Are we going to be able to stop Climate Change?

[psychoslice]

I like climate change. I hate the cold.

Hey I like that, very positive, not like most people who believe in anything.

[Mudhammam]

I think we'll find more clean and renewable sources of energy, like that goddamn ball of fire sitting 93 million miles away, and that will drastically enable our ability to make whatever natural changes do occur and are within our capacity to effect much less drastic.

Or people will find excuses and distractions because "we're all immortal anyway and if it were possibly the case that I am going to die, then the future generations can go fuck themselves."

[Thumpalumpacus]

I like climate change. I hate the cold.

That's not how climate change works, though. Pumping more energy in the atmosphere can lead to extremes in both directions.

I wish I had a nickel for every knucklehead who didn't understand this.

[Chas]

We have been pumping increasing amounts of greenhouse gases in to the atmosphere since the start of the industrial revolution.

The rate is now 2.4 million pounds per second. Do you honestly think this is somehow normal or natural? That it is just a fluke that this correlates with visible climate change?

If you believe that this is not a potential disaster, then you don't science well at all.

[downbeatplumb]

That's not how climate change works, though. Pumping more energy in the atmosphere can lead to extremes in both directions.

I wish I had a nickel for every knucklehead who didn't understand this.

People don't realise that climate and weather are different things.

And basically the past inaction means we are now screwed.

http://natmonitor.com/2014/12/20/a-clima...says-noaa/

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/12/na...00615.html

[Cato]

During the 50's and 60's we were having below normal temps. Also we were having above average snow fall and people were crying about a mini ice age. Now the temps are on the rise, mostly at the poles and the ice is going. Cycles are a norm in weather.
As for what man can do, not much. What can we really do clean up our own mess, reduce pollution stop wasting energy and stop playing politics. It could still get warmer, but at least we would have a cleaner place to bake.

The mini ice age story is a bit of a canard. There was a cooling trend immeidately preceding the 70s, but it was limited to the northern hemisphere. Global temperatures remained steady.

Only a small number of scientists published forecasting a sustained cooling trend. Six times as many scientists published predicting a warming trend.





Looking back at only 10% of papers written in the 70s while simultaneiously ignoring 30 additional years of work in the field in order to suggest today's consensus can't be trusted is misguided.

[IATIA]

I do not really have a stand in either direction. Though majority rules, that does not make them right (or wrong).

[Cato]

I do not really have a stand in either direction. Though majority rules, that does not make them right (or wrong).

You're right, 'majority rules' is not a scientific technique; however, when 97% of the experts in the field draw the same conclusion it behooves one to take seriously what is being proposed. Ignoring the science behind the excuse of 'majority rules' is equally dangerous as claiming something true because of 'majority rules'. Nobody took a vote. If someone disagrees with the science they are free to present the evidence supporting an alternative hypothesis which can then be tested. This isn't happening concerning climate change.

[Alex K]

Also, CO2 is a greenhouse gas, and the greenhouse effect is a thing. I don't get what part of that is so hard to understand.

[IATIA]

I do not disagree. There are various theories from different sources, but they all rely on historical data which gives them trends and not much more. Climate change is inherently difficult, if not impossible, to test, so in the end, it is really only opinion in all ballparks.