Human-Made Global Warming Started With Ancient Hunters

In this paper by Science Daily, the author American Geophysical Union; tries to explain the new suggested idea from the discovery that Global warming was started thousands of years ago by Ancient Human Hunters. The General argument discussed in this paper, is that, when exactly the earlier “Anthropocene” (explained as the age in which humans contributed significantly in shaping the planet) (American Geophysical Union 2).

Was it after the extinction of Mammoths? Or by the early rice farmers in which their methods of forests burning may have caused the first human-made global warming as discussed in a previous study? This paper will try to analyze the composition of this paper, by understanding its core objective, followed by comprehending the data collected to come up with its conclusion, and finally would provide alternative hypotheses based on the observed results.

First of all, the objective of this paper is clear, it explains that even though currently, there are numerous critics of men being the cause of Global warming, the study suggest that even before people were already the initial culprit (American Geophysical Union 1). From that perspective the analysts of this study, upon agreeing on that objective suggests that the earliest Anthropocene may have started thousands of years earlier, contradicting the previous study that prehistoric rice farmers were the cause some 5,000 years ago (American Geophysical Union 2).

The data they analysts have collected came from studying a preserved pollen of birch trees labeled as a “pioneer specie” (American Geophysical Union 1). Which have suggested to them that since Mammoths in general feed on this kind of vegetation, and the former’s decline may have resulted to a dramatic increase of birch trees, in which the effect was these trees absorbing the heat of the sun which translates to a more hotter air. Although the data seems to support the conclusion, one may easily think of other questions that may rise based on their method of data collection.

An example of how does one account the extinction of the mammoths alone, or prehistoric hunters which led to their extinction could be the sole responsible for the early cause of climate change? Subsequent questions like, is the population of the mammoths before are quite significant that are they the only vegetation eating population during those times? What about other herbivores creatures with the same appetite and possibly the more significant in population size can they or should they be considered?

On a different note, looking at the core objective, in which states that people have a hand in global warming, this study clearly indicates that although they may have been part, but it is still inconclusive, If we are going to analyze and agree on the idea that the extinction of mammoths may have caused increased vegetation, that inevitably made our planet hotter, then looking back to the cause, Are all mammoths been killed by prehistoric hunters? Or are there other factors involved as well?

Such as the discussion on the study of the occurrence of natural climate change, in which earth have gone beyond the last ice age (American Geophysical Union 1)? These details should all be considered before attempting to arrive at the conclusion. Overall, this paper posed some interesting suggestions on interpreting that human caused global warming may have been about 15000 years, about seven thousand years earlier than the previous study about prehistoric rice farming.

Although probably feasible, and the primary data could easily be linked on the cause, there are still a lot of alternative questions that can be attributed on that sole case alone. As discussed in the previous paragraphs all of those questions need to be accounted for before arriving on such conclusion, since isolating on the mammoths alone and their reason on extinction is not enough data to validate the results. Work Cited Page American Geophysical Union. Human-Made Global Warming Started With Ancient Hunters. Science Daily 1 July 2010. 14 July 2010 <http://www. sciencedaily. com¬ /releases/2010/06/100630162353. htm>.

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