To ask what you think about global warming?

[deeedeee]

After seeing comments on other threads , I'm wondering, what do most people think?

Are you worried about man-made climate change?

Are you trying to change any of your behaviour because of it?

Or are you not concerned?

There is no consensus about the future of the planet.

Some think that an ice age is what we're heading towards, others think that we're just coming out of an ice age, but that the planet is heating up faster than it ever has in recorded history.

The problem is that ice ages wipe out just about all evidence of previous ice ages and the lead up to them, so we can only go on current climate statistics to infer what may happen.

Ice ages are caused by cool summers, not cold winters. If summers are too cool to melt all the snow that falls on a given area, more incoming sunlight is bounced back by the reflective surface, exacerbating the cooling effect and encouraging yet more snow to fall. The consequence is self-perpetuating. As snow accumulates into an ice sheet, the region gets cooler, and more ice accumulates.

I personally think that we are still in an ice age, but that it's a shrunken one. 200,000 years ago, around 30% of the Earth was under ice. Today, 10% still is and a further 14% is in a state of permafrost.

But where we go from here is indeterminable. No scientist will tell you with any degree of certainty that they "know" what will happen to the Earth. Generally, Earth is self-correcting. We are currently in the most stable climatic period in around 200 million years, but we're heading rapidly towards uncertainty.

There are concerns with life changing consequences to focus on that really will affect us earlier than 20-50 years OP.
Like Dallas I appreciate you may be concerned but for many people it just isn't up there as a day to say worry.

What are your concerns then?

My message is not to convince you that the things that concern me should concern you. My point is the opposite. Just because environmental issues concern you doesn't mean they will be important to others. I respect it is something you may be passionate about. For me it isn't an issue.

I'm not asking you to try and convince me to change my concerns. I'm just curious as to what concerns you.

Pluto - ice ages aren't caused by cool summers, they're caused by periodic changes in the earth's orbit (with periods of 100000, 41000 and 23000 years). I'm on my phone but if you Google Milankovitch cycle the second hit is a short and very straightforward explanation with very clear diagrams put together by the University of Indiana.

And there is massive consensus in the scientific community that anthropogenic global warming is real and is happening - see IPPC reports passim.

For me:

1. The current propaganda war being generated in the media against Russia and China possibly paving the way for WW3
2. The systematic destruction of the Middle East leading to the deaths of millions of civilians
3. The impending financial collapse
4. The fact that most seem to be oblivious to the suffering of farm animals and that animal agriculture is the leading cause of deforestation and greenhouse gases (if you're concerned about global warming) and a huge contributor to world hunger

Dee, I fear if we start discussing all other concerns in our lives greater than the perceived concern of global warming, we may wildly derail this thread

I can't see the point of getting het up about it while

1. Politicians fly off on jollies for the last day or two of climate change conferences. All the negotiations and decisions are done but hundreds of people fly in to have their picture taken applauding.
2. Huge polluters like China get additional time to even start doing anything to reduce their emissions etc. Even if we all topped ourselves and out dc right now, we'd make not one iota of difference to the position pumped out by China.
3. We, as a country, elected a government who aren't willing to do much to encourage alternative energy. But do want to buy steel from China with all its pollution...

There are too many people using too many resources. Until people are willing to take on population control then we're on a sliding towards catastrophe. People have to take personal responsibility instead of simply blaming the Chinese. After all, they're making the stuff the west buys.

It's not simply blaming the Chinese though is it? I've been a veggie for 30 years, we don't drive very much, I avoid flying as much as possible, we are menders and we re-use, we use solar energy. But it's a drop in the ocean when you look at pollution on an industrial scale.

Blaming the Chinese was a catch all phrase for simply saying that "there's nothing I can do because of the developing nations". The developing nations are making the endless disposable stuff that more affluent nations are constantly being told are essential by advertisers.

Becoming veggie and not buying pointless stuff are what we as individuals can do.

Can I blame the Chinese if I've done those things?

