If the earth is warming up, will humans evolve/adapt to the warmer temperatures?

Question

If the earth is warming up, are we going to evolve so that we can survive in the warmer temperatures? And if so, how?

Are we going to grow like another organ of some kind?

Answer 1

I think we will just move.

Answer 2

were going to die if anything. we wiill not evolve because evolution takes thousands of generations and for people thats a long time. we won't deveolp gills but if the temperature elevates long enough we might develope more sweat glands or other things to cope w/ the heat.

Answer 3

The Earth can't warm up indefinitely.  It would go through something violent to return to its normal state.  History shows us that it's an ice age that would restore equilibrium.

And the last ice age didn't push humans into extinction, so I'm inclined to believe that the next one won't either.

Answer 4

We'll evolve to some degree, but the global warming may occur too rapidly and we'll all die.

That's our individual destiny in any case.

Answer 5

Die of thirst or drown is more like it. If we lose Brazil's trees will the forest in Canada start producing more oxygen?

The problem is there are 6 billion people in the world, if the food production is cut in half (at this time we have millions dying of hunger). Do I have to go on? If you think any war we have had was h**l, the next. God help us.

Answer 6

We are more likely to drown because the polar icecaps will melt.

Answer 7

The main means that humans adapt to their environments is through culture.  For the foreseeable future, that is how we will cope with the changes and stresses that Global Warming will cause--in other words, people living in coastal cities will move somewhere else, they won't develop gills!  8^)

Now, if the effects of Global Warming are so catastrophic that our technological civilization falls and the worldwide population falls to 1 billion of less, and people are basically subsistence farmers, with little population movement or outbreeding, then certain adaptations in populations may develop.  

But remember, we believe that Australian Aborigines were isolated for around 30,000 years and were still fully capable of interbreeding with Europeans when the later "discovered" Australia, so changes would not mean that difference human species would evolve.

wl

Answer 8

not in the next few hundred years we wont. such mutations grow upout of  the usefullness they provide. ANY mutation is currently view as freakish by most humans. it will not be consideed  conducive to  mating. thus the trait will not pass through sufficient geneations to  become dominant  and succesfull.

even if it were truly benefical our suspicious and  prejudicial attitudes will get in the way of  evolutonary change.

On the positive side  we as a species have all the coping skills we need to  adapt to  such changes without those types of physiological changes  being  necessary.  we already inhabit  claimates that range  from -40 C to +40c

all that will be needed wil be technology to  desalinate sea water  more efficiently and  cheaply for world consumption.

and to start  moving the populations inland  a few dozen miles .  shouldnt be too difficult

Answer 9

The ability to adapt to all kinds of environments is one of humanities biggest strengths.  We've still got a lot of life left in us and I'm confident we'll survive.  It may not be pretty, but humans are tenacious.

Answer 10

You misunderstand evolution and time scales.

Evolution is random selection of random mutations. Unless the mutation is a lethal dominant, (expressed always, first generation) it takes generations for lethal recessions to decrease in the gene pool. Evolution takes a long time, on the order of millions of years.

The present climate change is very rapid compared to this scale. We have adapted our environment to suit ourselves. Now the unseen consequences are becoming apparent. If we use our intelligence we can modify our actions.

But there are six billion of us on the planet. There are to many humans to survive unless we are very careful.

Answer 11

Humans evolved in Africa so have dealt with high temperatures before. We're also extremely adaptable to the enviorment.

The earth undergoes periodic cycle or warming and cooling. The "Little Ice Age" is dated between 1560 and 1850CE. The climatic cooling trend began about 1200CE. The warming trend may well be natural and part of the ongoing cycle as prior to this the climate had been quite warm.

In short, humans will do quite well.