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Our predicament
Mar. 7th, 2012 11:17 amThe following was posted in response to some comments on Facebook. I should point out in case the person I was responding to is reading this, that my comments were not directed at her in particular, but were more the general expression of frustration at the way things are. I'm posting it here because this kind of view needs to be disseminated more widely, although there are many others who write much more eloquently on the subject.
I wonder how long it will take for it to become blatantly obvious to the majority of the public that we are getting ourselves into a completely disastrous situation. 20, 30, 40 years? I'm sure by 2050 there will still be some people confidently proclaiming that climate change can only be caused by the sun - just as many do today, while ignoring the fact that the sun has cooled slightly in the last 50 years.
It is human nature to ignore or dismiss a problem until it is staring you in the face, especially a faceless and abstract problem like global warming. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the problem, waiting until it is blatantly obvious to the man in the street means leaving it way too late, as it may take 30 years or more for the temperature to stop going up once emissions are halted (assuming that natural tipping points haven't been reached by that point).
Another example of the dangers of delay can be found in the effects of aerosol particles from coal power stations. In the long term coal causes a strong warming effect, but in the short term, coal soot in the atmosphere reduces the amount of sunlight reaching the earth, and therefore results in a temporary cooling effect. It has been found that the increased use of coal power in China in the last decade has masked some of the warming we would otherwise have seen.
One more thing, before anyone claims there is no point in doing anything because China is so polluting - today they announced new targets for reducing pollution. They are also investing very heavily in renewable energy, although they still have a long way to go. Anyway, I'm now off to try and live my life as best I can, while simultaneously trying to be part of the solution to this problem. It's not easy, but there isn't really any alternative.
I wonder how long it will take for it to become blatantly obvious to the majority of the public that we are getting ourselves into a completely disastrous situation. 20, 30, 40 years? I'm sure by 2050 there will still be some people confidently proclaiming that climate change can only be caused by the sun - just as many do today, while ignoring the fact that the sun has cooled slightly in the last 50 years.
It is human nature to ignore or dismiss a problem until it is staring you in the face, especially a faceless and abstract problem like global warming. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the problem, waiting until it is blatantly obvious to the man in the street means leaving it way too late, as it may take 30 years or more for the temperature to stop going up once emissions are halted (assuming that natural tipping points haven't been reached by that point).
Another example of the dangers of delay can be found in the effects of aerosol particles from coal power stations. In the long term coal causes a strong warming effect, but in the short term, coal soot in the atmosphere reduces the amount of sunlight reaching the earth, and therefore results in a temporary cooling effect. It has been found that the increased use of coal power in China in the last decade has masked some of the warming we would otherwise have seen.
One more thing, before anyone claims there is no point in doing anything because China is so polluting - today they announced new targets for reducing pollution. They are also investing very heavily in renewable energy, although they still have a long way to go. Anyway, I'm now off to try and live my life as best I can, while simultaneously trying to be part of the solution to this problem. It's not easy, but there isn't really any alternative.
