What do you think it will take to reverse the effects of global climate change?

Question

How serious do you think this problem is and what should we do to get the word out?

Yahoo! Answers Staff: This is the real Al Gore! Take a look: http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-d8pH0dcoRKeB12yOcnUQp.9VCFos?p=6393

Yahoo! Answers Team Update: We've created a group for you to discuss this important issue in more detail. Find out more at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ClimateConcern/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ActionGreens/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/environmental_links/

Answer 1

The problem of global warming is the most serious threat this country - and the world at large - has ever faced. This problem goes beyond petty differences, problems of economy, social issues, even beyond international conflicts and the war on terrorism. We are talking about the survival of multiple species on Earth, including the human race.

Action must be taken now in order to reverse the effects of global climate change, both by direct action and by informing others of the problem and its seriousness. This needs to be accomplished on four levels. First, on the personal/family level; second on the local & regional level; third, on the national political level; and finally, internationally. All four of these levels must occur simultaneously.

The first level - personal & family:

Each of us must make energy saving changes in our lives, and convince our family and friends to do the same, so each of us takes personal responsibility for reducing our own CO2 footprint on the planet. How can we expect others to change, if we don't follow our own advice. We have an opportunity to lead by example. First, we must educate ourselves on the problem, and the steps we, personally, can take to solve it.

Simple steps, like lowering our thermostats in winter, and raising them in summer; replacing regular light bulbs with compact florescent bulbs; using less hot water; insulating your home; turning off (and unplugging) electric devices not in use; walking, biking, carpooling or taking public transportation when possible; buying products that use less packaging material; buy locally grown foods and shop at your local farmer's market; buy organic foods; keeping the air in your automobile's tires inflated and the engine well maintained; and, of course, recycling, can make a significant difference.

We can go even further than that. When we need to replace an appliance - choose one with an energy star label. When it comes time to buy a new car, look at buying a hybrid (or one that runs on alternative fuels, like E85). If it's available in your area, switch to green power, that uses renewable resources like solar and wind to provide electricity to your home - or if you can afford it, install your own solar panels on your home. Whenever you get a chance - plant a tree.

The second level - Local & regional:

We need to take what we do at home out into our community. Take these same energy saving tools to work or school. Not only inform and educate your coworkers about the climate crisis, and the things they can do o help, but encourage change in the workplace or school itself.

Attend city council meeting, and write to the mayor and council members voicing your concerns and encouraging the switch to renewable energy. Work to break down the regulatory barriers that are preventing a wider transition to energy sources like solar, wind and biomass.

Make your voice heard wherever you go. Bring it up in any clubs, groups and organizations you may belong to. If you lead any children's groups (scouts, ymca, etc.) incorporate what you have learned in your activities and lessons. make sure the next generation will carry on with this fight.

On a personal level, we can direct our monetary investments to companies that are environmental friendly and/or into companies, programs and products that are trying to address environmental/climate issues.

The third level - National-political:

Now we get to making big changes. To do this, we all have to become politically active. I don't mean just vote. I'm talking about contacting your state and national representatives (assemblyman, congressman, senator and president) on every issue that relates to the environment and has an effect on climate change. Call them. Do it so much that they will remember your name. This can't be done by just a handful of people, it needs to be done by everyone. You may feel that it takes up too much time, that you don't have the time to spare, but you need to find it if you really want to make a difference. Democracy is not easy.

Keep yourself informed and educated about the issues and bills/resolutions that are being voted on so that you can speak or write intelligently about the subject. When you write or cal, be concise. Convey all the information you need to in a clear, short message. A long rambling email (kind of like this one) would probably be largely ignored. For this to be effective, we must become louder and harder to ignore that the oil and auto lobbies.

We must draw their attention away from the myth and distraction of hydrogen technology, which will not be available, cost-effective or viable for decades, and point out the technology that is available, and cost effective, now: hybrid engines, solar, wind, etc.

We must convince those congressmen and senators who work for us to pass broad, sweeping legislation. The kind that would make a significant difference. For example, have all cars, from all automakers selling in the US, be hybrids by 2011. The technology is already there to put a hybrid in any size vehicle (Toyota has small, and mid-size cars as well as SUVs an Mini-vans that operate with hybrid technology - even if all of them are not currently being sold in the U.S.).

We have to get our politicians to lead the oil industry into redefining itself. To help it move from "The Oil Industry" to "The Energy Industry". Our politicians have to guide them to develop alternatives to oil. We must guide our politicians to lead the oil industry into the future.

