A new study indicates the degree to which humanity has overwhelmed the atmosphere’s ancient carbon cycle [ark]. Human activities are putting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere 14,000 times as fast as historic natural processes. Global change [search] at this rate and scale is utterly unprecedented and devastating. Feedbacks such as mountain weathering [search] that historically removed carbon dioxide are being inundated and are unable to continue maintaining relatively constant atmospheric balances and thus climatic patterns.

As humans have become a force of nature, the Earth system’s atmosphere is now entirely out of equilibrium. All this energy must go somewhere. In addition to global warming — increases in average global temperature — more troublingly we are set to experience spiraling chaotic climate changes. The Earth is already, and will continue, experiencing a complete break down in seasonality, extreme weather events and generally unreliable climatic patterns and oscillations. This is why “climate change” is the more accurate, powerful term to describe the forces that have been released and will impact the Earth for the rest of human history.