Life Sciences Gallery: The Human Factor: Time Tunnel
One wall of the Time Tunnel looks at major changes in the global ecosystem over the last 600 million years, including extinction events, the composition of the atmosphere, global temperature, and human population growth and energy use. |
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Extinction - Biodiversity has increased over time, with periodic major extinction events. Today's extinction event is a result of habitat changes resulting from human activity.
Greenhouse Gases - Global temperature is linked to changes in the levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide and methane. Since humans began burning fossil fuels, concentrations of these gases have risen higher than they have been for over 400,000 years.
Global Temperature - Through the 1900s, the average global temperature rose by 0.6°C and is expected to increase by another 1.5 - 6°C by 2100. During the last Ice Age, the global temperature was only 6-8°C cooler than the 1961-1990 average.
Population and Energy - World population has been growing steadily since the industrial revolution. World energy consumption has also been growing rapidly, producing large ecological "footprints" even where our numbers are small.
The other wall examines 4 million years of cultural development. Massive social and technological changes were triggered by the development of agriculture about 10,000 years ago, and rates of change increased in the 1700s with the onset of the industrial age. Today's "global village" is characterized by the intensive use of non-renewable resources, consumerism, and the rapid movement of people, money, products, diseases, and information. |
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For further information contact the Curator of Life Sciences.
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