The fourth level - International:

This one will be the hardest. Writing to our representatives will not have as strong an effect on the problems occurring in other countries, because the voices of our Congressmen and Senators carry about as much weight on the international stage as our individual voices carry in our own country.

This is the fight we can only begin to win by changing our own country first. America must become a leader in the struggle to reverse global warming, not just a half-hearted follower as we are now. We must get our politicians to recognize the problem and its significant consequences, work to change them, and then put pressure on the rest of the world to do the same.

Answer 2

To reverse the effects of global warming currently is beyond our capabilities. Although switching to hydrogen/electric cars will greatly reduce outputs of greenhouse gases, there are many other sources that cannot be replaced with our current technology level. One example of this is electric power generation. The best solution to this is fusion power, which unfortunately is proving to be quite elusive. Fission power is an alternative, however, there are waste problems associated with it. Other forms of alternative energy promise hope, but they do not provide near the amount of power that we currently use and definately do not provide enough if electric cars replace internal combustion. Other forms of emissions that often go overlooked are from the refinement of oil. Even if all oil consumption from cars is eliminated, there are still large amounts required for such items as plastics and acetylene.

How serious is the problem? When I was growing up, there were commercials on TV showing an American Indian crying because we were destroying the environment. 30+ years later, very little has changed for the positive, much for the negative. We are destroying the only place we have to live at an accelerating rate. If that doesn't put the problem into perspective, then probably nothing will.

What should we do to get the word out? Tough question with no easy answer. If there was an easy answer, it would have already been done. If you feel this is a serious issue, which it surely is, then do the one thing that the upcoming 4th of July holiday has given you...write your elected representatives and let them know how you feel, about this and all subjects that concern you. During elections, vote for the people that stand for what you believe in, and if you feel no one does that then become politically active and run for office yourself. One person can make a difference and if no one does before long, then it won't matter because we will have gone the way of the dinosaur.

Answer 3

Reverse? and you ask what will it take? I think our global climate issue has already 'taken' enough. The problem seems to be already present and that nothing in the immediate future can resolve the problem that has taken a hundred years to develop and that has exponentially accelerated. We must learn how much we appreciate a clean environment though many may be oblivious to such an existance.

Ya ya, you're probably saying that money's the issue. Well that's the truest and stupidest reason I've heard. Our earth has no idea what money is, yet it is being destroyed by it. Money and material wants are what has been causing our environmental problems. Perhaps a well coordinated and powered green car campaign, more so than the current niche campaign would begin to dent the problem. The way I see it is that if everyone in the world were to start driving green cars tomorrow, it still wouldn't fix anything. But, it still helps the main issue of global warming by not continuing to aggravate the illness our earth is suffering. Driving a green car is just a small solution, but with many small solutions, perhaps we can reach the great solution and keep our earth "healthy."

We cannot give and take to make our world healthier. We must put aside our fallacious wants such as laziness and the speedster. When we throw our trash out, let's spend the extra second it takes to sort the trash so that we can recycle what we can. Recycling is not a waste of time. When you want to buy a new car, why buy a tiny Porsche when you can buy two Prius? When you find you are not using certain items lying around house and want to throw them out, donate them! Someone out there would have bought that very same item, which only increases the activity of factories which are a major contributor to global pollution. All of these are ways to reduce pollution and minimize the known causes of global warming.

Yet these solutions only alleviate the problem, they don't proactively fix them. I'm not an expert, so I don't really know if it's possible, but we should be finding solutions to fix the damage that's been done. Perhaps if we somehow filtered the air by strategically planting fields of a certain specie of plant that readily removes CO2 from the atmosphere more quickly than the average plant.

Answer 4

Alright "Mr. Gore", here is my answer.

But before I go there, I think that most of the scumbags that are posting negativity toward Al Gore instead of facts or reality are just using this page as an attempt to mud-sling the Democrats and pretend they actually have brains to go with their dumb OPINIONS. In case you idiots didn't notice, while the republicans in OFFICE may be growing in numbers, the rest of the country is wising up, and (thank GOD) this country sure as F*!@ won't elect another dumbass like Bush again for a long while. Mark my words.
Also, someone mentioned the 'fact' that Bill and Al didn't raise these issues while in office...but that isn't true at all. The Clinton Admin. made staggering advances for environmental protection (and this IS a FACT)...that were only overturned by the new, improved idiot-fest we have in office today. Not to mention that any surpluses in the budget that could have been used to research this issue to a perfect pin-point have now been turned into a detrimental horrid debt to be paid by our great grandchildren...

