How global warming will someday end life on Earth
The Sun might not be responsible for the short-term warming we’re experiencing now, but in the end, it’s all that matters.
“We have known since the 1800s that carbon dioxide traps heat in the atmosphere. The right amount keeps the climate conducive to human life.”
-James Hansen
We like to think of our planet as perfect for life, having met all the conditions we know of for life to exist, flourish and thrive for billions of years. After all, here on Earth, with our not-too-thick and not-too-thin atmosphere, we’ve got liquid water on our surface, made possible by the pressure and temperature combinations at sea level. Luckily for us, we’re not just reliant on being a certain distance from the Sun.
Our Sun might be just another star like many others, but unlike the brighter, bluer stars that shine throughout the sky yet are short-lived, our Sun will shine at a relatively constant brightness for billions of years. And if the Sun shone at its current brightness, while all Earth did was absorb the sunlight during the day and radiate it back away at night, the laws of physics tell us in a straightforward fashion what the temperature on our planet’s surface ought to be: 255 kelvin (-18 °C / 0 °F).
