Honestly, why do we think that we can stop climate change?

Question

I don't mean to be a troll, honestly, it's just that the arrogance of humans thinking we can destroy the entire world single-handedly or that we have the ability to change it now astounds me. I mean, seriously, take a look at how the climate has changed throughout history:

http://www.scotese.com/climate.htm

Our effects on this planet are just a small scratch and our entire existence will only be a speck upon time. We are nothing in the great scheme of things.

What I mean is that it is arrogant to think that our actions will have much reach beyond our own society in our brief little time frame on this planet. We cannot "destroy" the planet, we can only destroy ourselves. Millions of years from now we will probably not be here, it's only the facts of life.

Answer 1

ADAPT

Answer 2

Kat. I think you are right to be cynical, we all should be, it is human nature. You are correct, there are arguments giving worst case scenarios from total world destruction to only using up fossil fuels sooner and having to deal with the effects of nuclear waste, weapons, social and political unrest. Whilst we are concerned about the destiny of mankind you are right we are nothing in the great scheme of things. The world will carry on regardless.

It will take us a lifetime to look at all the evidence by the time I know enough it will be too late. So who's opinion should we trust Kat? Grizz seems to be giving us most hope, but I wouldn't trust Grizz. Why? he is being sly offering you Pascal's wager. Hoping that we will accept his 'reward for saving us or his punishment. He wants us to accept this blindly Kat. Without taking evidence into consideration regarding whether or not the belief is true.

How do we know Grizz is God? Even if he is he may be the wrong god. Or an unjust god who only saves lazy, morally corrupt people.

Trevor may be god. His peer is worshiping his testament. He is encouraging us to believe, but giving us evidence. He is even pointing out that this is imperfect and may be flawed. He is not being sly as Grizz is.

So who do we believe. We have two choices. Look at the risks of those choices of not taking any action or taking some action as shown in the links Grizz gives.

Basically I am lazy. I am human. I am greedy I want the things I want. Now I can get that by doing nothing. You may be 100% right, this climate change stuff turns out to be rubbish like so many 'Scientific facts' before it. Or it may be correct. We do not know in reality what that will mean. You can take the chance.

Now I am going for the minimal pain adaptive lifestyle, because I want things to stay pretty much the same as they are now. Which is what the minimal pain adaptive lifestyle is all about. Less work. Less pain. That's my conclusion, oh and don't trust Grizz. Lol.

Answer 3

When smog killed hundreds in London in the 1950's, Parliament passed laws to clean up the air. Other countries did the same over the next 20 years or so. And guess what? The air got cleaner, and eventually people stopped dying from smog.

When the air got cleaner, it increased the amount of sunlight hitting the surface of the earth, and the earth got warmer. You can see it in the data: human laws changing the climate.

When the ozone hole over Antarctica threatened to spread to Argentina and Australia, the CFC-producing nations got together and agreed to the Montreal Protocol, to curtail CFC production. And guess what? The ozone hole, which had been growing by leaps and bounds, stopped growing. It may even be shrinking a bit.

Yes, we CAN and DO have an effect on the climate and the environment, if we all act together.

Answer 4

We may not be able to reverse the damage we have already done, but does that mean we shouldn't try? Or at least stop doing damage. I wish people would come to understand the problem we face rather than arguing over terminology and whether or not it exists.

The first link explains the pro- vs anti-GW argument in a clear logical manner and why we SHOULD "try" as quickly as possible. It is a simple 2X2 risk analysis. His point, like mine, is "Hope for the best, prepare for the worst".

Greenhouse effect, Global Warming, Global Climate Change; it doesn't matter. I call it "excess energy in the biosphere". It isn't just heat, it is lightning, it is wind, it is energy that life on this planet is not designed to make use of in quantities too large to make use of. They are all symptoms, they aren't the underlying problem.

The second of the two video clips explains the underlying cause (i.e. what is causing "the hockey stick" effect of Global Warming that is superimposed over the natural patterns). I have just included part 3 of 8. In this part consider one minute in "bacteria time" to be 10 years in our time. Even if you watch just the first three in the series you will understand that overpopulation is the underlying problem.

Our entire belief system, not just government, not just scientists, not just Global Warming, but also our religion, our understanding of our own history, philosophy, what we believe ourselves to be must be revisited with an underlying sense of both cynicism AND openmindedness.