And the sad thing is...even IF global warming weren’t caused by humans (which it at least partially is), WHY would you not want make the air a little more breathable, the cars a little more efficient, the resources a little more realistic and less damaging to OUR OWN BODIES!! For cryin out loud! Who wants to breathe this crap anyway? I mean, have you ever smelled exhaust fumes from a car? There is a REASON you cough and get dizzy! It’s POISON!!!
So all you freaks that have nothing better to do that bash Al Gore for being (and always has been) a serious environmentalist, shove off. And remember...Al Gore WAS elected president once...and I hope he gets it again.

Answer to the question: There is no answer...people care too much about their cool trucks and money to give a rats a** what happens to their kids. Of course...I think most of the anti-Gore people on this site either have no kids or are 12 years old.

Thanks for the question. Funny how something so 'inaccurate' can draw in such a crowd

Answer 5

I believ That Global Warming is Mainly Caused By The Abusev Way Mankind Use The World Sources. Many Polution Factors Effecting This Warming. Toxic Gases And Chemicals Are Flaot Up And Distroys The Layes Of Gases That Sarrounds The Earth. The Woods Cutting That We Are Doing For Those Trees, Do Not Allow For Those Layers Of Gas To Be Replaced. Oxygen Or Ozone Layer is Restored Mainly Through Out The Evaboration Of The Ociens And Oxygen Production Of Trees, Clouds Carried By The Air To The Earth Athmosphir And Then Oxygen Is Splitts Away From Hydrogen And By The Differences Of Thier Wieghts, Each Kind Goes To the propper Layer. Hydrogen Is Less Wieght Than Oxygen So it's Goes Up Higher Than Oxygen (Ozone). Now that Air Is Pretty Much Poluted, Clouds No more Goes As High As It Should Be And Those Gases Do Not Split Propperly As They Way They Should Because those Clouds Do Not Evaborate Completely And Instead They Become Rain, Means Water Again Not Gas Therefore We Are Having A Problem Restoring The Ozone Layer And Other Gases in The Athmosphair. And Since Those Clouds Are Overly Evaborate From The Ociens And The North And South Poles And Come Back Again As Rain, We Are Having A Problem With Tropical Storms And Floods That Is Caused By Earth Warming Through The Sun Heat That Earth Exposed To, Without A Propper Protection From The Ozone Layer That Is Earth Now Is Losing And Not Restoring Propperly, The Heat From The Earth It's Self That Is Captured Within The Athmosphair And Below is Causing Another Problem Of Over Heating The Earth. A Good Thing About Trees That They Absorb Toxic Gases And Polutions, And Now That We Are Cutting Them Abusevly, Is Another Problem, We Are Distroying Earth Day By Day Through What We Do.
God Created This Universe WIth Balance And Perfect Rules. We Are Breaking Down Those Rules With Full Blindly With Full Power And Exsessive Selfish Way.
The Only Way To Reserve Global Warming Is To Stop All Those Polutional Power Sources, Toxic Manufactionaries, Like Cleaning Stuff And Products, Replacing Those Lands Where We Cut Trees Out Of, And Plant Trees And Creat More Green Lands, Find Alternative Resources Like Solar power Electrecity Instead Of Oil And Nucliar Power, Use Wind For And Natural Gas, Use Alot Of Other Natural Resources For Producing Natural Gas As Power Alternative Source.
There Is A Seluotion But Are We Willing To Take It To Revers Global Warming???

Answer 6

First we need proof that global warming is even a real phenomenon. What has passed as proof to this point is a complete, and I mean COMPLETE JOKE. As a scientist I feel more violated than a rape victim every time someone refers to Global Warming as a scientific theory, or even something that has a shred of real science to support it.

Beyond the agenda pushers, many, many, many REAL scientists agree that the science is suspect, the assumptions are wrong, and the statistics are highly manipulated. MIT did a study a few years back and showed point for point that the fundamental assumptions behind global warming (the infamous hockey stick) were very concocted.

Also, if you really look closely, you will also notice that every major "discovery" that is supposed to support global warming is really the phenomenon being applied to explain the science rather than the science predicting the phenomenon. In that regard use of the word science is completely bogus. Semantically they sound like the same thing. So do lightning and lightning bug. Scientifically they are worlds apart.

