There exists a very extensive fossil record of the past 50,000 years of life in the Los Angeles basin, at the George C. Page Museum, in Los Angeles. Along with the bones of the megafauna, that we are all familiar with, excavators at the Rancho LaBrea Project and at salvage digs around the area (due to the construction of the Metro subway) have been finding and cataloging the small life of the past as well. Fossil remains of fish, reptiles, amphibians, and even pollen grains and plant material have been recorded. The importance of these items is that they are a record of the area as it was because these are the fossils of what lived in the basin during that time, not what may have wandered into the tar pits while "passing through". What these fossils have shown is that for at least the past 50,000 years the Los Angeles Basin has become drier and warmer. Long before the advent of humans and the internal combustion engine. This shows a natural cycle of warming and cooling that has been going on for, well . . . forever. Does this get us off the hook for climate change? Yes and no. My belief is while we are in a natural cycle we still may be exacerbating the situation and if we can reduce those annoying fumes that make my eyes water when in the city then why not do it? Just do not believe that you will ever stop climate change, we puny humans are not that powerful.
There exists a very extensive fossil record of the past 50,000 years of life in the Los Angeles basin, at the George C. Page Museum, in Los Angeles. Along with the bones of the megafauna, that we are all familiar with, excavators at the Rancho LaBrea Project and at salvage digs around the area (due to the construction of the Metro subway) have been finding and cataloging the small life of the past as well. Fossil remains of fish, reptiles, amphibians, and even pollen grains and plant material have been recorded. The importance of these items is that they are a record of the area as it was because these are the fossils of what lived in the basin during that time, not what may have wandered into the tar pits while "passing through". What these fossils have shown is that for at least the past 50,000 years the Los Angeles Basin has become drier and warmer. Long before the advent of humans and the internal combustion engine. This shows a natural cycle of warming and cooling that has been going on for, well . . . forever. Does this get us off the hook for climate change? Yes and no. My belief is while we are in a natural cycle we still may be exacerbating the situation and if we can reduce those annoying fumes that make my eyes water when in the city then why not do it? Just do not believe that you will ever stop climate change, we puny humans are not that powerful.
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