“No going back” on climate change

Er, not really. The best thing we can do is to stop all the stupid plans & arguments and just adapt to it.

Study suggests we’re beyond the point of no return

I generally steer well away from those debates raging arguments about climate change that seem to be going on everywhere you look. I find there’s equal fanaticism on both sides, which is a sure sign that no one really knows what they’re talking about.

BUT, this report on ABC News  seems to suggest that both the denialists and the believers are equally wrong.

A new study has found that global warming is ’irreversible’ for the next 1000 years, even if carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions could be abruptly halted. The study, led by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (a division of the US Department of Commerce) says there is “no going back” and that changes in surface temperature, rainfall and sea level are “largely irreversible for more than 1,000 years after CO2 emissions are completely stopped.”

While the study stops short of concluding we cannot reduce the impacts by cutting back on present-day emissions, its major conclusion is clear enough - CO2 levels have already “locked the earth in” to a long-term cycle of climate change. And, consequently, rising sea levels, decreases in rainfall (in some regions), increased fire frequency, ecosystem change and expanded deserts are as inevitable as night following day.

In other words, there’s not a lot we can do to avert this ‘catastrophe’ that, at worst, will end civilisation as we know it (but not for a very long time) and, at best, will mean future generations will have to adapt to the changing climate and its impacts.

So there you have it! Maybe it’s time we stopped arguing and over-reacting and, instead, just focused on how we can adapt to the forecast changes. For instance, major sections of our agricultural industries could be relocated to those areas where there’s an abundance of water, like ‘up north’. I’d also suggest we start planting a hell of a lot more trees on that barren and unproductive farmland you see all over the place.

I think we need to replace the trees that our early settlers delighted in clearing, as though they were just a nuisance to so-called ’productive farming’. Because, in case you didn’t know it, trees absorb CO2 and give off oxygen. Moreover, they also attract rain from passing clouds (because of the oxygen they emit!) and provide shade. Oh, and they stop the ground from baking and restore ecosystems!

There has to be some better ideas than charging emission taxes, what will that achieve? How will that stop the climate changing? Give me a break. In fact, let’s just forget about ’carbon trading’ altogether and all those other draconian measures being proposed by the more fanatical climate change believers and start doing more practical things, that’s what I’m suggesting. So what if my car runs on filthy petrol for as long as the oil lasts? It ain’t gunna change things a lot if I stop using it, not according to this study.

The point is, we may not be able to halt climate change – no matter what we do - BUT, if we’re smart enough (and practical enough), we can certainly adapt to it.

(Hmm, having ‘dipped my toe’ into the climate change debate I guess I can expect a barrage of insults from both sides of the argument. Well, you’re welcome to go for it. Just don’t expect me to be convinced one way or the other; it’s a circular argument and no one really has the right answers)

PS: Whether climate change is man-made or not is pretty much a moot point, in my opinion. It’s still a “natural phenomenon”, even if it’s been brought on by industrialisation. Think about it. Man is part of nature’s plan too, as are the coal and oil deposits that man has extracted from the ground. I’m a firm believer that ALL natural resources are there for a purpose and that man’s discovery and use of them is not only legitimate, it’s a perfectly natural part of nature’s plan. You see, I believe that, in nature, everything happens for a reason – even its destruction.
(Yes, and that means uranium is also there for a reason, although nuclear power still frightens the shit out of me!)