The climate change thread

[child of Thor]

I keep having to look hard to try to find the current climate/eco threads so thought we could use this, if folks want, as an easy one-thread-title covers all, for such discusions?

anyway this article which i saw on the news this morning seems a good place to start:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4313726.stm

It seems unlikely that we can avoid many of the issues it talks about, and should we worry about a few less krill in the sea or no more turtles anyway?

I of course think yes, i would have liked to have been able to show my children the things that i enjoyed in the natural world when i was growing up - chances are for many of our children they will have to get such experiences from dvd+zoos.
Progress of the human species? or maybe just greed fueled short-sightedness?

History will give us its mark.

[Eli]

Benefit to Humans >> Turtles.

[child of Thor]

Originally posted by Eli
Benefit to Humans >> Turtles.

am i reading 'benefit to humans = greater than turtle loss'?

horrors, you should say a few hail marys(or the cultural equivalent) and hang your head in shame

You see the turtle isn't just an ugly four legged sea reptile, its kind of the litmus paper of our sea's, along with corals and plancton/krill. Climate change has happend and continues to happen - this time its just happening too fast, so we will loose a whole section of our eco system over the coming years/decades and that is really when the penny will drop rather too late.

if you didnt mean 'benefit to humans = greater than turtle loss' then do you mean we(humans) will evolve(>>) into Turtles? and fill thier niche - could be fun and i'd vote for it

[Eli]

am i reading 'benefit to humans = greater than turtle loss'?

horrors, you should say a few hail marys(or the cultural equivalent) and hang your head in shame

You see the turtle isn't just an ugly four legged sea reptile, its kind of the litmus paper of our sea's, along with corals and plancton/krill. Climate change has happend and continues to happen - this time its just happening too fast, so we will loose a whole section of our eco system over the coming years/decades and that is really when the penny will drop rather too late.

This is different then. I was just making the point that we shouldnt care too much(or at all) about turtles as long as their extinction doesnt somehow damage humanity.

So if you're talking about serious damage to the entire ecosystem that may cause us to end up without fish, then yes, it's horrible.

But if it's only some turtles dying for the sake of human progress... Well, tough luck for the turtles.

[Sandman]

It's difficult to see how global warming will help human progress...

[Zkribbler]

It'll permanently get rid of New Orleans and many other coastal cities.

[Immortal Wombat]

Climate changes may be to rapid for new survival strategies to arise in time, but it is thought that most mutations are kept dormant until they are needed, and so harsh conditions could mean that species unable to move with the weather are forced to see what mutations they have stored up. More populous species might hang on. Species that can migrate will be ok (or in the cases of water-spots drying up, those that learn not to migrate will be ok).

Originally posted by Sandman
It's difficult to see how global warming will help human progress...

It might (eventually) change the direction of human progress. When it becomes impossible to ignore the effect of technologies, we might start to design alternative technologies. It is impossible to tell whether the long-term help will outweigh the short-term hinderance. I am inclined to think it will. Eventually.

[mrmitchell]

Originally posted by Eli
Benefit to Humans >> Turtles.

IMO having turtles around is a benefit to humans...

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Immortal Wombat
Climate changes may be to rapid for new survival strategies to arise in time, but it is thought that most mutations are kept dormant until they are needed, and so harsh conditions could mean that species unable to move with the weather are forced to see what mutations they have stored up.

*cough* tropical diseases *cough*

[Sava]

I heard something about the Arctic ice being melted...

that this is the first time in over tens of millions of years that this has happened...

should we be concerned?

[Urban Ranger]

For starters, sea level will be rising.

[Sandman]

Originally posted by Immortal Wombat
It might (eventually) change the direction of human progress. When it becomes impossible to ignore the effect of technologies, we might start to design alternative technologies. It is impossible to tell whether the long-term help will outweigh the short-term hinderance. I am inclined to think it will. Eventually.

Or it might just clobber humanity. It'll take more than just global warming to really do us in - but if combined with disease, shortages and war, then things could get very nasty.

[DaShi]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
For starters, sea level will be rising.

As I've warned people before: This is why America has been secretly exporting sand from Iraq, as I said would happen. This sand will be used to replace the beaches lost from rising sea levels. America will be the only country with visitable beaches cornering the tourism industry. Mwa hwa hwa!

[Pekka]

I wish it got warmer in here..

If the rest of you die because of it, well, I guess that's just something of... well your problem.

[Eli]

I wish it got colder here.

Hey Pekka, let's start a cold import-export bussiness. We'll take your cold and ship it to the Middle East in exchange for sand.