Quote:
Originally Posted by Tinordi
There's very little we can do once it gets out of our hands.
This the effect of positive feedback mechanisms. The idea that once we reach a certain amount of warmer, other natural warming process are triggered like a runaway train.
The best example is permafrost in Siberia. It has gigatonnes of methane frozen in the ground. Once that ground starts to thaw from warming the methane will be released. Methane is a gas that warms the atmospher 25x more than a molecule of CO2. As more methane is released then the atmosphere warms more which leads to more thawing of the permafrost releasing more methane.
It's is the height of human hubris and stupidity to think that we can screw with a global system like the climate and then control it once we think it's gotten too out of hand. By that time there will be no controlling it. That's why we need to act now, to experience short-term pain for longer term stability.
There are numerous studies about this, but basically acting now is WAY cheaper than acting later.
http://ecowatch.com/2013/delaying-cl...-future-costs/ |
This. Another way to look at this is a bet....
If we don't take action and there are massive impacts we will pay a big price and/or we're screwed
If we don't talk action and there is no or manageable impact then all is good
If we take action and avert a major problem we've taken a hit but dodged the bullet
If we take action unnecessarily then we take a hit for no reason but in the process may develop new tech and businesses
The safest option is to do something now.