The Global Warming Megathread

[torin8]

Personally I think Global warming / increase in CO2 is just something we are going to have to live with. However this does not mean we sit on our butts in our houses and do nothing. Quite simply we are destroying this planet and we shoudl be caring for it because we don't have another and nature will just find a way to extinct us if we go too far and then rebuild (say with ants /cockroach in charge next time). We need to repair the damage we have been doing over the last 600 years and then find ways to live with less impact so that we all can raise our kids and live happily.

 

Will we succeed in this - I doubt it, humans are vain stupid creatures - all hail the mighty ant / cockroach!

[Greybeard]

What would it take for anyone to believe GW is real?. BTW - I dunno one way or another. I just wondered what kind of event it would take to convince anyone that things must change.

 

I believe most govts. around the world accept that GW is real. At the same time they realise that it is now inevitable and irreversible, so why change ?

 

Undoubtedly things will have to change, not in an effort to reverse or even stop GW, but in finding ways to live with it.

[TonyRevitt]

Personally I think Global warming / increase in CO2 is just something we are going to have to live with. However this does not mean we sit on our butts in our houses and do nothing. Quite simply we are destroying this planet and we shoudl be caring for it because we don't have another and nature will just find a way to extinct us if we go too far and then rebuild (say with ants /cockroach in charge next time). We need to repair the damage we have been doing over the last 600 years and then find ways to live with less impact so that we all can raise our kids and live happily.

 

Will we succeed in this - I doubt it, humans are vain stupid creatures - all hail the mighty ant / cockroach!

 

We are not set a good example by our avaricious self serving politicians, even if, "two Jags" gave up one, even then a Jaguar is not the most environmentaly friendly car. I have yet to see anyone of them, other than meaningless lip service, trying to reduce their carbon footprint.

[TonyRevitt]

The Global Warming and CO2 footprint hype is becoming as hackneyed as the millennium scare, the michealangelo virus scare and the perennial , The World will end on Thursday, scare and will have the same impact. Except, there will be no finite conclusion because it is so hypothetical.

There is no question that global warming is taking place, but why was it not an issue when Sheffield was covered in a pall of smoke, not only from the industry but from the miners,” free coal” fires burning day and night.

It is immutable that global warming will melt the ice and raise sea levels, I was aware 50 years ago that all the fires would deplete the O2/CO2 ratio, and if it went on unchecked the doom and gloom merchants predictions would come to fruition.

Who does this benefit? Firstly the so called experts, without the hype they would not have an audience, government loves it, they can steal money from us by telling us it is for our protection, commerce, in this area is booming like the dot .coms, Major insurance companies are issuing memoranda entitled, “Reap the Benefits” instructing how to capitalise from the hype. There are companies offering to offset your carbon footprint, for a fee. Send me £50 I will plant a tree for you.

 

What is “The Real Deal”

 

 

First look at the immutable effects of global warming. The increase in temperature will melt some of the ice and increases the sea levels, the increase in sea level and therefore area, subjected to the increased temperature, causes increased evaporation, resulting in more clouds and rain. The accumulative results of this will be more surface water which further increases evaporation, hence even more clouds and rain. These effects will increasingly cause less sunlight to reach the earth until equilibrium is achieved. The planet will now be a little warmer and a little moister, an ideal condition for a burgeoning of vegetation in previously arid areas. The resulting increased photosynthesis will replenish the depleting O2/CO2 ratio at the same time dramatically increasing the world’s food production.

Of course it should now be obvious that as the planet warms, there will be no need to burn fuel to heat our homes so less CO2 will be produced, as I dream of sitting in my verdant Eden, it occurs to me that the motor trips and airline flights to find kinder climates will also be unnecessary, further reducing CO2 emissions.

In reality as I sit in a house I can only afford to heat for four hours a day, I can only say

”BRING IT ON”

[banesmabes]

People will only believe global warming is happening when the world becomes totally screwed. People won't stop using their cars unless there is an alternative...currently the alternative is unreliable, doesn't run where it needs to and is expensive. People are also far more selfish than they ever have been and more interested in themselves than the community as a whole.

 

Basically the planet is screwed and so are we.

 

Just one opinion of course

 

 

Couldn't agree with you more! I don't know if yesterday's weather was related to global warming, but there is plenty of other evidence around that people choose to ignore. People will endlessly justify their car use ("I don't want to get wet", "It's too cold", "It's cheaper than the bus", "It's more reliable", "I do my bit by recycling"). Nothing other than a complete catastrophe will force them out of their precious cars. People need to start actually making an effort if we want to stop global warming. This will mean finding an alternative to cars. Unfortunately most people are too lazy/selfish to make an effort.

[Stormy]

What really winds me up is when I get accused of being "lazy/selfish" because I dont want to find an alternative to my car. Why should I? Look at all the other countries who are belching out all these horrible gasses on a massive industrial scale all the time, look at China and the USA for example.

 

Do you seriously seriously belive that if even every single motorist in Britain left their cars at home it would even make one tiny bit of difference? Once our leaders (Tony Bliar still jets off on holidays I see) and the Big industrial nations of the world start taking it seriously then so will I, but until then, or until we have a viable alternative (decent public transport) I will continue to use my car.

[banesmabes]

What really winds me up is when I get accused of being "lazy/selfish" because I dont want to find an alternative to my car. Why should I? Look at all the other countries who are belching out all these horrible gasses on a massive industrial scale all the time, look at China and the USA for example.

 

Do you seriously seriously belive that if even every single motorist in Britain left their cars at home it would even make one tiny bit of difference? Once our leaders (Tony Bliar still jets off on holidays I see) and the Big industrial nations of the world start taking it seriously then so will I, but until then, or until we have a viable alternative (decent public transport) I will continue to use my car.

 

 

Again, another excuse you hear regularly from motorists when you challenge them to stop using their cars. The point is we have to start somewhere. How can we even begin to ask China or the US to tackle their carbon emmissions if we're not prepared to do it ourselves. A colleague always says to me that there's no point in her using public transport, because one car less on the road won't make a difference. The problem is everyone thinks like this. If everyone stopped thinking so negatively and did stop, then it would make a HUGE difference.

 

Asking 'Why should I' because other countries emit more, is simply highlighting your selfishness.

[banesmabes]

True - but by the time China and all have reduced their emissions in response to our good example, it will be much, much too late to have any mitigating effect on climate change (as opposed to the merely "much too late" stage we're at now), at least on time scales relevant to anybody that's alive now.

 

 

Ok, so we should just do nothing....let's all be complacent and accept that the world is doomed.

[MichaelJP]

All the effort to get people to change is very noble, but at the end of the day will have little or no effect on the situation. Global warming is real, whether man-made or not, and every country will have to deal with the consequences over the decades to come.

 

Give up your car if it makes you feel better, but it won't make the slightest bit of difference. I take the train because I hate being stuck in traffic on the roads, not because of GW.

[Stormy]

 

Asking 'Why should I' because other countries emit more, is simply highlighting your selfishness.

 

My point was also that I dont think that personal/small scale carbon emissions are as big a deal as people make out, its just yet another way to get us to pay more tax. If they were such a big deal then these countries would have actually done something about their emissions instead of carrying on as normal.

 

But to answer your point,

I take it you don't drive then? Is it through choice, cost or inability if you dont mind my asking?

 

When you offer me a viable, cheaper alternative to my car then I shall use it. I dont see why I should work long, often unsociable hours so I can pay more to use public transport than what it would have cost me to use my car. It just doesnt makea ny sense. If that makes me selfish then fair enough I guess, along with the millions of other motorists who have an ounce of common sense, im a selfish person.