"Whatever we do in the next few generations will affect hundreds or thousands of generations to come. So it's a big responsibility," Shaffer said. "Hopefully people will understand and take up measures to stop burning fossil fuels and to start using renewable forms of energy." But if emissions continue unabated, ecosystems could collapse in huge swaths of ocean, turning them into noxious soups of cyanobacteria. The bugs may begin feasting on nitrate and eventually sulfur, which would produce the poisonous gas hydrogen sulfide. The same process on an even larger scale is thought to have contributed to the Permian mass extinction 250 million years ago, when 90 percent of life on the planet was snuffed out. Related Links: |
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