We are not in charge of this world, we are part of it. We are responsible to fix what we break, clean what we soil and respect all life from a virus to an ecosystem as if it were our lives without the conceit of believing we own it.

That's why I believe we should try.

The only question I have is "Imagine, please, that I am a God or an alien or a magician or whatever and I had the ability to fix this. Reviewing the history of humanity on Earth, what could you say to me to convince me to save this species that has caused so much destruction?"

It is my choice to save you. If you are nothing in your own eyes, a speck in time, why should I?

I really need convincing.

Answer 5

I appreciate what you're saying but our atmosphere is very fragile because it's such a thin layer covering our planet.

The famous cosmologist Carl Sagan pointed out that the atmosphere has the equivalent thickness of a layer of varnish on a globe. In fact, there's such a comparatively small amount that every bit of it has been breathed in and out many, many times over.

Given the huge number of people on the planet (6.5 billion of them) it doesn't require much effort from each person to adversely affect the atmosphere. We've seen it happen several times before in the aftermath of large volcanoes, the use of CFC's, pollution in the mid 20th century etc.

It isn't realistically possible to stop climate change as climate is dynamic and constantly changing with or without our intervention. However, it is possible to affect climate and we've very clearly demonstrated our ability to do this. Most of this has been unintentional and as a consequence of other activities but there has been successful and intentional climate engineering in the past. The banning of CFC's being one example but there have been other examples including attempts to control the climate as a weapon of war and as a means of inducing higher rainfall.

Whilst we can't stop climate change we can intervene and affect the rate at which the climate is changing. We could fire of nuclear missiles and create a nuclear winter, that would be very easy to do but of course the drawbacks outweigh the advantages. There are less dramatic ways we can affect the climate, both for better and for worse. Some of these methods have already been trialed at a small scale level and proven to work. If implemented on a global scale we could change our climate.

This isn't some science fiction future but is a reality right now, the technology exists and has been tested. Whether it will ever be implemented is a different matter.

Answer 6

I am driving along this highway of life in my mercedes and I have it on cruise control.

I would like to shave to save time...you know for my own convenience.

Now if I let go the steering wheel this mercedes benz will travel along for a good five minutes without leaving the road such a finely tuned machine that it is.. who knows, if the wind doesn't blow, it could go for longer. What's at stake here? My life.. yes.. the life of my passengers (my family) th elife of others that use the same road... it's not the end of the world.

Should I risk it or should I take control of the one thing that I have control over and pull over to have a shave?

We can pull over to reduce carbon emmissions. It is that easy and if we all make this sensible decision we can continue to use the highway we have made for ourselves. Sure there is every likelihood that the planet will still be here when humans have left it. Where will you go though?

Answer 7

I agree with you 100%, we as humans don't even accumalte 10% of the earths C02 levels so to think that we can change, the earth is impossible and ignorance, as for those experts the only ones that seem to agree with them are themselves and people that don't understand Global Warming. And there is not enough science in the World that can help humans stop the Earth from heating up. But I guess if all else we can always rely on a Nuclear winter :)................lol

Answer 8

I have something for you about this!! Its kind of very interesting...
http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO409F.html

As for your question, we can`t stop what is not man made, and this whole thing is not man made... Now we got luminescent clouds all over the world, even Nasa, think its related to climate changes (most don`t agree its caused by humans). http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19507007/
So, my guess is that this is related to our geomagnetic activity (with interaction with the sun magnetic storm activity). And since our planet is a giant hyper sophisticated dynamo, its just boiling from the inside!! Should get fun when it will reach the surface!! I do believed 2012 may not be a hoax if this is true and verified...
http://www.utexas.edu/opa/news/03newsreleases/nr_200301/nr_edmonds030115.html
And alternate explanation on my blog (not finished yet):
http://ca.blog.360.yahoo.com/sentrynox?l=6&u=10&mx=12&lmt=5

Answer 9

Yes, we the people living in this beautiful world, could change the climate if we all strictly follow the global warnings and join our hands to maintain the residuals procedures.

Answer 10

Yes your so right, we will only destroy ourselves in the process, among lots of other species and animals, while the earth has it's rocks left floating around with germs and stuff crawling on them, the earth can fix itself, but that would invlolve us killing each other off, what can help, there are lots of things, but eventually we will die, humans are not immortal

Answer 11

The planet goes in cycles, from hot to cold and back again. We are in it's warm to hot phase, and we will either adapt and survive, leave the planet, or perish. It's not the first time it's happened, and it won't be the last.