Very worried. We moved from the UK where I used to think we were fairly green. But I was niave. We now have alcohol powered cars, a solar powered house and all our food is local (40 miles and less). The CO2 and methane emissions of small countries in Europe looks good until you compare them to the actual size and population, then you realise it is shockingly high and on the same scale as the US.
Living in the developing world helped me to see what a wasteful lifestyle the first world has. I have made even more serious leaps to change but sadly until the first world starts going back to a more basic lifestyle and before the developing world starts thinking the first world lifestyle is the optimum acheivement, then very little will change. I can only hope that more developing countries invest heavily in renewable energy and do not become reliant on fossil fuels like most of the first world. It's killing the planet. Also we have seen the direct affects of climate change in the past 10 years, it's hotter and we get far less rain. Every year there is a draught before the summer rains start. It's frightening.

I think its too late now, and humans will only start to act seriously once effects cannot be ignored, which really will be far too late.

Yes, I'm extremely worried about it. I think it's far and away the biggest threat to the long term political and economic stability of the planet and that this process of destabilization has already started.

Can't believe some of the attitudes on this thread.

I both admire and feel a little sad for those who have made great sacrifices to reduce their carbon footprint, often at great personal and financial expense.

If everyone did it it may help, but that simply won't happen unless global governments forced everyone. You are putting yourself out for nothing so unless you gain some form of moral comfort from it you may as well not bother.

Don't feel sad for me 2pointfour.

The adjustments I have made and am making to my life have not negatively impacted on my quality of life. On the contrary, they have made me realise what a fool I have been for much of my life to believe the din of the advertisers convincing me that My convenience is paramount and that I need to continually waste energy, resources and money in order to be comfortable.
I doubt you want me to feel sorry for you either.

I'm concerned in an abstract way, but have far more urgent personal concerns, ie my health. However, they are all kind of linked in a way, because the more scarce resources become, the more expensive EVERYTHING gets, including imported medicine and healthcare in general.

If we are heading towards an ice age though - what can anyone do? Is it not too late at this point? I've not read anything but I imagine in that situation everyone dies, except for maybe a few elites in their heated bunkers drinking their stores of hot chocolate/ whiskey, eating long life food for the rest of their days.

Gosh I feel a bit bleak now

I'm afraid it doesn't bother me at all. It's not something that is going to affect my children or their children or their children.

That is totally not true, I'm afraid. We are set to overtake the "danger" threshold of 2 degrees in 2050. My children will be in their 30s then. Just because you live on a hill doesn't mean you won't be affected by weather events, grain shortages (very scary predictions there), refugees, invasions from desperate countries ...

Where I live (developing world, near equator) the effects of climate change are already happening. In one area where there's been no rain for four years children are dying in ever-increasing numbers. And as I said - we're not even in the climate "danger" zone.

A lot of the thread just shows how much of a problem government inaction is: people would act differently if they had to, but won't otherwise, and hypocritical or inconsistent behaviour by ministers or high profile activists further disillusions them.
Are there as many people who'd say they hardly give to charity because they already pay taxes? It wouldn't surprise me. Seems like a similar principle.

If everyone did it it may help, but that simply won't happen unless global governments forced everyone. You are putting yourself out for nothing so unless you gain some form of moral comfort from it you may as well not bother.
And the more people take that attitude - without even trying to get governments to do more - the more of a problem it is. The Tragedy of the Commons.

Presumably several of those who consider it inevitable have kids. Shouldn't, then, things like lower tech skills and activities, some acclimatisation to managing with less money/stuff/electricity than many people have been used to having over the past 20 years or so, be seen as part of their education.

(That's not just about climate change, though - I keep thinking about it when seeing recent threads about people with very high incomes; most of my friends and relatives around my age are downwardly mobile compared with their parents; plenty have never fully adjusted to not living in the style to which they were accustomed as kids, and to not being able to bring up their own kids that way. And for millenials it's a widespread phenomenon demonstrable in statistics.)

I don't.

I think statements like EveDallas's show that a lot of people don't actually know much about the phenomenon and think climate change is just rising sea levels. It's a complex issue and maybe people simply have chosen to ignore it.

And the "I'm all right, Jack" attitude is both fucking depressing and what got us into this in the first place.

I won't use the car if I can walk, cycle or get public transport. As a result I use it about once a month.

However, I know I could recycle a lot more than I do and I love having the heating on full blast so I am no angel.