Are we actually helping to save the planet yet?

Question

We recycle, buy unleaded fuel, hybrid cars, use solar panels, wind turbines, buy energy saving light bulbs, have decreased CFC usage etc but are we actually making a difference, however small? Experts bang on about the damage we are doing but there are millions of us who are trying to do what they tell us to do to help with global warming. Is it working?

Answer 1

yeah, I think so. It's definitely going to help in the long term.

I just read from financial analyst Jubak on MSN that, in fact, newly christened market giants like China are causing more general harm to the environment because.... surprise ....
they're not as conscientious in they're industrial practices and strategies.
For example, a lot of Chinese companies don't consider the cost of environmental clean-up so they can undercut foreign competitors' costs and thus indulge in short-lived financial booms. Not to mention that China has the greatest number of dangerously polluted cities in the world and there's approximately 300 million people there without access to safe drinking water!

And China supposedly signed the Kyoto Protocol? I don't get it.

The point is to stay conscientious about safeguarding the environment, regardless of what world opinion or politicians would have you believe. Historically speaking, the United States has consistently been vocal about environmentalism and conservation.
As you can see and will invariably find out, quite a few other countries simply are not.

Answer 2

I don't know the answer re global warming, but as far as smaller targets go (saving resources, not polluting etc) it must be worth spending some time and thought on recycling and reducing car use. We know that glass and aluminium gets reused effectively, not sure about plastics but at least if it gets collected together it's more efficient to process if or when the means exists.

As for car use, I'm saving time and money taking the train now (not the case for everyone I know), the reduced pollution and dependency on oil alone are worth it, even if the effects on global warming are unknown.

In summary, got to be worth a try as the alternative (being wasteful) is going to help nobody.

PS, to the people who say that humans have an insignificant effect on the planet, see the second link. Note the many reasons for extinctions, again not just global warming, e.g. loss of wild habitat for farming, urban and industrial use.

Answer 3

Any conservation of resources or avoidance of pollution is a good thing. We all breath air and drink water.

There's probably nothing we can do to affect the climate. You may have heard that much of North America was buried under hundreds of feet of ice at various times in the past -- and will be again. The climate cycles all the time, always has, with or without human help.

Answer 4

There is nothing we can do about "Global Warming" the whole process started hundreds of years ago and will continue for several hundred more years. So relax enjoy life and let Mother Nature run it's course

Answer 5

NO. Even if we could help, which we cannot as it is NOT those things that are causing global warming, we would only delay it slightly.

There is a mass of evidence that human CO2 is NOT causing global warming and that it is happening naturally.

Answer 6

The planet does not need us to save it. If you actually believe that humans have the capability to destroy something as big and powerful as the planet then you are putting way to much potential for humans. Even if we were to use all of our weapon capabilities we couldn't even begin to put a dent into the planet.

Now if you want to discuss saving the human species then you can ask that, but people please stop thinking you are significant enough to actually kill off a planet.

Answer 7

Whats the point, human beings will have killed us all before global warming gets to take full effect!

Answer 8

If we would leave it alone, it would probably heal itself. It's survived millennia before we started our little reign of terror. It's survived asteroid impacts and supervolcanoes spewing all kinds of polutants into the air.

It managed to reverse any damage quite independant of mankind, so can we just leave the poor thing alone to get on with it's job and we can get on with ours; insignificant little dots (worrying that we don't have enough little pieces of green, brown and on the rare occasion you might see one, red pieces of paper) racing full pelt across the face of a beautiful jewel of a planet

Answer 9

I shouldn't bother - whatever WE do will be a waste of time - it's all down to the natural activity of the sun and apparently can take up to 800 years to take effect, so like I say, why bother !

Answer 10

,madleeds No its a natural and normal happening that has happened over millions of years and whatever we try to do the universe has its own way of dealing with this event