Recently it was reported right here on Yahoo that some "scientists" had "proved" global warming , by showing that average global temperatures had risen by ~1 degree in the past 1000 years. Sounds like indisputable proof right. Here's the problem, if you can figure out the average global temperature just for TODAY, there is a Nobel Prize for mathematics waiting for you. It cannot be done, and I defy anyone to prove that it can. Today in San Jose, we have a high of 78, and a low of 58. Currently it is 5 degrees warmer 10 miles up the road that it is where I am at. How would you accurately even determine an average temperature for San Jose only, just for today only? Cannot be done. It can only kinda be done if you make some very generous assumptions, but at that point accuracy suffers. Yet these so called scientists claim to have determined average GLOBAL temperatures over a MILLENIUM, with such accuracy that the were confident that a 1 degree change over this period was not only an accurate prediction, but a significant change.

Were this a fish story, they'd be telling us they just caught Jupiter with a worm.

So the question is not "how do we reverse the effects of global climate change?". The question is, "if you believe in global warming, how much money could I sucker out of a sucker like you?" Trust me, that is the question the people behind the Global Warming Conspiracy are asking. Or is it just a coincidence that a Toyota Hybrid that gets 41 mpg costs 10k more than the bigger more comfortable non-hybrid that gets 37mpg?

Answer 7

Some of the damage that has been done can not be reversed but things such as the ozone and trees can be. To see this change happen there will have to be a radical social and industrial change. By this I mean that people are going to have to be educated about the simple things that they can do in the house such as, unplugging thing when they are not in use. Another thing that many celebrities advocate is the Hybrid car, which is a wonderful thing but, everyone cannot afford them. Even though a lot of people can't afford them there are things that people can do like car pooling, taking public transportation.
Global climate change is a very serious issue that can cause catastrophic events to happen. Some ways to get the word out and educate people is movies and TV. I know that this is not a new idea but there are different ways that you can use them than just for commercials. I think that the movie industry is doing a good job at it but the TV industry needs help. To be honest the best way to get people to understand and help the world is to hit them while they are children. I know this because of Captain Planet, this show changed my views on things that went on in the world it made me want to help and be a part of the solution and not the problem. Captain Planet is a show that no longer comes on and not to say it should be brought back but some of the lessons that I learned about pollution and the effects if had on the world should be incorporated into current shows.
But back on the consumer products industry they hold the fate of the world in their hands. Because until they decided the want to make more environmentally conscious products (i.e. electric cars, hydrogen cars ect.) at a reasonable price the average Joe can afford it will not go away. This can be solved in two ways: the first is that all the fossil fuels will be used up and the world will be in an awful state. The second is through fair and swift legislation that will put laws into place that they would have to follow and laws that prevented lobbyist and the companies of interest from giving money to our congressmen to sway their vote.

Answer 8

Those Layers Of Gas To Be Replaced. Oxygen Or Ozone Layer is Restored Mainly Through Out The Evaboration Of The Ociens And Oxygen Production Of Trees, Clouds Carried By The Air To The Earth Athmosphir And Then Oxygen Is Splitts Away From Hydrogen And By The Differences Of Thier Wieghts, Each Kind Goes To the propper Layer. Hydrogen Is Less Wieght Than Oxygen So it's Goes Up Higher Than Oxygen (Ozone). Now that Air Is Pretty Much Poluted, Clouds No more Goes As High As It Should Be And Those Gases Do Not Split Propperly As They Way They Should Because those Clouds Do Not Evaborate Completely And Instead They Become Rain, Means Water Again Not Gas Therefore We Are Having A Problem Restoring The Ozone Layer And Other Gases in The Athmosphair. And Since Those Clouds Are Overly Evaborate From The Ociens And The North And South Poles And Come Back Again As Rain, We Are Having A Problem With Tropical Storms And Floods That Is Caused By Earth Warming Through The Sun Heat That Earth Exposed To, Without A Propper Protection From The Ozone Layer That Is Earth Now Is Losing And Not Restoring Propperly, The Heat From The Earth It's Self That Is Captured Within The Athmosphair And Below is Causing Another Problem Of Over Heating The Earth. A Good Thing About Trees That They Abs

Answer 9

Al Gore:

