Adam,
In no way do I question the science or even the findings behind the science. Nor do I dispute that it is happening. I also don't believe we should ignore it. If we're basing it off of historical models, it's going to happen regardless and we need to adapt. I strongly feel that we would be far better putting our eggs in the "adapt" basket than the "let's stop it" basket. What I am largely getting at is when we're told that if we reduce our carbon footprint, we can stop it from happening. To that end, do they KNOW we can stop it? If they can't answer that question, then they need to stop saying it. Because that is an awful risk to take by forcing changes to stop something that is most likely inevitable. I'm all for changing our habits but we need to brace ourselves for the inevitable too. If we put our eggs in the adapt basket, we'll be far better off dealing with the changing climate due to the axial precession of the Earth, human catalyst, volcanic activity and non-terrestrial threats.
I agree that clean energy sources are better and renewable energy srouces are best. We have the most powerful energy souce in the solar system burning away, as it has for billions of years and it is largely going to waste in regards to what little we are doing with it. We should be incentivizing change because it is better for our health and it is cheaper for the individual in the long run. I despise being told to change because "You are killing this planet". We can't kill this planet. We can only kill ourselves.
Please don't take my post as "it is absolutely doomsday of '2012' proportions" or "These damn libs don't know what the hell they're talking about! 'Merica, F*%k yeah!" I take no political sides. I just meant that, like all agnostics, I don't believe anything until I have proof but I am open to the possibilities. That it's happening, there is proof and I believe we do need to change (adapt). What will happen? Well, that is speculation based on a global system we don't fully grasp yet, no matter how much we have learned. We know so much more now than we did 30 years ago. Imagine what we'll know in another 3 decades.
EDIT: I just saw your posted article link. From the article "Ignoring the problem is no longer an option." Yes, I agree, but we have data that show that this has happened 4 times before in the last 450,000 years. Sure, humans may be driving the speed of the climate change as co2 levels are higher than before but based on the cyclic data, it happens about every 100,000 years anyway. It's been approximately 100,000 since the last one. So........ adapt. We can't stop this. I do like that the article acknowldeges that it can't be stopped.
Last edited by absolom7691; 09-04-2014 at 15:02.
If you're the smartest person in the room, then you're in the wrong room.