Two more things — land animals during the Paleo-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) did -not- have mass extinctions, but there is evidence of mass migrations. This is another example of something we are already seeing today (for quite a while now). Now project forward 50-100 years and imagine the mass land animal migrations are us. Given how well we aren’t handling comparatively minor migrations today, you could be forgiven for thinking we are well and truly f*cked.

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!