RE: When Hell Freezes Over: Snowball Earth and the Dawn of Life
I did not know that oxygenation of this planet resulted also in an Ice Age. The catastrophy that is the Great Oxygenation killed-off most life on this planet with the poison that is oxygen. The temperature drop would also have contributed to that mass extinction event.
Thinking about the countless extinction disasters preceding humanity's ascent on this planet, when man flails about shouting "end of the world," he actually means "end of man," which on the timescale of our planet is even beneath insignificant. Humans need to reflect that they live on a planet that supports life on some of its surface, some of the time, 99% of which life have been extinct. If man remembers this truth, then maybe he will not be so infantile in his quest for vainglory, as even existence of man will not register to those of future era.
The study of geology is definitely humbling- the scale of geologic time is absurdly vast. We've done astonishing things in our short time on Earth, to be sure, but it unfortunately seems that we might be sprinters, not marathon runners.