global warming

[Susan Mac]

okay, this might sound like a really bizarre question, but I'm trying to work through something in my head that someone said to me recently...

WHY is global warming a problem? WHY is it bad if the ice caps melt and the reefs are destroyed? Could it be part of the next stage of the earth's existence, just like there has been ice ages etc in the past?

I'm not being at all cynical, because I do see it as being not good, but I'd like to hear some other answers. :)

[SixtiesChild]

That's really thinking outside of the square and reminds me of something I recently heard, that the earth isn't going anywhere! :D

[purplefairy]

Yer, it may be the next stage of the world existance but I think that most experts are worried about the rate of this happening, as other changes that occurred to the world happened less dramatically.
The other thing is because it is so dramatic many many species on the planet, including humans dont have time to evolve or change with the climate as the change is happening to fast. So therfore many species are dieing off and will die. So we will probably end up like the dinos, extinct.
The other concern is that we have done this to our own enviroment. How the hell can we stop it. Reverse it and help our children in future years. Is the earth going to be too hot? Who knows, the experts predict it as well as weather change that will occur with it. The earth may not go anywhere but we sure might.

[MilkOnTap]

Yer, it may be the next stage of the world existance but I think that most experts are worried about the rate of this happening, as other changes that occurred to the world happened less dramatically.
The other thing is because it is so dramatic many many species on the planet, including humans dont have time to evolve or change with the climate as the change is happening to fast. So therfore many species are dieing off and will die. So we will probably end up like the dinos, extinct.
The other concern is that we have done this to our own enviroment. How the hell can we stop it. Reverse it and help our children in future years. Is the earth going to be too hot? Who knows, the experts predict it as well as weather change that will occur with it. The earth may not go anywhere but we sure might.

What she said :yes:

[Phyllis Stein]

I'd read Collapse by Jared Diamond if I were you. It's not specifically about climate change, but about human induced ecosystem decline throughout history. It focuses on geographically limited examples, which were disastrous enough, whereas climate change is not geographically limited.

I believe it's morally reprehensible to allow the diversity of life on earth that has evolved on earth to be wiped out.

[Susan Mac]

thanks for your answers girls! Helps me heaps.

[xkwzit]

There are also island nations who are losing their homes at this minute. Their islands are, literally, shrinking. Many of these island nations will go under completely if sea levels rise even only moderately - creating enormous problems in resettling them (not only food and shelter, but cultural disruption, etc).

Cheers