Climate change will affect us sooner than we thought.

[Babysittah]

Whats it gonna b like? Have you seen that movie called The day after tomorrow?

[Corey]

Originally Posted by Metyu

Um... climate change is happening today and has been for all history. People seem to forget that nature and indeed the Earth are not benevolent, philanthropic things. The reason we emit so much CO2 is because of the struggle to live - the struggle to not be consumed by nature and the Earth.

I agree with Parry that there is too much focus on emissions. Adaptation is far more important - no-one wants another New Orleans.

The focus on emissions allows government to appear to be doing a lot without actually doing anything. Another apparently forgotten thing: according to Tyndall Centre (2004) research, business (yes: big, bad business) in the UK reduced its emissions from ~90MtC in 1990 to ~68MtC in 2000 (~25%). And this without any government prompt.

What government needs to do is get its act together and respond to e.g. engineers in New Orleans who say the flood defences will breach if a storm comes and can we please have some money to stop it. That will never happen while laymen are being provoked into panic by sensationalising statements such as "climate change is the biggest threat to [insert scary sound-bite here]".

I have to differ the struggle is not against nature but against other human beings.... why are we in Iraq fighting? wasting resources? it is our fellow human who we are competing against...... If we had 1 bil people instead of 6 we wouldn't need to live in places where katrina hit. We wouldn't live in the nevada desert etc..... Our food would have higher nutritional value as well for we wouldn't have over farmed our soils..... It is us who are the enemy.

[daybrown]

Originally Posted by Metyu

Um... climate change is happening today and has been for all history. People seem to forget that nature and indeed the Earth are not benevolent, philanthropic things. The reason we emit so much CO2 is because of the struggle to live - the struggle to not be consumed by nature and the Earth.

I agree with Parry that there is too much focus on emissions. Adaptation is far more important - no-one wants another New Orleans.

The focus on emissions allows government to appear to be doing a lot without actually doing anything. Another apparently forgotten thing: according to Tyndall Centre (2004) research, business (yes: big, bad business) in the UK reduced its emissions from ~90MtC in 1990 to ~68MtC in 2000 (~25%). And this without any government prompt.

What government needs to do is get its act together and respond to e.g. engineers in New Orleans who say the flood defences will breach if a storm comes and can we please have some money to stop it. That will never happen while laymen are being provoked into panic by sensationalising statements such as "climate change is the biggest threat to [insert scary sound-bite here]".

I moved to New Orleans in 1971. A few years later, I read the hydrology report, and moved out 31 years early. I knew then, what you say now. What needs to be done to stabilize the situation will not be adequately funded.

Your only choice is to adapt to global warming yourself. As I say in other posts, the only vote you have which counts is that done by your feet or a U-haul. Some places are at great risk, others present opportunities. Like I just finished a greenhouse, and already have it planted in greens that I hope to bring to market in February. Because of global warming, I wont need to heat it, even in the Ozarks. at 36deg No.

[rc white]

I live in Australia and just to our North is the largest Islamic country on the planet, Indonesia, that has an estimated 220 million population.
This is one of the countries the united states is leaning on to save its rain forests, whilst the Indonesians are intent on clearing them to plant cash crops such as palm oil.

They started a big campaign to clear rain forest some years ago when the monsoon partially failed and they had to plant other crops to feed themselves, they are otherwise almost completely dependent upon wet rice agriculture.

Indonesians I know say that rain forest clearing and the income from them is the main chance they have to increase the average income of its people to a level where the population will start to level off.
The deal offered by the rich countries lead by the USA, is just a cheap political fix to enable the rich not to do anything about their own profligate lifestyles, and would leave Indonesians in the same per capita income position they are now, (the average Indonesian consumes one tenth to one eight that of the average American).

There has for a long time been a movement in Indonesia that maintains that it has a right to occupy monsoonal Northern Australia because the Australians are not exploiting its wet rice agricultural potential, all it will take is a fairly small change in the planets weather patterns and the Indonesian invasion of Australia seems almost certain.
I would not be at all surprised if the same thing happens with South American populations in North America, it is already happening with African populations in Europe.
In short the planet is full and the only place to go is someone else's turf and they do not give it up or share it kindly and there will be many taking the option of taking to the hills with their rifle, and it will happen all over the planet, with the same predictable results.

On the subject of New Orleans I heard that the exact words uttered in the white house were that, "George is not about to spend that kind of money on a bunch of democrat voting niggers"
Consequently New Orleans will not get adequate protection and I wonder if an incoming Democrat administration will serve them any better, since they still don't matter being "rusted on" democrat voters.
rcw