

Answer 2

Dana1981, why is an ideal climate one that doesn't change rapidly? I have lived all over the USA and on any given day, the climate changes rapidly, 50 years ago we had a number of climate changes that changed temperature by 50+ degrees for a few hours and then returned back to the previous temperature.

Answer 3

The relatively stable one we had until we messed it up by burning huge amounts of fossil fuels.

Scientists attribute the rise of civilization to that relatively stable climate.

"We humans have built a remarkable socioeconomic system during perhaps the only time when it could be built, when climate was sufficiently stable to allow us to develop the agricultural infrastructure required to maintain an advanced society."

Sure, climate has changed in the past (although much more slowly for as long as people have existed). And then people who were simple nomads without technology, just moved around to find a better spot, and hunted different animals. Abandoned cliff dwellings are the most recent evidence of such moves. We can't do that any more. Among other reasons, it would cause wars.

The problem is not the climate as such, it's the rapid CHANGE we are causing and the inflexibility of our advanced civilization, with massive coastal development and intensive and very specialized agriculture. That change will cost all of us a huge amount of money, and some of us (the poorest, who can't afford measures to cope with the change), our lives.

"If the Earth came with an operating manual, the chapter on climate might begin with a caveat that the system has been adjusted at the factory for optimum comfort, so don't touch the dials."

EDIT - Mikira. I said relatively stable. Which it has been. Compare the last 10000 years

http://www.globalwarmingart.com/wiki/Image:Holocene_Temperature_Variations_Rev_png

to the last 450,000.

http://www.globalwarmingart.com/wiki/Image:Ice_Age_Temperature_Rev_png

Less than one degree of change versus several degrees. Even the scientific "skeptics" don't disagree about this one.

Answer 4

There is no Optimal Global Climate. The climate has changed several times over its history. It has been hotter and colder in the past. The problem with what is happening now is the speed with which this is happening. This rapid rate of change has never been seen before. The pollution that man is putting into the atmosphere has reached alarming and growing levels with no end in sight. We have to take measures in order to slowdown the rapid rate of climate change before we really ruin the atmosphere for ever.

Answer 5

There is no optimal global climate. Like you said, it goes through cycles. That's the beauty of this planet, the earth is ever-changing, and life has a mechanism to respond to those changes (evolution).

As far as global warming, it has become too politicized. Let's take a step back - we're obviously overusing resources. We're obviously polluting. We're obviously not in balance with the natural processes of the earth, because we think we can control them. Do you know that there are so many harmful pollutants in river beds from all the crap we dump in there, that it is not possible to dredge it up without having major die-offs downstream. So we can't eat the fish anymore, and we also can't clean the water. We just have to sit and wait thousands of years for it to degrade. How sad - I would love to go fishing and be able to eat what I catch.

My point is, why are we arguing so much about the effects and whether or not they're happening? Isn't it enough to see what a burden we've become and do something about it? I don't think changing our gluttonous ways is going to hurt anything, except to cut down on some peoples' extravagance a little. Boo hoo.

Answer 6

Although there is not a good answer, I would say that it could clearly get a little warmer and that would be more optimal for man. If it got colder, that would be a bad thing.

I think Keith sums up the alarmist viewpoint pretty well and he reveals that his contempt for anything human drives his world view. Even if humans created a little beneficial warming or moderation in the climate, that would be bad or I am sure in his view, catastrophic. I cannot understand why people take those sort of views seriously because they don't seem to see both sides of the issue and they are not practical. They cannot see the good and they focus only on the negative. How can they be trusted to "solve" a problem when they cannot rationally evaluate the pros and cons.

Answer 7

There is no one optimal climate. That's what is so ridiculous about the whole thing. They act as if right now is the perfect climate, and anywhere outside of the temperature range of now is outrageous, and will destroy the planet.
Each species "likes" a different temperature, though can adapt to a range of different climates. For example, the Emperor Penguin lives in the -200 degree Antarctic, but would die if left in the Gobi Desert. But if slowly introduced further and further north, I'm sure the penguin could adapt to live in much warmer areas.
Who knows? Maybe twenty degrees warmer would be a better climate than it is now. Thanks for bringing this up.
(I love tomcat's point. We ARE in an ice age. The earth has been so much warmer than it is today, and all manner of species have thrived. Global warming will not destroy the planet.)
(You said it Trevor! The cold periods are bad, and the warmest periods are good! So, doesn't it follow that global warming will be beneficial?)

Answer 8

The ideal global climate change conditions very slowly during thousands of years. That way all living things (including humans) get enough time to adapt and evolve with the changes. If for example temperatures or rain patterns change too much and too rapidly, species will die no matter if it's natural or not. It's really as simple as that.

Answer 9

There is no ideal global climate, only the regional ones we have gotten used to and that varies from area to area. If you don't like the climate where you are, you can always move north or south or up or down the mountain.

The problem with global warming comes from out having built cities in low-lying areas that will be inundated by the rise of the oceans and also from the increased intensity of storms. Compared to these, farmers having to (or being able to) change the crops they grow pales into insignificance.

Answer 10

For the last 600 million years, the Earth's average temperature has been around 20 Degrees C. for at least 75% of that time. At the Devonian Carbineferous boundary many hardwood trees evolved in an environment with atmospheric CO2 levels well above 1000 PPM. Grass for instance evolved at the beggining of the Cretaceous with CO2 over 2000 PPM and average temperatures much warmer than present, the Jurrasic dinosaurs never saw a blade of grass. Many large mammals would not exist if not for grass, so as far as the age of mammals go the beggining of the age of mammals at the Cretaceous / Tertiary boundary saw average global temperature about 8 or 9 degrees warmer than present, and CO2 levels at 800 PPM. Currently we are in an ice age.

http://mysite.verizon.net/mhieb/WVFossils/Carboniferous_climate.html
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