Awwww this is cute. @YellowstoneNPS is 150 years old today. The first national park in the world. 
On the 150th birthday of @YellowstoneNPS let me tell you how it is a symbol of humanity's greatest collective triumphs over our rapacious instincts AND also the thing that might kill us next week!
Let's get the terrifying part out of the way first. It is a volcano. Big volcano!
Let's get the terrifying part out of the way first. It is a volcano. Big volcano!
It is in fact a supervolcano with a magma field 8 km deep, 75 km long, 50 wide. It erupts every 650K years or so, and last erupted 650K years ago.
It's not a sure thing, mind you. It is possible that Yellowstone may never have a massive eruption again. Or it may erupt tomorrow.
It's not a sure thing, mind you. It is possible that Yellowstone may never have a massive eruption again. Or it may erupt tomorrow.
What would happen if it erupted? Well, USA would pretty much be toast, especially west of the continental divide. Canada too. And the rest of the world won't fare much better.
That 75x50x8 km hollow bubbling with magma? That was leftover from the last eruption.
That 75x50x8 km hollow bubbling with magma? That was leftover from the last eruption.
Imagine all that material being spewed in the atmosphere at a force 1000 times of even Mauna Loa, the biggest regular volcano. Fossil fuels will stop being a problem lol. Humanity itself might stop being a problem iykwim. There will be a cloud of dust in the air for decades.
But then again, it might not erupt at all. We'll see.
Not on to the heart warming stuff.
For tens of thousands of years, humans killed each other over land. Wars, colonization, slavery, all over land. To this day as Vlad is showing these days. Private property is King.
Not on to the heart warming stuff.
For tens of thousands of years, humans killed each other over land. Wars, colonization, slavery, all over land. To this day as Vlad is showing these days. Private property is King.
So the very idea that human beings can come together, right in the middle of stealing land from the native first nations, to designate a huge swathe of land as protected forever "as a public park or pleasuring ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people",
That's evolution
That's evolution
In 1872, Yellowstone became the first National Park in the world. Representing a huge step in the evolution of humans. That we can actually come together for something other than making money and stealing land.
150 years later, there are over 4000 national parks all over Earth!
150 years later, there are over 4000 national parks all over Earth!
Hehe, yeah, big fat difference it will make to us, getting advance warning, other than maybe having one big global party before we either all go extinct, or are so badly bruised that we kill each other over food.
https://twitter.com/GreyingnCranky/status/1498904674413715462?t=nxCS_2CnfX9hhzosFOFBpQ&s=19
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