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Originally Posted by example1
Now you want me to explain the consequences of global warming? Geez. I think I'll pass. If you can't find enough information about why it will be bad online, in the paper, in the debates and in books and movies, I'm not going to have any impact.
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I read and I listen and I don't hear anything that compels me to believe that there will be dire consequences. There will be more drought? more hurricanes? more famine...in Africa? Oceans rising at the rate of at most 1/15 to 1/4 inch per year for the next 100 years (predicted by the IPCC). After experts predicted that Florida would be going through a 20 year cycle of extreme hurricanes, they remained unscathed the last two hurricane seasons.
BTW: The stats about the last 13 years in the link you provided conveniently ignored that after the hottest year 1998, the temperatures declined and stabilized. With the exception of 2005, temperature has trended down in 2004, 2006 and 2007 with lower temperatures each year.
Also, throughout history, man has found ways to cope with drought and flooding. The Hoover Dam completed in 1935 reclaimed 1/12 of the U.S. that had been previously uninhabitable due to regular flooding (that had nothing to do with CO2). The amount of land that was reclaimed was enormous.
As for drought, man has had technology to overcome that for a long time. You need only look to the Aqueducts in Ancient Rome. The earth's water will not disappear. As you pointed out, this is a closed system. It may move. Some places may have less and others will have more, but man has been finding and transporting water for thousands of years. We also have the technolgy to tame flooding rivers and to live in cities below sea level.
Quote:
Originally Posted by example1
Given the amount of evidence--acknowledged by many of you--indicating that humans have at least SOME responsibility for the CO2 emissions, and the CO2 emissions at least have SOME responsibility for the warming trend, particularly in the arctic, I am not going to be convinced to just sweep it under the rug. I am going to continue to believe it is important that our next president pay great attention to it and begin laying the groundwork for addressing it over the next decade or two.
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I don't doubt that man has some impact on these trends, but apparently so do flatulent cows and lots of other things. The biggest causes are probably the evidence that the sun is getting hotter and the elliptical orbit around the sun. Other planets have experienced warming and an increase in CO2. What they have in common with the earth is the sun and the elliptical orbit around the sun. What they don't have in common with earth is man. I'll close with this, in a world covered two-thirds by water and about 90% of the worlds population inhabits 10% of the land (less than 4% of the surface of the planet), so that means that the globe is mainly empty space without people. Only man could be arrogant enough to believe so strongly that what we do while inhabiting 4% of the earth's surface could effect global climate more than the heat of the sun or the earth's orbit around the sun. It would be a tragic mistake to wreck economies around the world based on the scientific theories regarding climate. Economic crisis will most assuredly cause hunger and death.