Interestingly, it’s probably carbon capture “technology” that caused the Eocene to go from 3500ppm CO2 to below today’s levels. Arctic cores show at least 8 meters (!) of sedimentary Azolla that corresponds directly with a massive reduction in atmospheric carbon, kicking off an ice age. Google the Azolla event for more details.
This is why my personal focus is on carbon capture as a potential solution. Azolla apparently took us from greenhouse earth to an ice age in under 1M years, so I’m hoping we can do better. I also have a lot of respect for Elon Musk’s plan.
Oh, and in a truly delicious ironic turn, oil companies are investigating whether or not they can find oil in Arctic sedimentary deposits created by the Azolla event. I guess they want to put all that carbon back into the air!
Even if you’re so optimistic that you think we can drive our own emissions down to less than 1/6th current levels, feedback loops are have started driving non-anthropogenic carbon into the atmosphere that we have zero ability to control.
Another supporting data point is that most reef-dwelling species experienced an “anomalous” mass extinction during this period and not coincidentally we are seeing the same effects already in today’s oceans.
Some people say climate change scientists are being alarmist. In fact they are being very conservative and the data is scarier than what is reported.