Why are so many people worried about something we have no control over?

Question

There is absolutly no sound scientific method, model or research that proves man has done anything to cause global warming. Active volcanos put more pollution into the air in one year than the entire history of man kind. The earth heats and cools in natural cycles and there is nothing we can do about it.

Answer 1

Regardless of whether or not humans may or may not be responsible for global climate change, or whether humans might be able to do anything to alter its effects, don't you think it just might, maybe, possibly be a good idea to start thinking about what's going to happen WHEN climate change does occur?

As you mentioned, in the past the Earth has been a lot colder, and a lot warmer than it is now. Sea levels have fluctuated by significant amounts over time. There were times when the Mediterranean was completely bone dry (leaving mile thick deposits of salt), and times when the ocean was hundreds of meters deeper than it is now.

Assuming that everything is going to stay static is foolish, and cannot be supported by any evidence whatsoever.

Not considering what we're going to do when coastal areas home to hundreds of millions of people flood is fool-hardy to the point of criminality.

Even though we don't have control over when or where lightning strikes, we still put up lightning rods and keep fire extinguishers handy. Even though we don't know when or where tornadoes are going to hit, we still build storm shelters. Even though we have no effect on when and where snow storms are going to bury us, we still maintain snow plows and keep snow shovels in the garage.

As far as I'm concerned, there's not much point in debating the origins and causes of global warming, and it's well past time we started thinking about what to do when it happens.

Answer 2

I have realized the length of this when I finished typing. My apologies for it being so long:

Money (and politics) make the world go 'round.
This whole "global warming" fuss is a great way to milk money from the "guilty parties" (You're tossing out CO2? Pay up!)

It seems that the people are generally divided into 3 groups:
* those who don't really care about whether it's a global warming, cooling or something in between, as long as it brings them money and positions of power, be it political or financial, or both
* those who believe in everything they hear and read (no matter whether it's coming from a credible scientist or a journalist) and blindly follow every advice about how to "save" the planet. They are mostly self-proclaimed ecologists who know what the latest bombastic article about horrible ice-melting in Antarctica said, but at the same time they have no idea how the Earth "works".
* those who watch all of this and shake their heads in bewilderment, and go about their lives as usual.

Why are people worried?
Well, it appears that most of the people have nothing better to do, so they spend their free time worrying over things totally out of their control. It's becoming a popular hobby. Apparently (for example), saving and planting trees is a cool and a noble thing to do. But do we really want pests and insects and diseases nesting and incubating in the dense forests in or near our settlements? Is that helping us?

About not having control over it? - you're right. We don't. What most of the people forget is that the Earth is over 4.5 billion years old. Let's give our planet some credit and deflate our egoes to realistic sizes. We're nothing but little, short-lived parasites on it, and she can and will shake us off anytime she likes. It's also very easy to conveniently forget that over those 4+ billion years Earth has been going through numerous natural cycles. Those cycles are what causes changes in climate/environment.
The cities have their own microclimates which differ from what's "normal" and we produce waste. So what? Big deal. Either we have civilisation and we sacrifice something for it, or we go back to the trees and caves. We can't change the environment (i.e. by building cities) and not suffer consenquences of any kind.

Unfortunately, people will continue to worry about things they can't control. It's in our nature, I guess. The bad side of it all is that so many money and effort is being wasted for trying to repair something that's not broken, while at the same time so many lives are being lost in sensless acts of violence all around the globe.

What's one deodorant sprayed into the atmosphere compared to the consenquences of a bomb attack?

Answer 3

Mankind does have control over the part of the problem that we contribute to directly. It is much better to care than to be apathetic. Even if you don't care about global warming, you should care about our excessive consumption of dwindling resources and the massive amounts of pollutants that go hand in hand with our contribution to global warming.

Answer 4

It keeps them busy and makes them feel important. What bothers me is that the schools shove this stuff down the kids throats and never tell them there's a debate still going on. I heard on the news this morning that some poor high school kid in Canada had to watch Gore's film 4 time in two days and he was afraid to complain. Th school treats Gore's "facts" as gospel. I hear Di Capprio (Leonard) is coming out with his own Al Gore style movie. Anything for a buck I guess.

Answer 5

The science behind global warming is very complicated. We cannot expect everyone to understand it.

Answer 6

It is political the left want to use that to prove that we are using more fossil fuel than we should. It is unimportant that if we cut as much as they want to there would people without food and water.