Marc2b
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Joined: 8/7/2006
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quote:
There are a few things wrong with this attitude. First, it implies that the world is getting warmer for reasons that have nothing to do with our actions, and that view just isn't taken seriously anymore by scientists. Climate change doesn't just "happen." It happens for a complex of reasons, some of which we understand, some of which we don't. But one thing we understand quite clearly--ever more clearly with each passing year--is that our emission of greenhouse gases is pushing the climate in directions it wouldn't otherwise go.
You’re missing my point entirely. Climate change does "just happen", it has been happening since day one of planet Earth, AND it happens for "a complex of reasons." Do human beings have an impact on the climate? Of course! There’s over six billion (that’s the American billion, not the British) of us! How could we not have an impact. So do the billions of insects have an impact. Likewise the billions of trees and other plant life. Ocean currents have an impact. Solar output has an impact. It is a complex, ever changing system of which we are only a small part. Are the gases we are emitting having an effect? Yes. But only a small part. One good volcano blast can pump hundreds, if not thousands more times greenhouse gases into the atmosphere in one shot than all of human activity in years or even decades. The notion that we can consciously control – or even influence – the environment is a utopian fantasy (and like all utopian fantasies, must end in totalitarianism). If we were to shut down all the factories, turn of all the combustion engines, the climate would continue to change, just like it always has.
quote:
Projections of global warming don't, and SHOULDN'T, take emerging technologies into account. That's not the point. Projections of global warming have to do with the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and the overall consequences that this has for the climate, polar ice cap, oceans, and so on. If we develop magnificent technologies to mitigate the harms that global warming would otherwise bring about, that's great. But those don't just "happen" either. They're the consequence of diligently applied human ingenuity, and human beings don't apply their ingenuity until they realize that there's a need for it. So yes, we might be able to fight back against global warming and make a new world that won't be the lifeless hell that the computer models predict--but ONLY if we start doing something about it right now.
I have been hearing Chicken Little scream that we have to do something about it (whatever it may be) right now, for a long time. I remember a big media brouhaha once that the oceans were going to be dead in ten years – that was some twenty years ago. It was around the same time we were all told to panic because global cooling was going to kill us all. Oh yeah, and all the trees would be dead from acid rain. The computer models (which often widely disagree with each other) are virtually worthless because there is no way anyone yet knows all the factors that can and will affect the climate. I would give no credence to any computer model that predicts the planet will become a "lifeless hell." Whoever created that model clearly has no respect for the resiliency of life nor understanding of it remarkable adaptability. What may be disastrous for one species may be paradise for another.
The human concern is not wether life can survive on Earth – life will continue to evolve long after we go extinct (and we will go extinct one day, it is inevitable) – but what kind of lives can we lead as we cope with climate change. During the Little Ice Age there was a particularly cold period (the scientific name for it escapes me right now and I’m too tired to look it up) when wheat harvests failed across northern Europe. Some farmers switched to a newly available crop, the potato, while others refused to. Those who switched survived while those who refused starved (and often revolted – the French revolution was one of the results). The same will occur with the current climate change. Some will adapt, some won’t. Humanity will endure.
None of the above should be construed to think that I am not against pollution. I am as in favor of a clean planet as much as the next guy. I certainly favor laws that prevent pollution and punish those who violate such laws. I favor research into new forms of energy production that pollute less than the means we use now. But, I am not going to delude myself into being a worrywart over rising ocean levels. If the planet continues it’s current warming trend (which began in the mid-eighteen hundreds) then the ocean levels will rise. But they are not going to suddenly jump up several feet in a single day. It will be a gradual, almost imperceptible rise. I think we will be able to get out of the way.
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Do you know what the most awesome thing about being an Atheist is? You're not required to hate anybody!
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RE: Failure of the world-wide capitalist system ... kinda. - 
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