The Climate is Changing Get Over It By Ted Coombs

[Demeter]

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_ted_coom_080407_the_climate_is_chang.htm


More than occasionally I read articles or hear pleas for environmental change so we can "stop global warming." The climate is changing. There are natural systems that have been set in motion and there is absolutely nothing we can do to stop it. Yes, I agree that we can stop making it worse by reducing what we put in the air that doesn't belong there. But, even that is a bit tongue in cheek. The heaviest poluters simply buy carbon credits, allowing them to continue poluting the environment because someone else is doing something good. Well, one does not exactly equal the other. It will be decades before we can really do anything meaningful about the levels of polutants we put in the air. But, even that is simply a drop in the bucket. Factor in the growing population. Factor in China and India's growth into industrialization. Factor in the slashing and burning of the rain forests in South America to make room for more feed lots for cows which are spewing methane, a far worse green house gas than CO2.

I'm not a pessimist, I am a realist and I think a far better thing to start thinking about than "stopping global warming" or the absolutely ridiculous attempt to sequester CO2, is to figure out what positive steps we can take to adapt to all the changes that climate changes are going to bring. How do we deal with urbanization? What do we do with millions of people without water? I ask myself every day why I don't read about massive plans to clutter our shores with desalinization plants. Why aren't State governments buying up all the offshore oil rigs and turning them into water treatment plants? Why aren't we making plans in low-lying areas to build dikes, just like the Dutch? Why are we planting corn to create biogas when we are on the verge of a food shortage?

I am very excited about the advancements in nanotech and stem cell research and that we are going to wipe out cancer and malaria and stockpile organs grown from stem cells harvested from cord blood. I haven't seen any plans about how we are going to deal with the huge spike in population that these advancements are going to bring? People aren't going to just stop having kids, and if a culture is used to having seven children because half of them die, when the children aren't dying any longer, the culture is not going to suddenly change. China has a population growth rate of .35. The US has a rate of .95 but most of the countries in Africa are growing at rates or 3, 4 and 5 percent annually. It's these countries that are going to be hit hardest by water shortages. The fourth largest inland lake in the world was in Africa. It's almost completely dry now. What's the plan? Sequestering CO2? We are spending billions, yes, billions of dollars to sequester CO2. How much are we spending on food and water for a hungry world. I am all for a cleaner and healthier environment because I believe Aubrey de Gray. We are going to live very long lives.

It's time to start creating real plans based on real needs. We have to stop following the smoke and mirrors. The damage is done. The climate is changing and in a couple of years we're going to know it and then it will be too late for a lot of people.






Authors Website: www.futurenewsnetwork.com

Authors Bio: I am a futurist and editor of Future News Network. I provide consulting in the areas of emerging science and technology, world events and socio-political change.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Science isn't going to get us out of this one

Lack of potable water, foul air--if nothing is done there will still be an environment--just not one that supports human life. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a massive die-off of humanity, with, perhaps, a "lucky" few surviving.

[Demeter]

3. Technology and Good Character Can Do It

It's the good character part that holds technology back---as long as Greed is God, and Capitalism is Its Army, we are lost.

[DangerDave921]

2. Good points

I generally don't believe in doomsday scenarios. I think the current warming trend is largely natural with some part played by humans. And I think the warming is going to be gradual, unless solar activity is the culprit, in which case it may cool again once solar activity lessens. But any change will be gradual, which should give us smart people plenty of time to plan for contingencies.

I agree we can't stop global warming. One, I don't think we understand it well enough to truly know what causes it and what would halt it. Second, even if we did, I don't think anything we could do (especially without China and India joining in) would make a bit of difference.

We need to adapt to it.

[unpossibles]

4. as eating meat is one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gases, esp. factory farmed beef/pork

I can think of an easy thing all of us can do to cut back greenhouse gases, and that is to reduce our beef and pork consumption. It's more practical than not driving, and cheaper and not hard to do. But then, most people don't want to hear this and would prefer to wait for someone else to do something.

flamesuit on.

[Lautremont]

5. I am customizing my vehicle for the coming road wars,

stocking up on studded leather garments and weighing a variety of possible colors for my mohawk.

[LongTomH]

6. The issue isn't that simple!

I accept the verdict of science - that climate change (global warming) is real, and that it's anthropogenic (caused by human beings) and that atmospheric CO2 is the major culprit. That means we need to limit our output of CO2, which means new, non-fossil energy sources, and we need to use available energy more efficiently.

Admittedly, a great deal of damage has been done, and a lot of that is irreversible. Also, global warming is an ongoing process, with feedbacks - meaning it's going to get a lot worse. What that will mean is that we need to learn to adapt. Our coastal cities are going to become 'polders' like much of the Netherlands. The really bad news is that rising sea levels will be accompanied by an increase in category 4 & 5 hurricanes like Katrina.

By the way, I checked out your entry over at OpEdNews and the replies. I've been following Eric Drexler's work in molecular nanotechnology since I heard him speak at the 1986 International Space Development Conference in Seattle. I've read all of his books, and been a "Senior Associate" of the Foresight Institute. Those years were also the years in which I was evolving from a Libertarian to a Liberal.

My liberalism is based more on a concern for people than ideology; I follow JFK's definition of a liberal:

“But if by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people -- their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties -- someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a "Liberal," then I'm proud to say I'm a 'Liberal.' “-- JFK

My interest in molecular nanotechnology is now due more to a realistic assessment that it can be used to help people - if used wisely and by people of good will; I left my simplistic "techno-utopianism" behind along with Libertarian ideology.

By the way, note my emphasis on Molecular Nanotechnology, which is engineering on a molecular scale, not just on a nanometer scale. You made the statement that: "Nanotechnology is now!" What we're seeing now is what Drexler has called "nanoscale;" current technology now reaching into less-than-100-nanometer precision. Molecular Nanotechnology has what Drexler calls: "atomic precision;" where you know where each atom is.

I've got both hopes and fears about the future of molecular nanotechnology; most of them based on the degree to which the political right dominates the debate on nanotech and the future in general. I'm also very concerned about the interest being shown in weaponization of nanotechnology. I am going to have to start my own journal here to discuss some of these concerns!

By the way, I took a quick look at the FutureNewsNetwork site. I'll keep checking back to see how it develops.