What would it take to have global warming become a thing of the past?

Question

I know perhaps that almost everyone has heard of the"Bandwagon" effect right.....question is why the hell aren't most of the largest cities in the world come to thier senses and start delivering results to overcome this global threat. what are some acts as we the people can do to make our leaders see that as much as we care about changes for the best that they should share similar intentions. We are faced with a great opponent though..the all mighty dollar.presidential individuals will kill to obtain stacks of those puppies.Ideas that we can make a new economy market with the Recycling of energy, or new habits to produce clean energy are infinte.I cannot emphasize enough though that we should all act as one if we are to see changes as quick as we want them to be placed into effect.

Answer 1

Time.

Answer 2

Given our modern lifestyles and the amount of pollution they present there's no possible way that global warming could become a thing of the past unless we revert to life in the Middle Ages.

We need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 90% to stop global warming - that would mean all but giving up on transport, power, lighting, communications, modern agricultural practices and so many things upon which we are totally dependent.

Given time we may come up with alternative technologies and power sources that dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions but this requires almost reinventing modern civilisation.

Whilst reducing GHG emissions will slow the inevitable I beleive we need to be looking at alternative solutions, namely processes to physically remove GHG's from the atmosphere and bring levels back down to within natural tolerances.

Many such schemes are now being considered, some are quite simple, others are extremely ambitious. Some would cost a few billion, others would cost hundreds of trillions. It's early days yet but initial prototypes have been largely successful. More research is needed before any such scheme can be implemented on a large enough scale to begin to have an effect.

In the meantime we all need to do our bit to reduce, recycle and reuse. This could buy us the time we need to pull the planet back from the brink.

Answer 3

When people in the rich world adopts the facts that true happiness can't be achieved by consuming more or earn more money. That's when we really can start to leave the climate threat and other current environmental threats behind.

This may seem unachievable, but I don't think it is and I believe this is what most people will realize by time. For example I don't know anyone who doesn't feel relaxed being close to nature or with good friends while buying new things just give you a very temporary satisfaction.

Personally, where I live I have problems every year on my children's birthdays because I don't know what to buy or wish for them. They have EVERYTHING they need! So I always end up giving them something they don't need.... And it's the same for almost all of my children's friends as well.

Of course the decisions which would help people gain this knowledge faster have to be made by politicians, but they are too occupied themselves to see the true values in life. So we need to help them by shouting out loudly!

Answer 4

There is a bandwagon effect right now and even GW acknowleges the problem. I have been concerned about not only global warming but polllution in general and failure to gain compliance with the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts that required that compliance about 25 years ago. There are obstacles and groups who stand in the way, some for dubious reasons, and those groups include (1) business who would comply but won't until someone makes them, (2) unions who think that pollution is tied to jobs, (3) politicians who pander to anyone with money or vote blocks, (4) fundamentalist preachers who oppose environmentalists for other reasons an don't mind trashing the earth as collateral damage and (5) the environmental movement and ecologist because they are not helping.
Most of that is well known but maybe not that environmentalists are part of the problem but they surely are. The environmental movement is politically to the left and use the environment for political purposes. There is no reason to think that left wing Dems care more about the earth and therefore they sell the movement for political purposes. Any of the groups publish newsletters that just use the earth as a background and the meat is to defeat other politicians and yeah if you need to feel that way you can say its cuz thems is the bad guys. But its politics are usual and using an important issue for gain. There is no larger phony on the issue of pollution than Al Gore. None. Also, they protest for the sake of protesting because its fun and part of a lifestyle. We now are being treated to the spectacle of people who call themselves environmentalists protesting the efforts to move away from coal and fossil polluting fuels. Yep, thats right. Environmentalists are so bizarre as group that they will oppose every hyrdo dam (to keep fish from being inconvenienced), oppose wind turbines becasue they are ugly, oppose nuke power because it may blow up and harm the environment. Did you know that you should oppose hybrids cuz the batteries could blow up and you should oppose ethanol cuz it uses the land for corn (cept corn is not the main plant source). In WV recently, the coal mining capital of the world for high sulfur polluting coal, environmentalists opposed wind turbines that others wanted to use to produce clean electricity. They opposed it, using developers money from D.C. who wanted to build non green chalets in the area, and got the permits pulled in WV which was a slam dunk because coal is king and anything that reduces coal use is not going to get official help. So environmentalists defeated the largest wind power, non polluting, electrical power project thus far. What was the excuse? Well developers want to bulldoze the mountains to build roads and blocks of upscale homes and don't want the turbines around. The environmentalists? Well, it could harm birds. It would be better if the birds just died with the rest of us choking on smoke than risk that birds would not see a wind turbine. So you see, the obstacles are many and many are the people who wish to PERPETUATE the problem on the right and the left. The right for money, the left because they might not have another cause to have angst about. The most influential group of "environmentalists" in this country may be fisherman and hunters. Not greenies? Well, pickup any "green" sports magazine (Outside, Backpacker, etc) and you will see every fifth page is an ad for a huge SUV. Phonies. But dangerous phonies because they work with the other groups to perpetuate pollution and the issue.

