Global Warming is "Unstoppable" ?

[kansasblue]

The scientists - using their strongest language yet on the issue - said now that world has begun to warm, hotter temperatures and rises in sea level "would continue for centuries" no matter how much humans control their pollution. The report also linked the warming to the recent increase in stronger hurricanes.




http://www.rawstory.com/showarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fapnews.myway.com%2F%2Farticle%2F20070202%2FD8N1AV0G2.html

[Ilsa]

1. Yeah, but I also think they said that reducing

CO2 emissions might help slow it down and prevent it from reaching its worst.

[Deja Q]

2. Hmmm, if they can think of a better way to

ruin credibility I doubt they'll find it.

We've also had some strong hurricanes in the past.

And in 2006 the hurricane season just wasn't what some people were hoping for either; no spectacular follow-up to Katrina, damn. :sarcasm:

If humans cared before 1850 or whenever reports first came about, I dare say we'd have occasional freak weather patterns too.

This is not to say that global warming isn't happening; the truth is in the middle.

[greenman3610]

3. important to understand

yes, a certain amount of warming is in the pipeline
and unavoidable, due to CO2 and heat already
absorbed in the system.
The critical issue is will we stop our output,
in time to avoid some of the giant feedback loops from
kicking in, like methane output from permafrost,
carbonates from the ocean, or the dreaded subsea methane
clathrates.
Once that ball gets rolling, and a few think
it already is...all bets are off.

[windbreeze]

12. Isn't that ball

already rolling? Greenland is possibly 3 islands instead of one(being shown by ice melt)....5.5 million sq miles of Arctic permafrost already melted last year,(accelerating at breakneck speed) glacial melt, chunks breaking off the Antarctic/Arctic shelf, no snow in the mountains in Europe, (world ski competitions canceled, due to lack of snow, and temps too warm to manufacture fake snow)flooding in the Kenai peninsula that usually doesn't take place until April or May, already happening in late January...some have projected that gases escaping from the sea floor cause the phenomena in the Bermuda triangle...we visit a site that has a member who's been in Antarctica for the last couple weeks....when it was 18 degrees here, it was 41 degrees there....41 degrees in Antarctica for heaven's sake, in January...he said the penquins were confused by the warm weather and sent pictures of them standing in the water that was laying on top of the ice...since the cycle keeps escalating, I don't know how we put a stop to it...or if, it's beyond possible...
windbreeze

[hatrack]

4. Yes - at this point, some warming is inevitable, no matter what.

Even if we stopped generating GHGs tomorrow, the CO2 alone already in the atmosphere would remain there for about 100 years.

Anthropogenic methane would take about 10-15 years (I think) to break down.

The question is, do we do our damndest to keep it from getting any worse than what's already inevitable, or do we just let the whole world go to hell.

[Peace Patriot]

5. Please see my comment on this (comment #18-19, "Bullshit.."), at

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2713469

Never say never.

Scientists' brains work differently than those of engineers. Tell American engineers that something is impossible, and watch it become possible.

(Do you remember how they got the Apollo 13 crew back alive?)

[hatrack]

10. And here's what we're doing about it now on the technical end of things

US Facing 40% Loss Of Instrumentation On Climate, Weather Satellites By 2010 - Miami Herald

Scientists soon will lose access to crucial information that helps them better understand and predict everything from hurricanes and earthquakes to global warming and environmental decay, according to a candid and sobering report by prestigious experts. As wide gaps develop in the ability of scientists to analyze natural phenomena, Floridians -- particularly vulnerable to hurricanes, rising sea levels and environmental changes affecting fisheries and farmers -- could be especially affected.

''It's a train wreck,'' said Otis Brown, dean of the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science and a member of the National Academy of Science's panel that issued the report earlier this month. ''When you hope for the best, this is about the worst you could imagine in terms of things going awry,'' he said.

Among the reasons for this reversal of scientific fortunes: sharp budget cuts, ill-advised technological compromises, and a botched partnership between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, according to the report.

