Stitcher
Caldari
ForgeTech Industries
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Posted - 2009.11.27 00:21:00 -
[1]
 Originally by: Sokratesz
And besides, we are already ruining the biodiversity on earth, last I checked there was a hundred percent correlation between the amount of human activity in an area and the decline of biodiversity. More species have gone extinct in the past 100 years than in the 10 million years before that (no source, rough estimate) and we've dont next to nothing about that.
No source, rough estimate, complete bullsh**.
Ever heard of the Cretacious-Tertiary Extinction Event? It was responsible for the extinction of an estimated 17% of all families and 50% of all genera of life on the planet. Among them, the dinosaurs.
Mankind's contribution to species extinction may be severe, but it's nowhere near THAT bad.
As for climate change: the Earth's temperature is not a fixed and permanently stable thing (obviously) and can be altered by all kinds of factors. It would be myopic in the extreme to assume that the unprecedented rate at which we as a species put out CO2 is not going to have some influence.
I do not believe that human action alone can instigate climate change. I DO believe that our influence is now sufficient to amplify and accelerate the effects of an existing trend, maybe several times over. Given that the weight of scientific opinion largely seems to be in favour of mankind contributing to climate change, with only a minority voice claiming otherwise (as happened with Gravity, Evolution, plate tectonics, and all sorts of other things we now widely accept as an accurate model of what's going on) I'm going to listen.
My interest in climate change is fairly pragmatic though. I don't think any amount of effort will halt the change, but if I can save money with a more energy efficient house as a byproduct of trying to live a more "green" life, great! But even if we all moved to a completely carbon-neutral footprint, I think the change would happen anyway just because that's what the Earth was naturally doing. You don't get anywhere by swimming against the current, you just tire yourself out. What we should be doing is looking to adapt our culture to the changing environment, not fighting to preserve the status quo.
continents drift, weather patterns change and species go extinct, and often that's the causal chain of events. All of human endeavor couldn't possibly stop these things, only accelerate them. Should we try to live green and carbon-neutral lives? Yes, because it will hopefully restore things to a less hectic pace where we can adapt to our new condition more easily. But we will have to adapt anyway, so why not start right now?
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