Your Opinion On global warming, and what should humanity do about it?

[scythemantis]

....are we even on the same page at all? The IPCC are the ones saying that sea levels will rise and weather patterns will damage human civilization. I've never believed such a thing, and even if that were happening, I wouldn't care. I'm not concerned with our civilization. It can rebuild through anything.

The only thing on the planet that concerns me is that our influence on the climate causes extinctions that would not have otherwise happened if we would simply move towards cleaner technology, which would also mean more money is us consumer's pockets, but those who already own the big industries put their financial well-being above that long-term harm, which is completely human and understandable, but angers me nonetheless. I'm not talking about polar bears having no ice to live on. That's the sort of thing environmental groups harp about simply because it's easier for the layman to understand. I care about the insects and fungi and deep-sea worms dying off from a domino effect, the eels and moths that lose their breeding grounds, the mollusks whose biological cycles are thrown off by the slightest change in humidity or pressure. These tragedies happen every day without our influence, yes, but money and convenience are shameful reasons to cause even more when modern technology has found so many alternatives.

Has the IPCC ever shown any sort of focus on any of this? Do they talk about endangered plankton and velvet worms? All I hear about from the mainstream media and the UN is garbage about us being underwater and a couple big, cute animals dying off, many of which were already sickly, weak species before we showed up.

 

[BigLutz]

....are we even on the same page at all? The IPCC are the ones saying that sea levels will rise and weather patterns will damage human civilization. I've never believed such a thing, and even if that were happening, I wouldn't care.

They were also predicting snow fall melting due to a rise in temperatures as well as numerous other things. In the end it turned out the IPCC, which by the way is one of the largest bodies out there of Climate Scientists, was using bad data to make these predictions.

The only thing on the planet that concerns me is that our influence on the climate causes extinctions that would not have otherwise happened if we would simply move towards cleaner technology, but those who already own the big industries put their financial well-being above that long-term harm, which is completely human and understandable, but still angers me. I'm not talking about polar bears having no ice to live on, either. That's the sort of thing environmental groups harp about simply because it's easier for the layman to understand. I care about the insects and fungi and deep-sea worms dying off from a domino effect, the eels and moths that lose their breeding grounds, the mollusks whose biological cycles are thrown off.

If you are worried about the warming causing such extinctions then at this point we have no idea if those animals would have died off already. As the Medieval Warming Period has shown the Earth will warm, much higher than it has already warmed during the current period, and animals and species will end up surviving as a whole one way or the other.

Has the IPCC ever shown any sort of focus on any of these actual issues? All I hear about from the mainstream media and the UN is garbage about us being underwater and the big, cute animals dying off, many of which were already sickly, weak species before we showed up.

The IPCC's focus is Climate Change, Global Warming in particular, they are not a advocacy group although they do seem to take information from them. They are looking at the overall problem of Global Warming, not particular species deaths or environmental concerns such as deforestation, that most likely would be for another field, and not one that Climatologists be it the IPCC, the CRU, or any other weather group, would focus on.

 

[treeco123]

I think that global warming does happen,but earth sorts itself out all the time,think of all the mass-extinctions,this is no different.if we burn all the coal,oil and gas,earth will sort itself out,it may take millions of years,but life will survive,even if it is only bacteria,it will evolve into complex life,the life may not be plants or animals,it may look like a bug-eyed monster it may be Pokemon,but it will be complex life,life survives,life has been found on the moon(not joking)it had been sneezed onto a camera on earth...(technically,viruses aren't "alive" but you know what I mean)the only way we can kill life is probably using all the worlds nuclear bombs...

 

[ccangelopearl1362]

Guardian: Climate scientists withdraw journal claims of rising sea levels
Times of London: Drax suspends plan to replace coal with greener fuel

Add Nature Geoscience and Drax to the list of individuals or entities suffering Climategate convulsions, small or large, across the pond, perhaps to the shamefully deliberate ignorance of American news organizations. Apparently, the magazine had to retract, not just correct, a study it conducted to confirm that 2007 IPCC report about sea levels… and the scientists there don’t know whether they overestimated or underestimated their findings. I might be curious about the methods being used by each group of scientists referenced here, most likely centered on fossil coral studies and temperature measurements, but meanwhile, that power station’s latest decision may be no less puzzling to our considerations. It’s cutting off an investment of £80 million in something called biomass, which would mean fuels based on plants. This investment cutoff will make the British government’s commitment to – by no sooner or later than 2020 – tilt electricity usage proportions toward these renewable energy sources, if that really is what they’re called, almost impossible to meet, and it isn’t the only biomass project currently suspended in America’s great Atlantic ally. I wonder how many of those geoscientists would prove themselves willing and able to provide their knowledge to Drax and other providers of energy in Great Britain, perhaps edging out both the Climate Research Unit and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – and taking some tips from soon-to-be-former Indian climate change envoy Shyam Saran – in the process.:

Times of India: Jairam bid to rework stand on climate?

Understanding this correctly, Indian climate negotiators are “up in arms” over Minister of Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh’s attempt to determine exactly how to question India’s current definition of “per capita emissions”, and others see a coming shift in India’s position on this issue. The focus is on emissions equity, which could tell us that India is increasingly worried about arbitrarily shared burdens among developing countries, something over which India wrestled with the United States and Europe that recent Copenhagen climate summit. Ramesh could very well conclude that India should strike out on its own in determining the true extent of climate change’s overall impact on today’s world, in defiance of those IPCC climate alarmists, but thankfully, any Indian political figures still favoring energy production that corresponds to environmental protection may have an ally inside the United States.:

American Enterprise Institute: Mark Perry: Tech-Driven Natgas Boom Shifts Energy Balance of Power to U.S.

Talk about an excellent development. Natural gas production is increasing substantially over here in America, and we have a few breakthroughs in seismic imaging and hydraulic fracturing technology to thank. Tens of thousands of new shale oil jobs are opening, and low-carbon natural gas is increasingly popular as a way to generate electricity, thereby initiating a quiet transfer of energy geopolitical strength to… the United States. British, French, Polish, Chinese, and Indian scientists could have a field day examining this technological leap, increasingly rendering obsolete the excessive push toward rationing that certain scientists at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – and their political and financial allies – have been all too willing to push.