Global Warming

Originally Posted by Windsong

You can't stop climate change. The climate is always changing.

Actually it's weather that changes. Climate is the average of the weather in an area over a long period of time.

I do believe that humans have a significant effect on their environment, especially the United States which consumes more than its fair share of resources on this planet. I mean we could all do well with probably one car, take the bus and train now and again. Spend money on solar power which pays back after a certain amount of time.

But what gets me is that people are arguing whether it's humanity's fault or not. Umm....who cares? I don't like playing the Blame Game. But when OUR existence is in jeopardy, whether it's imagined or real, I would rather err on the side of caution than commit Type 1 errors by not doing something. If global warming is occurring, then using alcohol fuels instead of oil will help with the CO2 emissions. If global warming is not happening, then using alcohol fuels will clear up all this shit in the air that's getting into our lungs. Win- win anyone?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by xen0phobia

I believe the official statistic is 18 trillion to prevent global warming. (do a google search if you don't believe me) Thats 45% of the worlds GDP. I'd rather not gamble that.

I doubt the world will end, but who the fuck cares? We'll all be dead regardless anyways.

You've probably never read God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert then. It's not about people dying, it's about the rest of humanity surviving. I don't care if a few countries completely go bankrupt. But if people really don't care, even if there is a slight possiblity, then we deserve to be wiped out. And to the people who are saying that the earth will be wiped out, no it won't. The earth will still be here, we probably won't.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Gechmir

I fail to see how a few degrees change over 100s of years would equate to human apocalypse.

Because of the few degrees in increase of the oceans, moist air is condensing over the oceans instead of the rainforests which desperately need them. The amazon right now is experiencing it's lowest levels and desertification is occurring. Unless you also have another reason for the increase of frequency and intensity of the storms that have been going on, the damage alone of Hurricane Katrina was worth at an estimate of 81 billion dollars.

Whatever people may believe, we are a host organism of our planet. We evolved with our planet and our bodies are designed for a narrow range of environmental factors. A drop in O2 levels from deforestation, an increase of CO2 emissions. THAT kind of rings of alarm bells in my head.

How ya doing, buddy?

Even if I concede that maybe global warming does not exist etal we've only been on this planet for a very short time. The effect we have from our actions are not yet known, and that's what makes me very anxious, because instead of being cautious and at least minimizing what we are doing until we know a little bit more of why the events are happening the way they are, we're still going full blast and avoiding any sort of warning signs.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?