India Hits 124 Degrees Fahrenheit

[Scrumhalf]

There is a huge amount of noise regarding climate change here.

Good to hear. The reef situation was all over the news here. What a tragedy that would be if it got completely bleached. :(

[Scrumhalf]

Thing is, global warming isn't anything new. Humans talk about it as if it's the first of its kind. The earth goes through warming and cooling cycles. Dinosaurs lived on a warmer earth than we have today. Fast forward millions of years and we have the ice age which was obviously a much colder earth.

Not sure why people don't talk about this when they mention "global warming" as if it's something totally created by man and completely unnatural. If anything we may have sped up the process by some years but it would happen regardless.

I've never heard any scientist say that. In fact, the opposite, that global warming is a natural phenomenon and humans have nothing do with it, is the line that is trotted out by those who don't want to do anything about it.

Both temperature and atmospheric CO2 levels (that can cause greenhouse warming) have been rising much faster than normal since the industrial revolution and more recently (presumably due to automobile use). This has been shown by temperature records, ice core samples, and so on. The data is INDISPUTABLE.

Yes, the earth may warm up long-term, but we are greatly accelerating this process and we are not in a position to deal with the consequences. If the entire Antarctic ice sheet melts, the sea levels will rise by something like 250 meters. And like I said earlier, even more modest sea level rises, like 5m or 10m, will inundate many of the world's cities and displace a huge fraction of the population that lives within a few miles of the coast.

Global warming is the existential threat of our time. We ignore it at our mortal peril.

[Bouncer]

Agree scrum but the industrial age record is nothing at all in terms of time scale. We have zero data on how fast the last global warming event happened. For all we know it could have happened even quicker.

Humans have to clean up their act. We don't disagree. But I think the drama of the whole thing is a bit much. Warming and cooling events are a natural process over the long term. Whether we ignore it or take it very seriously it this point is too late I'm afraid. Those events are already in motion and we simply don't have any ability or power to stop it at this point.

The only thing we can do moving forward is take what comes in terms of the consequences and clean up our act moving forward.

[Scrumhalf]

All I am saying is that if we keep up what we are doing, it's bye bye Florida, New York City, most of coastal Australia, etc. etc. If not in our lifetime, certainly before the end of the century. That is going to happen, no question about it, because we are already at or very close to the tipping point that we think is irreversible.

And the comparison that most people do to the prehistoric past, global heating/cooling has always happened, blah blah, is irrelevant. Yeah, the last time it happened, dinosaurs simply retreated inland when the seas went up by 500 feet. We don't have that choice, at least without severe pain.

[Bouncer]

All I am saying is that if we keep up what we are doing, it's bye bye Florida, New York City, most of coastal Australia, etc. etc. If not in our lifetime, certainly before the end of the century. That is going to happen, no question about it, because we are already at or very close to the tipping point that we think is irreversible.
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That's where we disagree. You act as if we now have the power to stop it. Scrum these events have taken 50 generations of humans to put in place and speed up the global warming process. That ball is already rolling.

We can clean up our act right this minute but it's not going to stop that boulder from rolling down the hill that took centuries and centuries of hard human work to get rolling.

The only thing we can do is take what's coming and clean up our act in the meantime.

The earth and life itself is not a constant. It's always changing. Things rise and fall. Mountain ranges rise and fall. It is the way of the universe. We are simply along for the ride.

Don't mistake what I'm saying as an excuse for humans to continue to pollute and waste. Not implying that at all.

[redback]

Its an issue no doubt about it. Things have to be done about it now.

[redback]

Bouncer there is a huge amount we can do to slow it.

[Scrumhalf]

That's where we disagree. You act as if we now have the power to stop it. Scrum these events have taken 50 generations of humans to put in place and speed up the global warming process. That ball is already rolling.

We can clean up our act right this minute but it's not going to stop that boulder from rolling down the hill that took centuries and centuries of hard human work to get rolling.

There is no question that some small Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean island countries are going to disappear and our coastlines are going to go as well. All we can do is to slow it down as much as possible and that is certainly within our ability, if we have the willpower to do it.

[Bouncer]

I'm not saying things wont change drastically. I'm simply saying it's a natural process that we have sped up.

Our ability to have any effect on stopping it at this point is seriously questionable though.

[Scrumhalf]

We certainly don't the ability to control the long-term heating and cooling of the planet. But we definitely have the ability to adjust the rate at which warming is taking place, so that the major problems are centuries down the line, rather than decades. We have the technology to do that, all it takes is political will.

[redback]

I'm not saying things wont change drastically. I'm simply saying it's a natural process that we have sped up.

Our ability to have any effect on stopping it at this point is seriously questionable though.

We can slow it down drastically. There are billions of tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions released that don't need to be. The building industry is also responsible for a huge amount. Houses here have to be built to strict standards now. Things like 'passive solar design' etc. Houses are built a certain way to eliminate the need for artificial heating and cooling which is a major contributor of greenhouse gases. Using certain materials in building that store heat or 'cool' at different times of the day. Its all being done because of climate change.

[rado]

Red went all scholar up in this bitch:D

[Bouncer]

I'll agree that we can do things to make the planet a better and cleaner place all around. I want those things to happen immediately. Stopping the problem that is already coming in terms of water rising and extreme weather I believe is now beyond our control.

[Scrumhalf]

One of the biggest culprits is the coal industry. If we can phase out coal quickly, that will help a lot. And there is no reason why we cannot do it. The opposition is purely political.

[Bouncer]

scrum, if china and india did not exist would we even be having this discussion? serious question, not being a smart ass. from what I understand those 2 countries make up like 90% of the problem.