Global warming will cause ice to melt, which will release bacteria that had remained dormant for thousands of years
Posted on 10/16/2018 8:20:53 AM PDT by ETL
The melting of permafrost would release millennia-old bacteria into the global ecosystem, it has been claimed
GLOBAL warming could re-awaken ancient diseases and even the Black Death, according to an Oxford University professor.
Higher global temperatures would melt ice sheets that store long-buried bacteria, which could spread disease and potentially cause new global pandemics.
Global warming will cause ice to melt, which will release bacteria that had remained dormant for thousands of years
Professor Peter Frankopan offered his speculative prediction at the Cheltenham Literary Festival on Friday, as reported by The Times.
The professor of global history began by stating his view that there was "absolutely no chance" the international community would hit the Paris Agreement's target of keeping global temperature rises under 1.5C.
He said, "If we go over that degree change, it’s not about the Maldives being harder to visit on holiday or migration of people — it’s about what happens when permafrost unfreezes and the release of biological agents that have been buried for millennia."
And because ancient bacteria would be released again into the Earth's ecosystems, there would be a big risk of the global population being hit by diseases it can't handle.
Chief amongst such diseases is the plague, which Frankopan states was spread in the Middle Ages largely due to a rise in global temperatures.
"For example, in the 1340s, a 1.5 degree movement of heating of the earth’s atmosphere — probably because of solar flares or volcanic activity — changes the cycle of Yersinia pestis bacterium," he explained.
"That one and a half degree difference allowed a small microbe to develop into the Black Death."
According to Frankopan, such a possibility should be taken more seriously than a rise in sea levels or droughts, not least because the Black Death wiped out between 75 and 200 million people in Europe in the 14th Century.
"These are the things we should be hugely worried about," he said.
While his warnings draw a worst-case scenario for future global warming, there are recent examples of melting permafrost presenting a serious hazard to people.
In 2016, a 12-year-old boy died and over 40 people were hospitalised in Siberia, after having been infected by anthrax.
The anthrax had been released when high summer temperatures melted permafrost, which had kept a deer buried for decades following a previous outbreak of the dangerous bacteria.
Since this deer had been killed by anthrax, its exposure caused the previously frozen bacteria to be released into the area's water and soil, where it then entered the food chain.
Over 1,500 reindeer were infected and killed as a result, and since some of these had been eaten by local residents, they too were infected.
Frankopan's predictions also come amid a growing slew of studies examining some of the more indirect effects of global warming.
Yesterday, an international team of climate scientists publishing in the Nature Plants journal wrote that severe climate change would cause worldwide beer shortages.
Last month, a paper published in the influential Nature journal concluded that global warming is already causing a rise in large landslides and tsunamis.
While in July, researchers at Stanford University published research which found that rising global temperatures could result in 40,000 more suicides in the US and Mexico by 2050.
What worries you most about global warming? Let us know in the comments.
So, what he’s saying is that this ice wasn’t there a few hundred years ago? So, throughout the industrial age, as the air dot dirtier, the ice built up, bit now that the air is cleaner, the ice is melting off??
Bit really, the ice isn’t melting as it’s been noted over and over again.
Humm...
Global Warming on Free Republic here, here and here
Furthermore, as I recall my history of the Middle Ages (and it is my hobby), the 14th Century was marked by colder, wetter weather than the previous 300 years, not a 1 degree temperature rise.
Man, they are REALLY hyping Global Warming...coming right up to the Mid-Terms, aren’t they?
*Rolleyes*
And turn him into a Vegan"!
As long as I have ice in my Martini Shaker, I’m good. ;)
So black death and apparently no beer either because of Global Warming... Can we classify this as desperation on the part of the Global Warming alarmist?
Trump has brought these doomsday soothsaying lunatics to their knees and their fear is now palatable with each passing day. They know they’re losing and that the populace is waking up thanks to Trump. After being lied to by the mainstream media and liberals for the past decade, the populace is saying NO! to paying additional taxes in the form of carbon tax... Get over it!
PHEW! That was CLOSE!
If true, maybe it’s time “climate scientists” stop drilling ice core samples at the poles. Just think what horrors they might unleash!
And as reported by other agencies, we will not have beer to alleviate our sorrow and can not afford the gasoline to get to the doctor. OH WOE IS ME!!! :-(
“But open borders have nothing to do with it”
Or failure of parents to have their children vaccinated.
OMG! I am going to load my last, remaining gun and kill myself.
I just cannot take news like this any longer.
It might be a mess for others to clean but I will avoid the pain of the “Black Death!”
My note to my wife and family will read:
“THAT DOES IT!”
“re-awaken ancient diseases and even the Black Death. . .”
If anything is going to reawaken the Black Death it will be the filth in the streets of San Francisco.
SEE! I told everybody that that bastard, Osama was still alive.
Obamma told us that he killed him (or had him killed), he needed killing. Conveniently, actually SUSPICIOUSLY, the muzzie was buried at sea. No body, no DNA, no pictures, no nothing to prove that there was a death. The Seal team was killed and only the man who tells us that he pulled the trigger, is with us.
A massive cover up by a team of liars and cheats, led by the black hope, non citizen, from Hawaii.
Got to ramp it up for Mid Terms.
That’s how they roll
QUIZ Question #3
Prediction Number 3:
[Predictor] . . . told author Bob Reiss in [year of prediction] that New York City would be underwater in 20 years. “The West Side Highway [which runs along the Hudson River] will be under water,” [predictor] said. “And there will be tape across the windows across the street because of high winds. And the same birds won’t be there. The trees in the median strip will change.”
answer:
Answer for Prediction Number 3: Another famous prediction, this one made in 1988 by James Hansen, then head of the branch of NASA known as GISS that collects (and fraudulently alters) world temperature data. This time the 20 year prediction period expired in 2008. Meanwhile, I went down the West Side Highway just a few days ago, and the water didn’t appear any closer to swamping it than it was back in 1988.
Loved “The Twilight Zone,” and seeing the many actors in their early roles. Burgess Meredith was great.
“the water didn’t appear any closer to swamping it than it was back in 1988.”
Wait for the tide to rise.
When the ICE AGE returns, The Ocean levels will decline and there will be new beachfront real estate to be had.
Stay tuned.
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