Under a Green Sky
by Peter Douglas Ward · first published 2007
78% recommend11% neutral11% critical
Why HN recommends it
A paleontologist's account of past climate catastrophes and mass extinctions, used to explore how far unmitigated warming could push life on Earth. Recommended for readers wanting the science behind the warnings.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
More than 200 million years ago, a cataclysmic event known as the Permian extinction destroyed more than 90% of all species and nearly 97% of all living things. Its origins have long been a puzzle for paleontologists, and during the 1990s and the early part of this century a great battle was fought between those who thought that death had come from above and those who thought something more complicated was at work.Paleontologist Peter D. Ward, fresh from helping prove that an asteroid had killed the dinosaurs, turned to the Permian problem, and he has come to a stunning conclusion. In his inve
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…and been responsible for multiple mass extinction events[1]. It's also worth pointing out that the AMOC is already showing evidence of weakening [2] A good overview of this paleontologist Peter Ward's Under a Green Sky. 0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_meridional_overturnin... 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anoxic_event 2. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aaz4876
on “France experiencing worst drought on record” ↗…fairly conservative and fail to incorporate a lot of unknowns (Thwaite's glacier is an obvious example of this). One example of evidence for extinction risk is work of paleontologist Peter Ward. Ward's "Under a Green Sky" is his popular science version of some of his work (and worth a read). Ward discovered that quite a few major extinction events in the past have been connected with sudden rise in atmospheric CO2 and…
on “Researchers forecast a hard-to-imagine West – one without snow” ↗…extinction event, and that is absolutely on the table. We're already in the 6th largest mass extinction event in the history of life on this planet. I would strongly recommend reading Peter Ward's "Under a Green Sky" (or his academic papers if that's more your style). He makes a very compelling argument about the relationship between rising CO2 and many of the previous major (and minor) extinction events. To be…
on “Rain at the Summit of Greenland” ↗> A changing climate doesn't mean an unlivable earth. For virtually the entire history of life on this planet for the majority of life on the planet, this statement is false. Peter Ward's Under a Green Sky is a great read on this subject from a scientific point of view and Peter Brannen's The Ends of the World covers it more broadly with a more journalistic style. The geological evidence we have strongly…
…Far more concerning is that this tons of geological evidence that there are feed back triggers that cause rapid rise in GHGs and temperature and we don't know exactly when we might cross these. The book Under a Green Sky, by paleontologist Peter Ward lays out rather convincing evidence that the majority of extinction events have been caused by rapid climate change triggered by changes in CO2. I'm not sure why you don't…
on “Climate endgame: exploring catastrophic climate change scenarios” ↗…massive famine. But if you really want to talk about the unmitigated climate change path, which is what happens if we choose not to keep hydrocarbons in the ground, I really recommend reading Peter Ward's Under a Green Sky [2]. He's a respected geologist that makes a compelling case that the vast majority of mass extinction events were caused by rapid rises in CO2. One of the realistic scenarios we're facing, he argues,…
on “Shell Quietly Shelves a Radical Plan to Shrink Its Carbon Footprint” ↗…producing oxygen and starts releasing hydrogen sulfide instead. It's happened a few times in Earth's history [0] suspected to usually be caused climate change impacting ocean circulation. Peter Ward's Under a Green Sky does a fantastic overview of this subject, and outlines how most mass extinction events have likely been triggered by sudden changes in atmospheric CO2 through various mechanism. 0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anoxic_event
on “Gulf Stream weakening now 99% certain, and ramifications will be global” ↗The paleontologist Peter Ward has made a fairly compelling argument (in both academic research and the popular science book Under a Green Sky), that virtually all major extinction events are related to sudden rises in atmospheric CO2. A lot more happens when CO2 rises quickly other than it getting warmer. A major issue is it's impact on the…
on “I used to not worry about climate change. Now I do [video]” ↗…completely disrupt the planetary food change, make the ocean poisonous, and fundamentally alter life on this planet in unimaginable ways. For a more detailed look at the issue I highly recommend Peter Ward's "Under a Green Sky".
on “Tipping point in Gulf Stream may be reached as early as mid-century” ↗…https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/aug/29/major-se... Given the lag in the climate, isn’t 1.5C warming more or less unavoidable now? We would need extremely steep emissions reductions that aren’t happening. I enjoyed ‘Under a Green Sky’, which combines a brief history of palaeontology (and amusing academic point settling) with the prediction that warming will eventually cause huge releases of hydrogen sulphide. We are perhaps entering…
on “Exceeding 1.5°C global warming could trigger multiple climate tipping points” ↗Have you read anything by Peter Ward? He's a fairly well respected paleontologist who has argued convincingly in both papers and popular books (most notably "Under a Green Sky"), that sudden rises in CO2 have been linked to the majority of major (and many minor) mass extinctions throughout history. He's not alone in scientists out there who believe that rapid climate change…
on “It’s official: July was Earth’s hottest month on record” ↗I don’t know why, but the author’s writing style in Under a Green Sky irritated me so much I couldn’t get past the first few pages. Maybe it changes if I stick it out.
on “Exceeding 1.5°C global warming could trigger multiple climate tipping points” ↗This reminded me of hydrogen sulfide H2S[1] which then caused me to go back a look and sure enough, the book "Under a Green Sky" [2] was about runaway H2S and extinction events. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_sulfide [2] https://orionmagazine.org/review/under-a-green-sky/ and https://vimeo.com/64407973
on “Will an EV-Filled World Pass the Sulfuric Acid Test?” ↗…to see calls for moderate pragmatism when our current state has been accelerating CO2 emissions. We're, quite literally, stepping on the gas to meet whatever future awaits us. 0. See Peter D. Ward's "Under a Green Sky" for one example scenario.
on “The Disappearing Doomsday” ↗