| In the course of twelve months, Los Angeles experiences the change from sunny, "lets get a tan" weather to "I’m sooo cold!" fifty degree winters. Southland natives consider these dramatic climate changes. But that’s nothing compared to what the Earth has endured. Imagine changes in the weather that are severe enough to wipe out entire species, climates where the toughest creatures cannot survive, and events (volcanoes, plate movements, bolide impacts) that can have dramatic effects on our planet and every organism on Earth. It’s been four and a half billion years since planet Earth was created, and what an amazing life it’s been! Freezing snow storms and ice-covered summers, black soot rising and blocking sunlight, huge blocks of outer space falling to earth, and entire continents sliding around the globe are just some of the reasons for the crazy climate changes that Earth has had to deal with. Earth’s climatic variations have been sudden, extreme, and enduring. They have altered placid environments, and created a world that few organisms could survive on. |
