Scientists and experts have tried for 50+ years to warn about it but now it is what it is.
The Greenhouse Gas Effect should have been enough. Altering the reflective properties of the atmosphere and increasing the energy budget of the planet surely must be a terrible idea.
But do we know that it is a terrible idea?
They looked back in time to show that historically more CO2 means increased temperature and changes in the climate system that we may not want.
They looked forward in time to simulate how our emissions will lead to a hotter climate and how it might change in ways we might not want.
They even took all these models that admittedly vary and depend on initial conditions and assumptions and they combined them all so that we aren’t sensitive to only one kind of model and method.
Still, people think we cannot know such things.
It is what it is. But one thing I do know for sure is that we have lost the excuse to go back and question things. We can’t say “If only we were warned”. “If someone really knew, why didn’t they say anything?” “Why weren’t they more persuasive?” This has been screeched about for most of our lives. Every single person on the planet knows about it. Any skepticism and doubt has been explicitly against the advice of those who know. We chose not to listen.
It is what it is, but I will spend what little money I have and what little democratic say I have to move us into a world with less emmisions. It may be too late, but I’d like to be able to sleep at night.
I have no hope, that the system will change in time for us or those who come after us; humans and other walks of life. But I still do things and make choices, that mitigate my impact on the planet. Not because I think I can steer us away from this path, but because it is the right thing to do. I am morally obligated to do it even if the result does not change and I take a weak solace in that fact. And of course it always matters whether we hit 3, 4, 5 or 8 degrees above pre-industrial mean to other evolutions of life.
It is what it is.
Scientists and experts have tried for 50+ years to warn about it but now it is what it is.
The Greenhouse Gas Effect should have been enough. Altering the reflective properties of the atmosphere and increasing the energy budget of the planet surely must be a terrible idea.
But do we know that it is a terrible idea?
They looked back in time to show that historically more CO2 means increased temperature and changes in the climate system that we may not want.
They looked forward in time to simulate how our emissions will lead to a hotter climate and how it might change in ways we might not want.
They even took all these models that admittedly vary and depend on initial conditions and assumptions and they combined them all so that we aren’t sensitive to only one kind of model and method.
Still, people think we cannot know such things.
It is what it is. But one thing I do know for sure is that we have lost the excuse to go back and question things. We can’t say “If only we were warned”. “If someone really knew, why didn’t they say anything?” “Why weren’t they more persuasive?” This has been screeched about for most of our lives. Every single person on the planet knows about it. Any skepticism and doubt has been explicitly against the advice of those who know. We chose not to listen.
It is what it is, but I will spend what little money I have and what little democratic say I have to move us into a world with less emmisions. It may be too late, but I’d like to be able to sleep at night.
I have no hope, that the system will change in time for us or those who come after us; humans and other walks of life. But I still do things and make choices, that mitigate my impact on the planet. Not because I think I can steer us away from this path, but because it is the right thing to do. I am morally obligated to do it even if the result does not change and I take a weak solace in that fact. And of course it always matters whether we hit 3, 4, 5 or 8 degrees above pre-industrial mean to other evolutions of life.
most people are experimental physicists. they need to see the outcome to believe it. merely predicting it is not enough.
I bet you there will be a lot of people saying they haven’t been warned properly. They could not have known it would be THAT bad.