Why aren't we preparing for Global Warming?

Question

OK, let me start this off by saying this is NOT a debate on whether or not humans cause global warming, because it doesn’t matter. The problem is, whether they are or not, the globe is warmer, and we have to deal with it.

I am just wondering why people like Al Gore don’t bring this up more often. Even if humans ARE responsible for global warming, and even if we COMPLETELY stop CO2 emissions, the globe will still get warmer. Why? Think about it:

If you hold a flame under a thermometer, the temperature will rise dramatically, right? But if you simply remove the flame, the temperature will not start to decrease for a LONG time, and when it does, it will be very slowly.

SO, no matter the reason, our globe is getting warmer. So instead of trying to “stop” global warming, which is obviously impossible, why don’t we try to adapt to what will be a warmer globe?

Is it just me, or is this a very important topic that is simply getting ignored because it isn't as "popular" as environmentalism?

Answer 1

I actually agree with you and have brought this up as well.. dropping our carbon output will slow the onset but the problem still remains. I read a few ideas they have on ScienceDaily a few months back.. pumping CO2 out of the air and storing it underground.. launching millions of tiny satellites into the outer Earth orbit to act as a shade.. things like this... but we should also be stock piling food because there are going to be a lot of record floods and droughts (just like right now Australia is in a record drought and N. Africa is having record rainfall) and it will create famine in the world.

honestly... what we really need is for mother nature to fix this problem and blow the top off of some remote volcano.. sending enough ash into the atmosphere to cool us again... it's happened many times in history.

Answer 2

An important thing to remember about global warming is that it is not only happening to the planet Earth. NASA has noted on several occasions that other planets in our solar system, which are markedly devoid of all life, are also getting warmer year by year.

Another interesting topic that you bring up is known in meteorology as the Diurnal Temperature cycle. In simple terms this is what explains the process of daily cooling and heating of the Earth. Think of the planet as having a daily energy budget which is simultaneously gaining and losing energy to various meteorological functions. The peak INPUT of energy (or when we are gaining the most energy and losing the least) is around noon. However, the planet will continue to get WARMER until around 4 when the net gains no longer outweigh the net losses. At this time Earth's temperature starts to decline until around 4 am when the net losses no longer outweigh the net gains. And the process continues daily.

I for one believe that Humans CONTRIBUTE to global warming and are not the only cause of it. We are, in fact, coming out of an ice age and logically we will continue to get warmer as we move away from that period in Earth's history. However, this does not mean that we should just ignore the fact that the rising temperature of our planet is having an enormous impact on the environment.

The environmentalists have valid points that they make but to me their largest flaw is that their solution is impossible. The population of the planet will continue to grow and with that growth the demand for goods and service will also increase, which will increase the needed output from factories, vehicles etc. In order to implement their plan we would have to stabilize all of these aspects, in every country and start to deflate the world's population. As I stated earlier, impossible.

I believe the best course of action is to do what we can to reduce locally and simultaneously work towards developing new ways to adapt to the imminent increase in our planets temperatures.

Answer 3

In order to prepare specifically, you have to be able to predict, and climate science still isn't there yet. You're right that it's most likely that global warming, if it's caused by cumulative carbon emissions over the last couple centuries, or if it's caused by non-human phenomena like solar activity, is not going to go away immediately by abandoning carbon-emitting technologies. (OTOH, if it turns out to be caused by anual carbon emissions - if the cycling of CO2 out of the atmosphere is much more rapid than currently believed, for instance - then you'd see an immediate turnaround).

So the prudent thing to do would be to hedge our bets. We don't know for certain if global warming will really increase temperatures in any given region or not (average temperatures are rising a little, but it's not evenly rising everywhere). We don't know how weather patterns might change (not that weather patterns don't throw us the occasional curve as it is). So, things like not building below sea level in swamps, for instance, might reduce the impact of more powerful huricanes (or even normal hurricanes) - or, if you do build there, build higher and stronger levies. Don't plant all one crop, plant some that are particular drought resistant, for instance.


There are also some things we don't have to worry about - it's never going to be 135 degrees all over the globe, the most dire predictions are for rises of a few degrees.

Answer 4

This is the first time I have heard it. But if our planet is truly getting warmer, the problem is more than just a slight temperature rising. Compared to how it has been rising over the past couple hundred years, the increase will almost be exponential. Don't get me wrong, a good idea, but it is going to be hard to prepare our grandkids for 135 degree summers. At some point, it is just too hot for us to live. If we could push that off for a while, maybe until we develop the technologies and our bodies have a chance to adapt to be able to live in such an environment, I think that would be useful.

Answer 5

Honestly....because there is NO preparation to do.

Humans....hate to break it to most.....are just another life species on this planet. We happen to sit at the top of the food chain on this planet....but we, as humans...are NOT so BIG!

In the focus of the universe....humans are smaller than fleas on a really big dog!

The planet will do it's heating and cooling, regardless of what we do. When the planet goes through a change that we cannot adapt to....we will be gone....kinda like those BIG things that walked the planet....can anyone say DINOSAUR!?

The dinosaurs survived on the Earth as long as the planet manintained the sub-tropical atmosphere....didn't maintain it...dinosaurs gone.

The planet will continue to get warmer and cooler...it's what the planet does...if you don't believe that....how did the planet warm after the Ice Age??

We are truly just another life form on the planet...the planet has MUCH big plans than protecting just another life form!

Humans will naturally adapt or they won't. Natural selection is a wonderful thing!

Answer 6

Its not so easy that's why. But in our efforts to reduce pollution, we saw global trends we do not understand, and it scares some people.

For instance, how particular GHG's (greenhouse gases) behave in a particular setting with other GHG's is almost unpredictable.

In short, in our efforts to protect the Earth we could cause either global warming or global cooling! Prior to 1970, we were in a 30 year global cooling stage, so what should we prepare for next?

Answer 7

Nice theroy about the lighter and the thermometer... But unfortunately the thermometer has a liquid called mercury, which reacts to heat differently than lets say WATER, so your Idea isn't exactly scientific. Further more, this isn't the only time in history that our globe has warmed up, it's a cycle that it runs through.


And as for adapting to it... We natural do that, I don't know if you haven't noticed or just don't care.. Our climate and earth has gone through several stages that has required the life on this planet to "Adapt" so I think regardless if you think it's going to happen or not, the natural order of things will automatically cause humans to adapt to the change, and the ones who don't.... Well that's called natural selection, the weak will die out and the strong will survive.

Answer 8

I did, I just bought a new ceiling fan. I still believe that this warming is part of a natural trend because we're finally coming to the end of the last ice age, and that end was delayed for about 12 millennia due to a comet strike in the Gulf of Mexico.

Answer 9

the wealthy international places are greater responsible whilst it includes international warming.they have invested lots on weapons of clobal warming ie factories, automobils and finished lot.The little that malawi is responsible of has some style of beginning place from the wealthy international the place the mechines of mass warming are made.to diminish the story short, the developed international could discover altanative materials of capability on an identical time as the 0.33 international strengthen with this in ideas.law could be put in place for desirable administration

Answer 10

Well, you're right. We're going to have to. I've already accepted that fact. However, it's not just warmer temperatures. It's more frequent and violent hurricanes and tornados too. That's something we all must think about.