Is fighting climate change a losing battle?
Climate change is and will impact us all. As alluded to, there are many countries who unfortunately stand to make very substantial financial gains from this.
What is likely to be the most successful way of fighting this battle? Who is likely to make the biggest impact - our fellow citizens or our Governments?
What is likely to be the most successful way of fighting this battle? Who is likely to make the biggest impact - our fellow citizens or our Governments?
The greenhouse gasses are already there, the equilibrium has been shifted and climate change is going to happen no matter what. This doesn't mean we should just give up though, or that continued emissions won't make further changes. Regardless of climate change though there's also the issue of energy security and rising coal/gas/oil prices.
It was happening without man's impact, we've just [arguably] made it speed up a bit. It's an irreversible process. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't change our behaviour as well.
mf2004, care to explain the neg? Nothing I said above was untrue. The fact the polar ice caps exist is a remnant of the last ice age, an age we are not yet completely out of. The globe will continue warming until they disappear, before the cycle continues again. There is proof of this having happened numerous times throughout history. Why are we so arrogant to think it won't/can't happen again?
mf2004, care to explain the neg? Nothing I said above was untrue. The fact the polar ice caps exist is a remnant of the last ice age, an age we are not yet completely out of. The globe will continue warming until they disappear, before the cycle continues again. There is proof of this having happened numerous times throughout history. Why are we so arrogant to think it won't/can't happen again?
(edited 11 years ago)
Original post by Drewski
It was happening without man's impact, we've just [arguably] made it speed up a bit. It's an irreversible process. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't change our behaviour as well.
I'm not questioning your post here, so don't get touchy as this is just a genuine question. Is this just a theory or is there substantial evidence backing this up?
Regardless of the cause of climate change, yes it is a losing battle.
Currently climate change and energy worries go hand in hand in regards to the solution. That is to say that the solution for one is basically identical to the other.
So if you replace climate change with energy shortage, the answer is yes. This is for the simple reason that there are too many of us using too much and this is only getting worse. The countries in a position to make the biggest changes are not prepared to do so purely for financial reasons. For example, USA which emits 25% of the world's carbon, refuses to make any changes if it feels it gives economic advantages other countries such as Brazil or China.
Original post by bestofyou
I'm not questioning your post here, so don't get touchy as this is just a genuine question. Is this just a theory or is there substantial evidence backing this up?
Regardless of the cause of climate change, yes it is a losing battle.
Currently climate change and energy worries go hand in hand in regards to the solution. That is to say that the solution for one is basically identical to the other.
So if you replace climate change with energy shortage, the answer is yes. This is for the simple reason that there are too many of us using too much and this is only getting worse. The countries in a position to make the biggest changes are not prepared to do so purely for financial reasons. For example, USA which emits 25% of the world's carbon, refuses to make any changes if it feels it gives economic advantages other countries such as Brazil or China.
Regardless of the cause of climate change, yes it is a losing battle.
Currently climate change and energy worries go hand in hand in regards to the solution. That is to say that the solution for one is basically identical to the other.
So if you replace climate change with energy shortage, the answer is yes. This is for the simple reason that there are too many of us using too much and this is only getting worse. The countries in a position to make the biggest changes are not prepared to do so purely for financial reasons. For example, USA which emits 25% of the world's carbon, refuses to make any changes if it feels it gives economic advantages other countries such as Brazil or China.
It's fact, and logical conclusion. We were in an ice age with glaciers covering half the earth. Now we're not. If we weren't warming up naturally what else caused them to retreat? As far as I'm aware the glaciers weren't around in the 1400s, they were around longer than 10/20,000years ago... The earth's position within the solar system hasn't altered. Yet the globe has warmed up. There is no other conclusion than the earth is warming up on it's own. And such conclusion is backed up by examining ice cores from the arctic/antarctic which show a gradual change in temperature. Albeit one that has sped up recently.
Yes it is, but its still worth trying.
If you were attacked by a massive pro boxer in the street and you knew you were going to lose, you wouldnt just let him punch you, you'd at least try and protect yourself even if you know it was no good. The same goes with climate change.
If you were attacked by a massive pro boxer in the street and you knew you were going to lose, you wouldnt just let him punch you, you'd at least try and protect yourself even if you know it was no good. The same goes with climate change.
Yes, because man made climate change accounts for so little in the grand scheme of things that any attempt to slow it down will be futile at best and a ****ing waste of time at worst.
Original post by Drewski
It's fact, and logical conclusion. We were in an ice age with glaciers covering half the earth. Now we're not. If we weren't warming up naturally what else caused them to retreat? As far as I'm aware the glaciers weren't around in the 1400s, they were around longer than 10/20,000years ago... The earth's position within the solar system hasn't altered. Yet the globe has warmed up. There is no other conclusion than the earth is warming up on it's own. And such conclusion is backed up by examining ice cores from the arctic/antarctic which show a gradual change in temperature. Albeit one that has sped up recently.
Is this 'fact and logical conclusion' supported by the widespread scientific community is what I should have initially asked.
I am perfectly aware we were in an ice age and to get out of it would have needed a rise in temperature (without human carbon emissions). However I don't think you'll find very many people who deny that the temperature on the earth has changed over the centuries. However it is just that, change over centuries. What we have experienced is change in just one, with most of that change coming in the last two decades of the 20th century. It seems too much of a coincidence that this is happening at while human carbon emissions and deforestation are at record highs.
There was a mini 'ice age' (not officially an ice age) which is thought to have ended some time after the middle of the 19th century so to say that the earth has been warming up constantly since the last ice age isn't true. It could also add to the carbon argument also, as it was around this time that the industrial revolution really took off.
There is no denying that man is having a negative impact on the climate regardless of whether it would be warming up without us or not. Man is not speeding it up a 'bit'. Speeding it up drastically is a better description.
That isn't to say I disagree that it is getting warmer anyway. After all, the dinosaurs and the carbon the emitted has been linked to the cause of the last ice age and the rising temperatures before it...what goes up must come down.
Times like this I wish I could live for billions of years just to see what will happen in the future.
Original post by bestofyou
Times like this I wish I could live for billions of years just to see what will happen in the future.
Christ, could you imagine sitting on TSR for billions of years...? Jeesh
[video="youtube;y5XN5XTmu6c"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5XN5XTmu6c[/video]
R.I.P, wonderful man.
The earth has been doing fine for millions of years, it has survived worse than a bit of gas.
R.I.P, wonderful man.
The earth has been doing fine for millions of years, it has survived worse than a bit of gas.
Original post by idontevenbeth
The earth has been doing fine for millions of years, it has survived worse than a bit of gas.
The earth has been doing fine for millions of years, it has survived worse than a bit of gas.
Well if some theories are to be believed it wont, i do seem to remember reading one about a large quantity of dissolved gasses i nthe sea will be released and kill everything or something fun like that
Original post by cl_steele
Well if some theories are to be believed it wont, i do seem to remember reading one about a large quantity of dissolved gasses i nthe sea will be released and kill everything or something fun like that
Fun!
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