And the setbacks come at an inopportune time. NOAA recently reported that last year was the warmest on record in the United States, and a major study scheduled for release Friday by an international group of scientists is expected to amplify the developing crisis of global warming.

EDIT

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x80662

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/nation/16563084.htm

So we're just going to roll up our sleeves and invoke the can-do American spirit to solve this problem when we can't even maintain our climate and weather satellite systems to produce the data on which we will act?

I don't doubt that there are lots of things we can and will do, because we simply have no choice but to do them. However, until we start taking a hard, cold-eyed look at exactly where we are failing to measure up on this hugely complex issue, and start attaching the same importance to climate and cutting GHGs as we do to blowing holes in the desert, I'm not going to toot a horn and wave a flag based on our past performance on far simpler tasks.

[Javaman]

15. Now take Apollo 13 and increase it to the size of the earth...

I'm not saying it can't be done, all I'm saying it's going to take more than a room full of PH D's to figure this one out.

And there is the rub.

Trying to get the worlds leaders to fund, support and direct the various scientists and engineers in the world to make it happen, will be an achievement in itself.

Given the fact that that we as a race can even agree on the most basic of basic things, how could this be possibly pulled off?

Hell, every year at midnight on april 15th, there are long lines around the post office for the last minute fillers.

I see pretty much the same thing happening with the earth.

People will be up to their necks in water when they finally come to the realization that something needs to be done yesterday.

then all the screaming and yelling and finger pointing will begin.

And yet, nothing still will be done because everyone will be trying to save their own ass.

Ironically, the prisons will be underwater too.

[unpossibles]

6. don't misinterpret the report - they are still calling for action

and saying that doing nothing would have far worse consequences, but that essentially some effects are already going to happen for the next 100 years because we refused to pay attention and act earlier. I think it would be extremely foolhardy and disastrous to continue to ignore it ("well, it's not my problem if this continues past my lifetime"), which is how I read it.

In other words, if we act now, the damage which has already happen will be somewhat mitigated and might only take 100 years to turn around. If we don't act, it would doom us. I see their statement as saying that we have refused to act for too long already.

[The2ndWheel]

9. Actually doing nothing would be great

If we all stopped doing what we're doing, and turned the machine off, instead of trying to keep it going by some other means, we might be able to figure out a different way to do things.

Since that's basically impossible, as the scale of death that would follow would put all 20th century dictators to shame, we can't stop. We have to hope that making everything bigger and more complex is the answer. Hope is all we have, and hope is what keeps us chained to the machine.

[Odin2005]

14. Right, and going back to the horse and buggy would be just fine with you I take it.

Then again, you're the resident luddite...

[The2ndWheel]

16. Don't even need the horse

We have our own two legs.

If everyone can have everything, I'll be right behind you in the journey. If we can't, then we've got serious problems that will never be solved.

"Then again, you're the resident luddite"

I may be, but I have yet to stop anyone from doing anything. I wouldn't want to, that's too much power.

[Gloria]

7. Great! Americans won't have to give up their SUVs!!!!

Bushco won't have to lift a finger!!!


:sarcasm:

[RaleighNCDUer]

8. It is stoppable, but kind of like stopping a battleship going full steam.

The first thing we can do is stop doing what we're doing - stop engines, reverse screws, full astern, but despite that we will continue forward because of built up momentum.

It will continue to get worse, before it gets better.
Which is better than continuing what we're doing and seeing it get worse before it gets even more worse.

[bdamomma]

11. even the earth is rebelling against us.

[The2ndWheel]

13. Always has been

But like any regime worth its weight, we don't like dissent. We want to control the fabric of existence, so that there are no limits in our path to glory. Sounds like everyone who ever wanted to rule the world. Like everyone who wanted to rule the world, we won't succeed either. Also like everyone who wanted to rule the world, that won't stop us from trying.

It's a funny thing when religion and science agree. Religion gave us the thought that we could rule the world, and science gives us the ability to attempt to do so.

If only we can kill the dissenter, that's our only hurdle. If we can kill nature, and create an artificial world that meets our demands, then we will have won.