Bettor, Better or worse?
There’s an editorial in the November 5th issue of The New Republic which addresses a few of the global warming doubters out there.
The article mentions researchers who were surprised to find evidence that the world’s oceans are no longer absorbing as much carbon dioxide as they used to. (Just in case you missed the memo, that’s potentially a very bad thing.) The editorial mentioned another study which found that the world’s carbon dioxide emissions seem to be growing at a rate that is even faster than the IPCC’s (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) projected “worst case scenarios.”
While global warming skeptics often scoff at the IPCC’s projections on the grounds that climate science can be uncertain, that uncertainty, to the extent it exists, cuts both ways: Things may ultimately turn out to be better than the IPCC predicts, but they also could turn out to be worse.
Are you betting on better; and if so, what are you willing to bet?
This is exactly the point. We have maybe 25 years to drastically reduce our carbon emissions, or we won’t be about to do a thing about what happens next. Each year that we dally, it becomes more likely that the outcomes will range from horrible to catastrophic to biblical.
In Northern Canada, the permafrost is melting at a serious rate, and scientists this year were shocked to learn that their models were 35 years out of whack. It wasn’t happening in the future… it was happening now. The methane released is 23 times (I think) worse for climate change than CO2…
Events like that are happening everywhere.
I hate to be a Prophet of Gloom, but even the politicians who seem get it don’t really.