Answer 5

We already have the answer but it is not politically popular. Create power with nuclear breeder reactors and later with nuclear fusion reactors. Use electricity from those reactors to create the fuels we need for our vehicles, ships, and airplanes as well. Breeder reactors create more nuclear fuel as they run in the form of plutonium. This can be seperated out on site and put back into the reactor to create more fuel and no waste. The reason they are so unpopular is that the plutonium can easily be made into nuclear weapons if someone wanted to and because of existing opposition to nuclear plants in general. The idea that everyone on the entire planet is going to conserve is unrealistic at best. What happens when the population doubles? ... and then doubles again? Is everyone going to be using 1/4th the resources as now? What happens when the standard of living in other countries increases and their energy needs increase? The only viable option is to create as much energy as ever (in fact more energy than ever) in ways that do not give off CO2. Nuclear power is the only viable option here. Solar and wind are often touted but they simply cannot perform at the levels needed and are not good sources of energy in all areas of the world. They can only augment and only in some areas.

Answer 6

Ever hear the phrase: Grab all you can, before the roof caves in, then run?
That's what a lot of governments are doing now.
In Canada, diamonds are being mined in new areas because of the ice melting and exposing new ground. Been going on a few years and the cost is high to do this but who cares-pass it on to the customer.
Other countries are also getting wealth from the Arctic, including the USA.
They know that Global warming can't be stopped nor even slowed down at this point-if you really follow the reports globally and know enough about earth science you'll come to the same conclusion as have others.
Maybe they feel they will be able to survive the coming disasters with all that money to build safe places, while the rest of us die from whatever Mother Nature hurls at us.
Face it! We are like soldiers on a battle field- Fodder!

Answer 7

Global warming is not a thing in my past, present or future. I'm still waiting to see the scientific evidence of Global warning. It's not even a theory yet, I'm not sure if it can be call a model.
And don't ask me to see the Al Gore movie, please. I'm asking for real scientific evidence. Your perception of the weather in your city doesn't count either, we're talking Global meaning all around the world.
I understand that we're changing the world, that we have to be more responsible, that we must change our ways. But global warming is just another monster created by governments to get more control over our lives. Carbon credits will create a huge market where the establishment is going to make huge profits. Do you truly believe that is going to solve the problems? Do you believe governments can solve global warming? Have you ever seen a government solving a real problem?

Answer 8

Well there are things you can do to help reduce the amount of harm you are causing the enviroment, you can do this by offsetting your carbon on websites such as; www.co2debt.com . On these sites you are able to prevent climate change by funding ethical reforestation projects. I personally found that www.co2debt.com was the best site for this because of their strong relationships with other non-profit organizations

Answer 9

I have some serious doubts if it can ever be reversed, given the economic inertia behind the industrialization of China and India plus the corruption in Brazil that is, without exaggeration, leading to the destruction of one of the main barriers to CO2 buildup, namely the tropical rain forest.

Answer 10

It's happening! The current warming trend peaked in 1998-1999. We are now on a cooling trend.

Answer 11

I just read about this site from WSJ. It's called the Carbon Diet Plan, which lists ways to improve one's ecological profile "and provides inspiration for your friends to do the same."