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  • SCIENTISTS HAVE A NEW THEORY TO EXPLAIN WHY EARTH HAS REMAINED A LONE OUTPOST FOR LIFE

  • IN OUR SOLAR SYSTEM. EARTH HAS STAYED LIVABLE, DESPITE NATURAL EVENTS THAT ROBBED NEIGHBORING

  • PLANETS OF THE ABILITY TO HOST AND SUSTAIN LIFE.

  • RESEARCHERS SAY THAT'S BECAUSE OF THE GEOLOGIC CYCLES EARTH HAS GONE THROUGH FOR MILLIONS

  • OF YEARS AND IT'S STILL GOING THROUGH. ON ASSIGNMENT'S PHILIP ALEXIOU TALKED WITH VOA

  • SCIENCE BLOGGER RICK PANTALEO FOR MORE. CHECK IT OUT.

  • WHAT'S THE MOST REVEALING PART ABOUT THIS REPORT?

  • WELL, I THINK TO ME THE MOST REVEALING PART OF IT IS HOW AMAZING NATURAL GEOLOGIC CYCLES

  • CONTROL THE CLIMATE OF THE EARTH BY THE ABSORPTION AND RELEASE OF CARBON DIOXIDE AND IT'S BEEN

  • DOING IT FOR MILLIONS OF YEARS. AND IN THIS PARTICULAR STUDY WHAT THEY WOUND UP FINDING

  • WAS THAT THE ROCKS THAT ARE THE RESULT OF THE UPLIFTING OF THE MOUNTAINS SUCH AS THE

  • ANDES MOUNTAINS AND THE HIMALAYAS AND SO FORTH THROWS OFF A LOT OF ROCKS AND MINERALS AS

  • THE MOUNTAINS ARE EMERGING AND THESE ROCKS ABSORB CARBON DIOXIDE. NOW, THE OPPOSITE OF

  • WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IS IF THE CARBON DIOXIDE, ALL THE CO2 WAS TAKEN AWAY THERE WOULD BE

  • NO GREENHOUSE EFFECT.

  • AND WE WOULD ALL FREEZE TO DEATH.

  • AND WE WOULD ALL FREEZE TO DEATH. WE WOULD BE AS COLD AS MARS. EXCEPT THAT MARS DOES

  • NOT HAVE AN ATMOSPHERE AND WE DO. BUT, WE WOULD BE COLD. SO, AT THE SAME TIME THAT IT

  • ABSORBS CO2, ACCORDING TO THE STUDY, THESE ROCKS ALSO SLOWLY RELEASE CO2 BACK INTO THE

  • EARTH, STORED CO2 IT RELEASES SLOWLY. BUT THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR MILLIONS OF YEARS.

  • SO SCIENTISTS THEN WANTED TO FIND OUT IF IT WAS UNIQUE BECAUSE THEY WERE IN THE ANDES

  • MOUNTAINS AREA, THEY WANTED TO FIND OUT IF THIS WAS UNIQUE JUST TO THE ANDES MOUNTAINS

  • AREA THEY WERE STUDYING, SO THEY DID, CHECK DATA FROM OTHER AREAS SUCH AS THE HIMALAYAS

  • AND FOUND THAT THIS PHENOMENA IS GLOBAL IN ASPECT. AND THEY ALSO WANTED TO CHECK OTHER

  • RECORDS TOO SO THEY CHECKED MARINE RECORDS OF OCEAN BLOCKS THAT DATE BACK MILLIONS OF

  • YEARS, AND KEEP IN MIND IF WE DIDN'T HAVE CO2 IN THE ATMOSPHERE, NO GREENHOUSE EFFECT,

  • THEN AND NO LIFE ON EARTH.

  • NOW WHAT HAPPENS FOR EXAMPLE, I DON'T KNOW IF THIS IS RELATED TO THIS REPORT, WHEN SAY

  • MT. PINATUBO IN THE PHILIPPINES ERUPTS AND SPEWS ASH AND PLUME AROUND THE EARTH AND SCIENTISTS

  • FROM THE NATIONAL OCEANIC ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION THEY SAY THAT IT BASICALLY, THAT THAT EVENT

  • COOLED THE EARTH FOR A WHILE, IS THERE ANY RELATION TO THAT SORT OF EVENT COMPARED TO

  • WHAT THIS REPORT SAYS.

  • I WOULD SAY NO. BECAUSE WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT WITH THE RELEASE OF VOLCANIC ASH, AND

  • VOLCANIC ASH COULD BE SO FINE, BUT WHAT IT DOES IS IT SORT OF CREATES A SUNSCREEN IN

  • THE ATMOSPHERE OF FINE ASH AND WHAT HAPPENS IS SUN IS FILTERED OUT AND WHEN YOU'RE FILTERING

  • SUNLIGHT YOU'RE NOT GETTING THE FULL EFFECT OF THE SUN. ONE OF THE THINGS I ASKED MARK

  • TORRES WHO IS MATTER OF FACT, THE LEAD AUTHOR OF THE STUDY, I ASKED AND I SAID, YOU KNOW,

  • WERE THESE NATURAL PROCESSES PLAY WITH MANMADE CO2 SUCH AS WHAT WE ARE EXPERIENCING NOW WITH

  • THE INCREASE OF CO2 IN THE ATMOSPHERE AND THE WAY HE TOLD ME IS, YEAH, BUT IT'S GOING

  • TO TAKE A LONG TIME SINCE THE ROCKS AND THE NATURAL PROCESSES TAKES A DIFFERENT TIME TABLE

  • ALTOGETHER. IT WILL TAKE MILLIONS OF YEARS BUT WE WON'T KNOW IF IT WILL FULLY COUNTERACT

  • THE CARBON DIOXIDE THAT WE'RE PUTTING OUT.

  • BUT RIGHT NOW IT'S BALANCED.

  • WELL. IT DEPENDS ON WHAT SIDE OF THE ARGUMENT YOU ARE ON ON CLIMATE CHANGE BUT RIGHT NOW

  • IT SEEMS AS THOUGH CO2, ACCORDING TO A LOT OF STUDIES THERE'S A GREAT AMOUNT ACCUMULATING

  • IN THE ATMOSPHERE.

  • OUR THANKS TO VOA SCIENCE BLOGGER RICK PANTALEO.

  • IT'S TIME FOR ANOTHER BREAK. COMING UP: THE PUSH FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOMS COLLIDES WITH

  • HEALTH CARE REFORM. YOU'RE WATCHING ON ASSIGNMENT.

SCIENTISTS HAVE A NEW THEORY TO EXPLAIN WHY EARTH HAS REMAINED A LONE OUTPOST FOR LIFE

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