Do agree that we have a climate change crisis on our hands?

Question

Unless you have been living in a cave for the past few years, it would be difficult to have not read or heard about the threat of global warming to our planet. "Life as we know it" is beyond the 11th hour and we must make some serious adjustments in our attitudes about how we conduct "business as usual". The planet can do without us, but our species can not do without Earth. As Mr. Gore has suggested, I believe it is time for all the industrialized countries to come to the Round Table to sign an enforceable treaty to significantly reduce the causes of global warming. It should be done NOW. Do you agree?
http://climateprotect.org/aa20

I don't care what an enforceable greenhouse gas reduction treaty should be called and I'm not necessarily referring to the Kyoto PROTOCOL, but that would be a good start if it had teeth. If someone wants to side with certain politicians on certain issues and not heed the warnings of well informed climate scientists and other experts who present the empirical evidence, then I would say to that person that he or she is naive and living in a state of denial. The question is, once again, do you agree to an enforceable treaty? That would mean embargos, etc. unless significant changes were made, which of course would have to be agreed upon by a majority. At any rate, the horrible example of The Exxon Valdez oil spill is enough to change any sane person's opinion who may be sitting on the fence.

Answer 1

There is no doubt, and if there is... you can just tell those people that they are 'better safe than dead".
We have already locked in 1.3 degrees of warming (centigrade). In Western Australia where I live our climate scientists know that our northern wheat belt will no longer be able to sustain farmers. We are in deep trouble, one of the reasons being that there won't be enough food and water for everyone. I doubt that we will see famine in the rich countries, but the countries that buy from Australia had better think about where they are going to purchase their grain.
To the person who said that separating water into hydrogen and oxygen is a solution:
1. We've been able to do that for ages, and
2. There are already many ways to use hydrogen as a fuel, including 'fuel cells'. However you need power to separate hydrogen from water and this energy could either come from the sun or coal --- Therefore hydrogen itself is not the solution, it can function like a battery.
To the ignorant person who was criticising Kyoto:
Kyoto is not a scientific document for you to refute: it is a political document designed to hold the signatories accountable to their targets.
Do you ever feel like the human race just isn't smart enough to save itself?

Answer 2

Oh my god the sky is falling. This global warming is a big threat. The threat is bigger than the global cooling these same wacos were touting in the seventies. Why don't you ask Al Gore why he is living in a monster house? The earth has been heating up and cooling off since it has been here. One way to stop our effect on temperature (and who knows what that effect is) is to trade our smoke belching coal and oil power plants for the alternative that has no effect on climate. That would be nuclear power. Unfortunately, the same wacos that have not allowed us to build a new plant in thirty years are the same people yelling about global warming.

Answer 3

Being a person that is highly informed on certain issues, I agree but sadly, I fear that we have already gone past the point of no return. True! The earth has gone through this before but this time it has had a LOT of help from all of us.
The problem(s) are on too big of a scale (globally) for any changes we might impose, even if these changes started right now.
Today's news tells of a new route in the Arctic ice opening that will be a shorter route for shipping & plans are already underway to claim all that new land & even put in a fueling station for Canadian ships up there. The new land grab is well underway. Governments & big businesses want the money etc. & nothing else matters, not even the average citizen.
I hate to think what is going to occur in the near future. We are leaving quite a legacy for our children to deal with. If any survive.

Answer 4

By the fact that you are asking people do they agree that a crisis is at hand, and you ask have we read or heard about the threat of global warming. If the crisis were that serious, shouldn't it be obvious? Why should one have to see a movie to be convinced that the world's climate is on the brink of an abyss? Because it's not, you are believing in the predictions of a computer program, you sound like the member of a doomsday cult. Conservation should be on the mind of everyone, but as far as the climate goes, relax you are being lied to. The warm weather that is allowing billions of humans to continue to multiply, will not last, so enjoy it for now, and stop trying to mislead people.

Answer 5

Crisis, no I would not call it a crisis. A minor concern maybe. Let's think about this rationally, what is the worst that is likely to happen? Please use real science to answer this question, not Hollywood celebrities and fail politicians. For most of us, the worst case scenario will be a minor inconvenience. The most likely scenario probably won't even be on our radar screen.

Answer 6

The best thing to do would be to sign a treaty that forces every country to enact a carbon tax (not a corruptible carbon market) on everything that increases CO2 concentration in the atmosphere.

We have the technology to solve the problem without reducing our quality of life provided we are allowed to use it, I don't really see any need for big adjustment in attitudes (e.g. we don't have to start saving energy, that was what caused the whole problem in the first place).

We also need to ignore crackpots who think they can split water into hydrogen and oxygen and get more energy out than they put in (those that acknowledge that they have to put more energy in than they get out are legit and may have the solution to our transportation fuels problem, see Sulphur-Iodine cycle) and we really need to make the idiots who think global warming isn't happening or is natural (it is and it's not) look stupid (OK, they already do).

Answer 7

Actually, an earth-shaking event happened last week that will change everything. A man looking for a way to treat his wife's cancer stumbled onto a way to separate the oxygen and hydrogen atoms in salt water. The gas that was given off burned at a temperature of 3,000 degrees. He sent a radio wave ( if I remember correctly) at a certain frequency through the salt water in a test tube. Now we'll be able to avoid using any carbon based energy at all.

Answer 8

Yes, I do. I live in a agricultural state. Our 2 biggest industries are farming & tourism. We can't hav e one without the other. God help us all. Good Luck& Blessings

Answer 9

Yes, I fully agree but keep in mind that unless the attitudes of all of us change then no law on a piece of paper will do any good whatsoever.

Answer 10

yes, i do agree with what you said. It is about time to make a big adjustment. people of today makes unintentional mistakes, and affects our environment allot, just a simple blow of cigarette, 1km. run of a smoking vehicle, just a piece of plastic candy wrapper, but think of it that you throw 2 per day, how many plastic wrapper have you thrown in a year? its in our hands, its in how we react.