Personally, Kyoto or any other protocol will probably have a negligible effect on global warming. What may help is de-modernizing the planet or slowing the economy to a crawl. even then it is debatable whether global warming is happening in the first place. National Review's "Snow Job" article illustrates how ice caps can still get bigger. Even then, some signers (like China and India) don't really have the best pollution control laws either. No one can deny that China is polluted, yet they signed the Kyoto protocol. Or, as John Stossel says. "Even if Kyoto had an impact, do you think all the signers are going to honor what they signed? China is predicted to out-emit us in five to ten years. India will soon follow. What incentive do they have to stop burning fossil fuels? (page 204)" So does that make America a big cesspit of filth? Not really. Anyway, back to the Kyoto ineffectiveness. The website http://www.junkscience.com/MSU_Temps/Kyoto_Count_Up.htm

has an interesting Kyoto counter, and it predicts that the treaty will lower temperatures by .07 degrees Celsius. John Stossel's book "Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity" has a very nice graph on page 202. The earth's temperature is graphed across the last 4,000 years. What does it look like? It goes up.... ...and down... ...and up.... ...and down... ...and up... ...and down... The fact that the temperature has been measured for the past 100 years is only a small chunk of data, or as J.S. says, "this looks pretty scary if you isolate it." I'm not too concerned about some scientist's predictions. When Earth Day was first invented, scientists had the good ol' U.S. of A. worrying about global cooling. We'd also better hold our breath about CO2 emissions - literally! We breathe out CO2. Another good thing to put on the to-do list would be to plug all volcanoes: the 1883 eruption of Mt. Krakatoa alone ejected 6 cubic miles of debris.

Good websites to visit on global warming:

www.junkscience.com
www.rushlimbaugh,com (banner ad concerning Al Gore's doomsday prediction)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Kyoto_Protocol_participation_map_2005.png

Good book:

Myths, Lies and Downright Stupidity by John Stossel


By the way, sorry about the guy who suggested pluging volcanos with dead Democrats. Little does he realize that there are few differences betwixt the parties.

Answer 10

If we trace back the source of all that pollution, CO2, it all comes back to us the people of planet Earth. We can and will eventually choose to lower our emissions (oil is running out), but I am afraid that the price we'll pay for it will be a devastating one. Our society as it stands cannot run without energy and that means that we will be hit at the same time with two crisis. One is the very real Global warming and the other the energy crunch. As a result of one or the other precious resources (oil, water, land) will become scares and I am afraid that then a country that has nothing left to lose, might use some of those nukes that they have. So here is the third treat: nuclear holocaust as a result of the above-mentioned two disasters.

The only solution I see is for us to not only choose to do all Al is proposing, but also drastically decrease the birth rate, so the main source of the pollution: us is reduced,

Saying that I know that we will not be allowed do it.
1. There is religion that will not allow it.
2. There is the fear and animosity between countries that will not allow it. All countries will be suspicious that the neighbors will not cut their numbers and will come to invade them. Third world courtiers will say that this is a form of genocide, because most of the growth is occurring there. And so on...
3. Our society is Capitalist, which cannot exist without growth. A regulated economics will stop being a capitalist one. Every politician that touches the subject will suffer the consequences. The media is controlled the biggest of the big Corporations which are the worst polluters and the ones that need to grow and expand, consuming and creating consumption need in the populous. That media will continue reporting crooked news until the very last moment.

What we need as an Economic system is more akin to Communism and Totalitarism (strict management and distribution of resources) than anything else. Imagine the outcry if someone campaigned with that platform. He will not be electable.

Based on all this I think that we are going to have to deal with:
1. Running out of energy.
2. Unprecedented Global Ecological Disaster
3. Nuclear War.

If those three treats do not make us change (which I think we can’t), then nothing will.

Answer 11

To reverse global warming the very first thing needed to be done is to get the US Government to acknowledge that there really is a threat to the world. The second part would be to get the other industrialized nations to do the same. The last part is to get the Corporations to acknowledge it also. Once all those institutions acknowledge that it is a real and credible threat only then can something be done.
How to do it would require enormous re engineering by all fields of energy industries and industries that rely on any energy (basically all business) Some of the answers we already have. In fact there was an electric car put out a while back that could have revolutionized the entire car industry but it was killed off by the Car companies , the Oil industry and the US Government. (a movie is on the way about just that issue). Fossil fuels must be shut down period. But then if that should happen you will have such unrest in the Middle east and other foreign oil countries that you would have to address those issues also.

The seriousness of the problem is huge. The only way to change that is to get rid of the two party system and put people into office that are not obligated to the corporations that control our current government. Let's face it, it will not be started in my lifetime (I am 45 at the moment). All politicians in Washington are so corrupt that they do not even listen to the people anymore. It doesn't matter whether they are Dems Or Reps, they get to Washington and then the corruption starts.