The earth is our homeland where we have lived for millions of years, and it is difficult for most people to leave this homeland in their lifetime. Although human beings have been exploring and studying extraterrestrial planet plans after leaving the earth, we must understand that it is not an easy task for humans to migrate to other planets. Even if they migrate to other planets in the solar system, it may not take hundreds of years. The time can not be done.
If it is to migrate outside the solar system, it will require a higher technological strength, perhaps thousands of years, humans will not be able to do it. Before mankind has the ability to emigrate to other planets, the earth is the guarantee for our survival, and the problems of the earth are also problems that we have to face directly.
Although the earth’s ecological environment has undergone many great changes before the emergence of human beings, such as the five major biological extinctions, these major ecological changes are a periodic self-regulation of nature and a natural law. behavior. This self-regulation cycle is relatively long, and it takes at least tens of millions of years to happen once.
After the emergence of human beings, the periodic changes of the earth’s ecological environment have not changed. Under natural conditions, after tens of millions of years, there is a high probability that the sixth mass extinction of the earth will occur. This is the result of normal natural conditions, and the emergence of humans is gradually changing this natural change, making the changes in the earth’s ecological environment more and more affected by human activities.
Especially after human beings entered the age of science and technology, the use of a large amount of fossil energy has exacerbated the deterioration of the ecology. The ecological drastic changes that would have taken tens of millions of years to occur, because of the activities of human industry, this time is shortening sharply.
We can see that the Earth’s ecosystem has become worse and worse in recent years, with earthquakes, droughts, and severe storms appearing frequently. The year 2020 that has just passed is an extraordinary year. In 2020, I believe everyone has seen the climate change of the earth. It is indeed very bad. Since March, various environmental problems have continued to occur, such as wildfires in Australia. Locust plagues in Africa, red snow events in Antarctica, methane outbreaks in the Arctic, etc.
These environmental issues give us instructions: “Mother Earth is in desperation.” The extraordinary year of 2020 has passed, and now 2021 has entered, will the earth’s ecology in 2021 become better? I believe that after experiencing the dust storm that lasted for several days in the previous period, many friends understand that the environmental problems in 2021 may still be very serious, even more serious than in 2020.
One of the main causes of these frequently occurring environmental problems is global warming. The extreme heat generated by global warming will bring various side effects. The global temperature in 2020 has repeatedly set new records, especially when the Arctic experienced a historically rare high temperature of 38 degrees Celsius in May. In recent years, the most difficult thing for people to survive is the continuous extreme high temperature climate in summer.
“Heat” has become synonymous with the normalization of the earth’s ecology. In the 20 years since the beginning of the 21st century, the earth’s temperature has become hotter and hotter. Climate scientists have released temperature change reports almost every year. From these reports, we can see that in the past 20 years, The temperature of the earth is rising more and more. The reason behind this is naturally the increasing carbon dioxide emissions caused by industrial activities.
Scientists call this situation “climate sensitivity”, and the cause of this “climate sensitivity” is directly related to the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. If scientists’ predictions are accurate, it means that the future will be hotter than previously expected. If emissions continue to grow, among them, Australia (Australia) will rise to above 7 degrees Celsius by 2100, which is completely turning Australia into a “scorched earth” model.
Global warming will bring many side effects, such as extreme rainfall, rising sea levels, extreme heat waves and so on. Among the many side effects, the continuous emergence of ancient creatures in ancient glaciers is the most serious problem.
I believe many friends know that there are frozen soil layers in the north and south poles. These ancient frozen soil layers have existed for hundreds of thousands of years, and a large number of ancient creatures are enclosed by ice. If it is just the remains of complex creatures, we don’t need to worry, they are already dead and will not pose a threat to the earth and humans.
What really worries scientists is those ancient bacteria and viruses. Bacteria and viruses are a type of low-level life that exists in the biosphere. In a sense, they are close to immortal life. No matter how long the ice is sealed, as long as the climate and temperature are suitable, It is possible to recover.
Global warming has accelerated the melting of polar glaciers, and the permafrost is constantly melting. In these frozen soils there are ancient bacteria and viruses hundreds of thousands of years ago. They are very different from our current bacteria and viruses. , Once it is completely released, it may have a huge impact on the ecology of the earth.
In recent years, scientists have discovered many archaea and viruses in the frozen soil. For example, scientists collected two ice core samples from the Guliya ice cap in Tibet, and found that there were multiple viruses in them, one of which was about 1.5 Among the viruses that were blocked under the ice tens of thousands of years ago, 4 of the viruses discovered this time are known and 28 are unknown.
Professor Scott Rogers of Bowling Green State University, Ohio, while studying the polar ice core microorganisms in his laboratory, also discovered virus strains that have survived in the ice for nearly 140,000 years. All of these situations tell us that as global warming continues, after the melting of glaciers, a large number of bacteria and viruses will be released all over the world, which will have unknown effects.
In summary, we have seen the severity of the earth’s ecological environment and the severe tests that mankind will face in the future. The famous physicist Hawking has issued warnings on many occasions: The time left by the earth is running out. Hawking is not optimistic about the environment of the earth. He believes that the earth may become a desolate planet in hundreds of years, and it is no longer suitable for human survival.
If Hawking’s worries become reality, the time left for mankind may really be short. We have to realize the migration to the outer planet within hundreds of years. This is a huge test, and we must achieve this goal. , We must develop science and technology rapidly. Only the whole mankind abandons internal contradictions, twists into a rope, and works together for the continuation of mankind.