Question

What is one example of catastrophic global change?

Answer 1

The end Permian extinction event about 250 million years ago.

Explanation:

This extinction event caused over 75% of species on Earth to go extinct and was set off by massive volcanic fissures spewing out magma and CO2 for hundreds or thousands of years. This produced a massive global warming event that set off other climate changes. Human releases of greenhouse gases might be setting off a similar catastrophic event, unless we stop emitting these gases.

See: http://www.britannica.com/science/Permian-extinction for more information.