The random political thoughts thread (Part Deux)

[Ghoulish Delight]

Heard an interesting theory on NPR based on the observation from ice core samples that CO2 and Methane levels seem to have been steadily increasing outside their normal cyclical rates for ~8000 years and ~5000 years respectively. Those happen to correspond to the points in human social evolution when agriculture (and thus deforestation) started to take hold (~8000 years ago), and the appearance of flooded rice patties (~5000 years ago).