A question about your views on combating climate change.

[Kaleva]

Poll question: A question about your views on combating climate change.

[Dead_Parrot]

1. Climate change has been with us for some time

At this point, the only way to stop it is by inventing a time machine.

[TheWraith]

2. The doomers have already gotten here.

One wonders why they spend so much effort trying to convince people that the world is over when by their own logic there's no point to it.

[Kaleva]

3. I don't see anyone saying the world is over

Believing that climate change is inevitable isn't the same as believing the world is over.

[ixion]

5. "The doomers" a phrase spawned when Obama was elected, and is now applied liberally

to people asking the same questions they were asking while Bush was in office.

Stay classy.

[bananas]

10. The term "doomers" has been around a lot longer than that

Here's an example from May 2001 - I could find earlier examples but I ain't gonna bother ...

http://web.archive.org/web/20010530093256/www.salon.com/people/feature/2001/02/12/y2k_faithful/



Bunker fever
Y2K never quite happened. When you're paranoid, that's a tough pill to swallow.

- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Katharine Mieszkowski

Feb. 12, 2001 | Cynthia Beal, a natural-foods grocer in Eugene, Ore., assures me that she was never one of those "Y2K doomers" -- the Chicken Littles predicting the end of the world as we know it. Instead she counted herself among the "alarmists" -- people who were "working to fix the problem, and admitted they had no idea how bad it would be but were erring on the side of caution."

And as concern about the year 2000 computer bug grew throughout the buildup to New Year's Eve, "it became increasingly clear that the problem was larger than anyone was admitting readily. It was a formula for grounded paranoia, and put me in mind of the old saying 'Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you,'" Beal says.

<snip>

[ixion]

4. I believe there is a possibility for us to change it...

but we won't.

[joshcryer]

6. Could be, won't be.

Could be from a very idealistic POV. Won't be from a realistic POV.

[XemaSab]

7. At the end of the day, won't and can't look an awful lot alike.

n/t

[pscot]

15. +1

[YankeyMCC]

8. Its already happening

We can and will to some extent mitigate the effects. The question is will humanity as a culture and race adapt by becoming more focused on long term health of our race and our world and make significant changes in time to swing things back to a more stable and sustainable and human friendly ecology.

[oldhippie]

9. The climate WILL change .......

.... regardless of what we do or don't do, or whether we are even still here or not. So what's the point?

[Nihil]

11. Yawn. Nobody with any power gives a shit so it's going to happen ...

... and plenty of people are going to die but hey, it's not affecting Wall Street
so who cares?

:-(

[petronius]

12. At this point, there are enough anthropogenic impacts built into the system

that we will continue to see change for several decades, no matter what we do. Beyond that, I think we have the ability to affect how much further impact we have, but limiting our impacts is cheaper/easier the earlier we start. I suspect that there will not be much will (even now) for limiting impacts, and we'll end up putting a lot of effort into last-minute mitigation and adaptation when it becomes unavoidable.

In other words, anthropogenic climate change can't be stopped in our lifetimes, and it will be more costly* than it needs to be down the road...

(* "Costly" is not just referring to economic impacts.)

[PufPuf23]

13. Adaptation is now the best tactic. Human-caused climate change

is real.

The fact that we are in a human caused major extinction event and loss of habitat, pure water, soil, etc. is just as or more important as biodiverity, natural refuges, and a clean environment are pluses in adaptation.

Regarding Cap and Trade - The better answer is a carbon release tax and use of best available technolgy in point source carbon release. Forests (not in Parks and Wilderness and other reserved status) could be better managed for carbon storage, forest commodity production, and less forest fires in most of the USA (and provide jobs).

There will be creeping changes in wildland vegetation and agriculture by geology/soil, elevation, aspect, and latitude.

[caraher]

14. The die is cast, but we have a say in how much change occurs

It's beyond preventing; it's here. But we have a lot to do... we can limit it, and we must adapt. It's not either/or and it's not about doom, either, but making the best future we can.