science @lemmy.world Lee Duna @lemmy.nz 1 yr. ago

Flowers Are Spreading in Antarctica as Summer Temperatures Soar

www.sciencealert.com Flowers Are Spreading in Antarctica as Summer Temperatures Soar

Antarctica is looking less and less recognizable with each passing year.

25 comments

Earth is a grave, and we're getting flowers near the poles.
- flowers near the poles.
  
  This is not the first time.
  
  Antarctica has had a huge variety of life in the past during warm periods.
  
  Earth is a grave
  
  No, earth is doing what it has always done. Responding to change during an extinction event. Life has caused an extinction event in the past during the great oxygenation event. The only difference this time is that the life-form causing the extinction event (humans) are aware of what is happening.
  
  I am not happy about any of this, it is a tragedy caused by humans.
  
  But the earth will recover in time, geological time. Life on earth will continue. It just won't be the same species that were here before. Whether humans make it through all this is uncertain. The cyanobacteria that caused the oxygenation still exist but only in tiny numbers compared to when they also dominated the planet.
  
  You’re severely downplaying (not even mentioning) the unprecedented by an order of magnitudes speed at which we’ve bought about the end of this epoch.
  
  Nothing about this is natural or cyclical.
a nice reminder that the planet is gonna be just fine, it's just running a fever to burn out the infection.
- Nobody was ever worried about the planet. We are worried about the ecosystems that we rely on to survive.
- *mass extinction event is currently happening with thousands of species disappearing *
  
  Planet is gonna be fine pf
  
  Precisely, the planet don't give a fuck, it'll still be there. Everything living on it though..
  
  extinction events are nothing new. species come and go, life endures.
  
  Might take a while, planet don't care...
Professor Farnsworth says he doesn't want to live on this planet anymore. Nature is saying we can't live here anymore.
- Futurama becomes increasingly improbable with every new year; we likely won't even make it to 3023 at this rate.
  
  i hope we make it to 2032
Just a little dash of creation in your destruction to remind you of Saṃsāra and our completely inconsequential existence in the Universe.

I both love and hate this photo. Cute little bright yellow blooms telling me that things are very bad.
- Just a reminder that species do go extict, but these flowers are not a new species. This is not really creation. To be fair it could lead to some in the future. Evolution of new species takes some time.
  
  I was thinking more about the new bloom as a creation/rebirth metaphor, not that the plant itself is some new genetic mutation. I apologise, I likely wasn't entirely clear with my navel-gazing.
Not only flowers are appearing because of the heat, but new diseases will be likely showing up.
Shit’s wack.
I should move there

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