Egypt4u

So what are your views on climate change? I am sort of hovering over the whole issue. First of all is there such a thing happening? Is it the result of mans activity, or is it just a natural cycle and nothing we can do much about? If it is really man made how do we deal with it?

Today they are trumpeting a new agreement from all nations that should be legally binding, but would it work and more importantly could it work? Lets look at some facts:
Ten thousand years ago we had an ‘Ice Age’ and according to the ‘experts’ we are now in a dormant warmer period between several Ice Ages. So if that was the case what started the warming up phase? It could not have been man made. There are many accounts of weather conditions well before the Industrial Age of the late 1800’s when they had Winter Fairs on the frozen river Thames which would seem to indicate a colder climate, then we have accounts from Roman times when they grew Grapes quite far North in Britain, so it must have been warmer..

I have little doubt that something is happening weather wise and my own experiences from a child to now tell me that things are changing to a degree, for example the seasons seem not to be so precise as they used to be, Winters do not have the same snowfall as they used to have, but they do seem to be more drawn out and colder. Spring has merged into late Winter and the Summer months are not so distinct. Rarely now do we get the long hot Summers of yesteryear when most weather was predictably dry and warm. But my own lifetime experience is relatively short when compared to the age of the Earth, so this may just be the norm when viewed over a much longer period of time.

The Earth is very good at locking up all of this excess harmful gases and a lot of it is in the huge amounts of fossil fuels like oil and coal and of course burning them does release those locked up gases back into the atmosphere. There are also huge amounts of Methane gas in the form of Methane ice lying at the bottom of many of our oceans and any warming of these oceans is likely to start releasing these locked up Methane deposits and as Methane is a ‘Greenhouse’ gas that will only exacerbate the situation further.

So there seems to be little doubt that things are warming up, but whether that is a natural phenomenon or man made is up for debate, what is certain is that we probably do need to deal with it in some way. So how do we go about it? The Western world would grind to a halt without our use of fossil fuels and every developing nation will claim the right to develop their infrastructure and should not be held back. At the moment renewable energy sources are at best unreliable and certainly very expensive and the latter is the reason that most people are not in favour of them. Instead of governments investing and assisting home owners to cut their reliance by using alternatives such a s Solar Power in their homes (quite a limited option for power generation in the UK) they instead give energy companies the freedom to pass on these investment costs onto the consumer, thus pushing up our domestic energy bills and alienating consumers.

Maybe we need to take a very radical view to the whole energy situation and reach an agreement where whenever possible a country should use its most cleanest form of energy production. So hot countries should HAVE to use solar power and any country that can generate power using Tidal energy or even wind energy wherever it is practical to do so. Then we have nuclear energy, a relatively clean source albeit with some danger if not properly regulated. Where fossil fuels have to be used then it should be strictly controlled and the very latest technology of ‘carbon capture’ implemented. We need a new approach of where the method of generation is determined by the most appropriate fuel in any particular location, this could result in places like Saudi having to use Solar for home consumption whilst having to export their own oil to countries that have no alternative but to use it. Finally that any aid is given to poorer countries to allow them to use modern technology by giving it for free.

Any thoughts?

Don't disagree with anything you say Horus. I too have noticed in my short few decades that there is a change to the climate I experience as a child vs what I'm getting now but in real terms of geologic time is this just a blip on the screen or is it really meaningful?

No doubt we are producing lots more emissions now and Canada actually has a law that if we're in our car and going to idle for more than 3 minutes we have to turn the car OFF and sit there vs sitting and idling. This is supposed to be helping climate change but again a mere blip on the scale.

We also regularly get shows and warnings that our polar bears are becoming extinct because the ice flow isn't there so they can't get out onto the ice to hunt. They will swim for literally miles from flow to flow but apparently now there is nothing for them to swim to so they're just going out and swimming to exhaustion as they're not coming across ice to climb up on.

The warnings seem to be there but how to practically globally combat the problem is going to be monumental and here there seems to be an attitude that while WE are doing all we can people in third world countries are not and so THEY are the problem. Tacitly we're blaming China.

I do think we're changing the climate but in my lifetime the world population has exploded exponentially too. Not too sure when we'll reach critical mass and/or if we'll ever reach a point where we've damaged the climate to a point it can't be turned back.

It is all something I do think about but so far haven't reached a definitive conclusion.

Its not something I waste my time on, the corrupt will continue to poison the planet, a million cattle in huge yards cant be doing a lot of good, the politicians just blah blah blah and enjoy the free luxury hotels and the grand feasts - - WHAT WILL BE , WILL BE .... Did anyone here realise we will all be dead soon, use your time wisely. Donate to the Sally Army, the only lot who do any good as far as I can see.

It will hardly affect me Jay, but it will my Grandchildren and they have little say in what we leave them as a planet.

I get Jayways position and I sometimes subscribe and some times not. I'm really not too worried about ME but I do worry what the children of the future will have to deal and contend with but then sometimes I think 'they' will know no different so will do whatever is needed as it will just be their own natural way of life - BUT - that being said I do feel a bit of an obligation to try to 'save the planet.'

I see that a Global Agreement has been reached that apparently carries no real teeth or nothing that will actually compel any country to comply which then makes me wonder what did they all spend so much time on!?!?!?!

In global terms I'd love to hear directly and specifically from scientists who know what IS going on and who are NOT trying to sell a book, get us all to convert to solar or who hold shares in fracking companies. I know Al Gore is a big driver of Global Warming issues in the USA but he has literally made a fortune off of advancing his concerns so I take what he has to say with a grain of salt. He beats the drum too loud and pounds it all the time. Maybe I'm naïve in doing this but I do tend to ignore the real nay sayers on this topic.

I'd hope we can all do what we can to live clean non-polluting lives. I recycle, I compost, I shut my car off if I'm idling. I just bought a new car a few months ago and opted to buy a hybrid (Prius Hybrid) that runs on gas and battery. It gets absolutely super gas mileage (about double + mileage of what my other car was getting) so I figure I'm doing my part. I save water as I don't plant grass, I grow as much of my own herbs as I can and will be increasing the garden garden of edible food next year ........... so - dunno how much more I can directly do.

If each of us did what we could we'd make a bit of an impact but I do believe it is industry that is the primary polluter. I think regulations re: emissions need to be put onto them to keep it as clean as they can. I also like the idea of regulations put onto the auto industry forcing them to make us cars that are as clean as possible.