07-06-2009, 02:50 PM
Quote:Not sure I fully agree with that.
There is no doubt about global warming and the negative economic impact it will have. What climatoligists and other scientists are trying to figure out now is how much we contribute to it. Not to gather proof for accusations, but to establish how much we could do to reverse it, by reducing CO2 emissions and such. If they find we have little to do with it, we are in for some big problems. Otoh, if they find we have (partly) caused it ourselves, we know we can do something about it.
Suppose astronomers find out there is a comet heading for earth, and they actually manage to convince everyone they are not just saying it for funding. Would we look the other way, saying that we didn't do it?
Personally, I'm not much of a global warming alarmist. If we didn't do it we can't help it, and if we would just treat earth as a home for future generations, we wouldn't be causing it. Otoh, if we have a hand in this, we might not have the 'luxury' of trying to solve other, more basic problems first. The climate system is pretty huge, and it may not respond to our activities on daily basis.
I don't agree. If (and I am convinced it is) the rising CO2 concentration is causing a significant warming of our planet it doesn't matter if we caused it or not. If we know more CO2 means warmer we can try to decrease the amount in the atmosphere. I see all this research as a very positive thing, we know we can influence the climate, and could theoretically also counterattack an ice age in the same way (by pumping CO2 in the atmosphere).
What you mean with ''if we didn't do it we can't help it'' probably refers to a completely different cause. In that sense I think I am positive because I think we can influence it.