Climate change brain dump
I freely admit that I still haven't done much of a literature review, but one possibility I won't accept on the climate-change front is that global warming is just a sensational myth. There is no vast left-wing conspiracy capable of spinning a global scientific consensus out of thin air. At least some of those scientists must be smart, reasonable people who would know a nonviable theory if they saw one. And if the politics of science were really insane enough to force those people to support a nonviable theory, at the same time that the most powerful government on Earth is trying to get them to oppose it, I think we would still be muddling our way out of the Renaissance.
Some people think climatologists are crazy because they also claim that melting polar ice could be the harbinger of a new Little Ice Age. In fact this is not a contradiction, and it's easy to see why. One effect of the melting of the northern ice cap is that fresh meltwater will find its way into the north end of the Gulf Stream, just off the southern tip of Greenland, disrupting the global cycle of ocean currents that carries heat north and south from the tropics. Thus a Little Ice Age may be an eventual effect of melting, but global warming is still a likely candidate for the present-day cause. In any event, it would be nice to stop that melting if we can.
To those who claim that human actions still can't change the course of nature on a global scale, I would point out that we have already, indisputably, done so. To pick the most obvious example, farm fields now cover an area larger than South America. And vegetation patterns influence many other aspects of the global environment, including the atmosphere. As technology grows more powerful, we may be able to maintain the stability of the climate even if we aren't the ones who disrupted it. See this post for some ideas on how to do that.
And the standard preventive action against human-caused global warming, switching to renewable energy sources, is a good idea for at least four other reasons:
Some people think climatologists are crazy because they also claim that melting polar ice could be the harbinger of a new Little Ice Age. In fact this is not a contradiction, and it's easy to see why. One effect of the melting of the northern ice cap is that fresh meltwater will find its way into the north end of the Gulf Stream, just off the southern tip of Greenland, disrupting the global cycle of ocean currents that carries heat north and south from the tropics. Thus a Little Ice Age may be an eventual effect of melting, but global warming is still a likely candidate for the present-day cause. In any event, it would be nice to stop that melting if we can.
To those who claim that human actions still can't change the course of nature on a global scale, I would point out that we have already, indisputably, done so. To pick the most obvious example, farm fields now cover an area larger than South America. And vegetation patterns influence many other aspects of the global environment, including the atmosphere. As technology grows more powerful, we may be able to maintain the stability of the climate even if we aren't the ones who disrupted it. See this post for some ideas on how to do that.
And the standard preventive action against human-caused global warming, switching to renewable energy sources, is a good idea for at least four other reasons:
- We could stop the flow of our money into the hands of Middle-Eastern regimes that support terrorism.
- Shifting away from oil now would also give us a head start on adapting to the depletion of oil reserves that we know is coming.
- Phasing out coal-fired power plants would reduce or eliminate many coal-related lung diseases.
- Giving a boost to new technologies and industries is a great way to reinvigorate the middle class.