The Planet in Peril

Global warming is easy to prove. The reasons for it not so easy IMO

I don't deny that the world is warming up but what concerns me is that the reasons may not be that clear and that some 'reasons' are put forward by those that have a commercial interest in certain products, eg battery manufacturers.

Over millions of years there has been a natural cycle of the world cooling and warming. Only 10,000 years ago I believe Britain was under a very thick ice sheet. I don't think any inhabitants at the time would have made any difference by lighting bonfires to try to fend off the inevitable cooling. And it will happen again. Not in our lifetime but it will happen.

Burning fossil fuels will undoubtedly have a negative atmospheric effect but so do many other things. The massive deforestation around the world probably has a far greater global effect, these forests being described as 'the lungs of the earth'. The trees have been replaced in the main by 'a new kid on the block', palm oil plants so that we may enjoy cheaper food and cosmetics.

On the other side of the argument, the absolutely massive herds of larger herbivores that at one time roamed the African plains have been almost wiped out. But it was these herds that produced enormous amounts of methane gas, well before fossil fuels were being used so globally 'greenhouse gasses' have been produced naturally and in enormous quantities for millennia.

So whilst changing our driving styles such as not going quite so far on holiday or changing to an electric vehicle will probably make a difference, in the overall scheme of things these may make virtually no appreciable difference, even if we all did it.

Whether you agree or disagree that Global Warming is fact or fake news it would seem to me that one fact that stands out is that we are polluting our planet and have been since the Industrial Revolution and we can do something about that. If 40000 people in the UK die where pollution is a contributory factor we have a big issue. I appreciate that people will say that it was as worse 50/100 years ago before the clean air act but none the less we are still pumping poison into our atmosphere. Even if you ignore the fact that our Climate might be warming there are things we can do to reduce the adverse affect on ourselves. The problem is coming up with solutions which can be supported by the majority and I think there needs to be a lot more education on the subject so we understand. Governments have got to be prepared to have a carrot and stick approach to persuading people. That might include taxing cars that use petrol/diesel more but subsidising to a far greater extent electric cars. Another option would be to subsidise solar panels on all houses.  Just plant more trees. 

David

We will run out of fossil fuels in the UK, so another consideration comes into play.  

It is certainly a complex issue. The flap of a butterfly's wing and all that.

Whilst much is made of the switch to EVs, they are not impact neutral. Manufacturing and use of rare minerals in batteries plus their eventual disposal all have an impact.

We are forever being bombarded with figures for economic growth, balance of payments etc. but is perpetual growth either desirable or feasible? One country's surplus is another's deficit.

Our western society is predicated on continuing consumption, so in many ways we are authors of our own destruction. Perhaps we should be thinking about walking this earth with a lighter step rather than just focusing on what is under the bonnet.

The trouble with being lighter ,it seems it has as some say,  makes the build quality  worse 

Over the millennia there have indeed been significant variations in temperature. However, these have generally taken place over much larger time scales than the present rise. This allowed a certain amount of adaptation by the earth residents of  the time.

Of course they didn't have large cities to protect, or relocate above rising sea levels. Or the huge population densities, many of which exist barely above survival level currently.

True there have been some rapid changes as a result of volcanic activity. Or going further back a massive metorite hitting the earth and wiping out much of the life on the planet. Unfortunately we are not currently advanced enough to do much about those eventualities. However, we do have the capability and technology to limit the amount of carbon dioxide and other pollutants we put into the atmosphere.

We managed to avoid a Third World War in the latter part of the 20th century. If we get it wrong, this has the potential to be equally devastating to the world as a whole.

Even if there are other reasons, beyond our control for the rapid rise. Surely it still makes sense to mitigate it by changing what we can.

I would like to point out that there were no records kept over the billions of years that the Earth has been in existence until very recent time. During those billions of years, the Earth has fluctuated from cold to hot in natural cycles.  Therefore to say that the earth is becoming warmer in a much shorter time now, as against the other times is IMO quite simply wrong.  Where is the proof ? , there is none. --------There are only personal opinions based on semantics trying to put fear into the world's population to subscribe to highly profitable Green Energy products ----------------nothing else. 

K 

Things can be lighter but it has to be designed in. It's not just a case of reducing the size/thickness of things. Back in my dinghy racing days, I managed to build a hull that weighed less than a friend's centreplate(keel) on his dinghy.

If we in Britain all changed to electric vehicles tomorrow, what impact would it have on the planet? Very little. When you consider that Britain is about as large as a couple of US states, ditto China, then until both of them commit to reduce their carbon footprint on this planet, nothing we do will make much impact.

Getting rid of Trump and bringing USA back into the Paris agreement would be a first step, but until then, they'll continue to drive around their roads in their big V8 gas-guzzling trucks, whilst the rest of the world stare in disbelief. Proof, if it were needed, that the oil companies billions of dollars rule this planet.