But, but, but .
But, but, but ... All my science denying friends and politicians keep telling me (1) that there is no global warming and (2) humans aren't contributing to it.
http://m.motherjones.com/environment/2015/01/pollution-china-winter-weather-america-smog
http://m.motherjones.com/environment/2015/01/pollution-china-winter-weather-america-smog
Comments
Clearly "climate change" is real. The earth has changed its weather patterns untold times over the many, MANY, MANY millennia. The reason we are even living in the U.S. today is because of the end of the last Ice Age some 25,000 - 30,000 years (or thereabouts) ago. Scientists believe Antarctica was once tropical, the Sahara desert was once as lush as a rain forest, etc. So, YES - climate change is REAL...
The question, however, is how much of the climate change in anthropomorphic (caused by humans) - THAT is the question and we really do not have the answer to that. I dunno and noone else on the planet can tell you that either. Humans have only been on this planet for a short time and the planet has changed an awful lot over the course of its existence - geographically, climate, atmospherically, etc.
Having said all of that, should we be limiting our impact to the planet by reducing carbon emissions, finding cleaner-than-fossil-fuel alternatives, not friggin destroying the planet, etc.... A-BA-SO-LOOT-LEE YES!!!
I would much rather see us, humanity, place our resources into figuring out better ways to DEAL with climate change and its effects as opposed to trying to stop it. The truth is, we cannot STOP ALL climate change - it happened before us (many, MANY times) and it will continue after us. It happened BEFORE us and it will happen in spite of us - yes, we might be speeding it up and making its effects worse by our actions but the change is gonna come whether we want it or not if WE (as a species) is around long enough. I really think our resources are better spent looking LONG term and figuring out how we survive on this planet when (not if) the oceans rise, when (not if) the average temperature rises or falls, when (not if) the species mix on the planet changes, etc.
So, then, how do we ADAPT to the inevitable - which is climate change? We SHOULD be placing our resources into developing livable areas AWAY from the coastlines; we should be developing more severe weather resistant architecture; we should be looking at placing resources into research that helps us even look at off-earth solutions to name a few ideas.
Just my take on it, good sir. Love to hear your thoughts!
However, I cannot tell you how much of the "oceans desalinating, coral reefs are dying, the polar caps are shrinking, etc." is caused entirely by us, partly by us and in part naturally occurring, entirely naturally occurring, or in what combination thereof. Noone can - we have no idea...
So without question, we should do all we can to minimize pollution, "be green" and non-impactful as much as possible to the environment, etc. but seriously, how do we know that everything you just said is not just the next phase of the earth's changes?
I dunno, bro.... That's a tough one....
Which is why I say we should be looking at plan B & C & D scenarios - when the oceans rise, we will adapt by doing XYX (which, of course, we have to do well in advance). When the temps rise or fall and crops are affected, we will do J & K & F to adjust for that (well in advance, again).
Some food for thought - I don't know if you have ever seen this, but back in the 1970s the state-of-the-art science at the time predicted that global temps would start to fall and possibly enter a new ice age in the 1990s. There was a well publicized "Time" magazine cover that predicted and published the findings. Well, that didn't happen and if anything, temps have risen from what I've seen.
Why do I say this? The reality is that science is not perfect and there are so many things about this great planet earth that we simply do not understand. Climatology and meteorology, while we know more than we did 100 years ago is not and never will be an exact science - there are just too many variables...
Now, from what I understand of global warming, you're right: we currently don't know how much of this or what of that is affecting which parts of the climate specifically. But we do know what the contributors are and those need to be reduced.