posted on May, 9 2014 @ 03:12 AM
I have to say, I have followed ATS for a year and find many of the discussions highly interesting and the debates which occur are very informative.
But the attitude of many people here to the FACTS are alarming
CO2 absorbs UV radiation and hence retains energy in the atmospheric system, this is FACT. If the temperature heats up sufficiently to begin melting
permafrost then the gigantic methane reserves locked away in the frozen soil will be released into the atmosphere, methane is a more potent GHG than
C02 by a factor of 34. if this happens we no longer have any control over huge quantities of methane being released into the atmosphere.
There is no debate as to whether or not global climate patterns are changing and becoming more erratic. There is no debate as to whether or not C02
levels are higher than at any time in human history, and it does not take a genius to see the correlation between industrialization since the late
18th century and the increased levels since then. There is no debate as to whether or not global temperature has increased in line with the C02
levels. There is no debate that the northern latitudes will receive (and have already) much higher than average temperature increases, hence albedo is
reduced by ice melt. There is no debate that all of these things are true and happening.
Why can most not seem to have the ingenuity to extrapolate from these facts the possible future consequences. I have to say that I believe it may be
an age issue, as a person of age 22 I will have to live with the full consequences of global climate madness and many on here who are older may not
care as they will be gone when it happens.
Think of Humanity, not the Earths climate system as a whole. Human civilization has been around for a fraction of a second relative to the lifespan of
Earth, and if an advanced civilization did exist and vanished due to large-scale flooding which occurred as the Ice melted rapidly around 15,000 years
ago, they vanished as a result of rising sea levels. (not to say i believe this, just postulating)
Sea levels will rise in the next century, the only question is by how much.
Many of the food producing regions of earth will be unable to produce current levels of food in this time period.
population globally is increasing still.
Climate change is happening, and if you want to have your head in the sand so be it.
As the US fracks its way to energy independence it puts out ever increasing CO2 levels, many the world over will follow.
This is unsustainable, I have no doubt.
The main issue is that people don't care because they believe it will not affect them personally, however when the hordes of hundreds of millions of
climate refugees are pouring over western and developed nations borders what will people say then, send them back?
We in the west initiated this problem, yet many of us want NOTHING to do with it and are in a state of denial.
I firmly believe that many people here, if presented with the amount of evidence in favor of GHG stimulated climate change for another issue would
agree and see the problem. I think a major problem may be a general lacking of scientific knowledge amongst many people, and a distrust of authority.
Have no doubt I am anti-authoritarian to my core, and a huge libertarian, however I can see a correlation when it slaps me in the face, and I have the
ability to extrapolate & project into the future to see the potential outcomes.
None are good. Human civilization will not fall apart no, but major conflicts will happen, billions of people may die, the vast majority of life other
than humans will become extinct (the worst crime committed by our species) and our planet will be a place in 100 years where people no longer can see
the vast and astonishing array of wildlife and beauty we do today, people will look back at our time and ask WHY, WHY did you not care and continue to
destroy the biome?
Sadly the facts are that the West created the issue of co2 emissions, however the west no longer has control over it, and even if the US and we
Europeans reduced all C02 emissions to 0. China, India and Africa will have the final say, and whom are we to say then cannot have cheap energy
too?
It is a dire situation, people need to pull their heads out of the sand, look at the real data and come to their own conclusions. But make no mistake,
it is happening if you like it or not and we will ALL be affected in some way or another.