where are we with global warming?
Out of context: Reply #6
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- Nairn0
Regardless of what Is or Is not - think of it this way - we KNOW the physical effects of adding more CO2 to the atmosphere. We can test these effects in the laboratory, and we have Earth's sister Venus, to consolidate our view.
Now, if you've travelled any amount, or have even merely spent a few hours gandering at Google Earth, you should have some feel for the sheer breadth of human activity - most of it powered by so-called 'fossil fuels'. However you describe them, they are reservoirs of bound Carbon, not naturally part of our atmosphere.
Just take a second and imagine the fullness of human activity - right now, what it is doing through its daily efforts - the millions of people using computers this second, the millions driving cars, the billions with fridges, the billions with light bulbs, the billions cooking up lunch. Most, if not in practical terms 'all' of them, expelling more carbon in the atmosphere.
The natural world has spent the last few hundred million years getting the balance of carbon consumption and carbon locking into parity.
Over the last 150 years, humans have altered this balance. In the last 50 years - we've completely transcended any sense of balance.
It doesn't take a scientist to work this out - just a bit of common sense and an imagination - something I'd hope most designers would have access to.
So, am I confused as to its reality? No, not at all.
Am I confused as to what to do about it? On the one hand - no - wipe out 60% of the human race, and spend the next 50 years technoogising our way out of our hole with alternate power sources and an active carbon locking campaign (aka planting trees'n'shit). Of course, this isn't a reality I can effect, so ultimately - yes, I am confused.