Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Turning A Blind Eye Does Not Change The View


Opponents of any kind of rational, constructive discussion of global warming and what modifications we must make in both personal behavior and official policy are always saying that the science is not in with respect to human impact on climate change.

Hate to break it to them but it is.

We know what we know and know what we don't know.

To try to make it simple for the skeptics and morons, here is where things stand.

We do know greenhouse gases are warming the planet.

We do not know precisely how high the levels of greenhouse gases will rise.

We do know other pollutants are cooling the planet.

We do not know how much the cooling from other pollutants will offset the warming resulting from greenhouse gases.

We do know that the planet will be getting considerably hotter.

We do not know precisely how much hotter but it will be significant.

We do not know how this heating will specifically impact each different region.

We do know that sea levels across the globe will rise catastrophically.

We do not know precisely how fast the sea levels will rise.

We do not know exactly how seriously rising temperatures will impact life on the planet.

We do know there will be more floods and droughts.

We do not know if there will be more hurricanes, tornadoes, and the like.

We do not know if and when we will reach the point of no return with respect to damage to the world's environmental systems.

The science on climate change is clear and can be summed up in a simple statement. Human beings are causing the atmosphere to heat up and this is going to make things pretty difficult, if not completely intolerable. Because we do not know precisely how difficult or how much of life on the planet will become intolerable is a strange rationalization for doing absolutely nothing.

Turning a blind eye does not change the view.

It just makes us blind.


[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . http://jdrachel.com ]