Jed, it is too late because no practical way exists to stop burning
fossil fuels. The demand for energy is rising too rapidly, especially
in China. It is impossible to satisfy this demand without burning
coal, natural gas, and oil. The other sources of power are being
developed as fast as possible, but they are not keeping up, even in
the US. As you can see, the political will does not exist to do
anything heroic. The will is not even present to develop cold fusion,
which in any case would require years before it had any impact at all.
Meanwhile, the effects of the present warming are creating positive
feedback to the warming process, as Terry points out. The release of
CH4 is the main problem. We can wish for a different reality, but I
suggest we need to work with the one we have.
People need to stop wasting political and emotional energy fighting
the wrong war. We need to focus on solving the consequences of
warming. For example, billions of dollars are now being spent to
rebuild homes on the East coast that will be washed away again in our
life time. When and how do people decide to move their homes to a
safer location? People had better start thinking in these terms
soon. I thought ahead and now live at 8500 feet. :-)
Ed
On Jan 30, 2013, at 1:33 PM, Jed Rothwell wrote:
Edmund Storms <stor...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
I believe, like many other people, that if the main caused is CO2
production, we are too late to stop the process or even to slow it
down.
What makes you think that? We could stop using fossil fuel in 20
years. If we had started serious efforts in 1980 we would not be
using any now. Furthermore, as I pointed out in my book, we could
use reforestation and cold fusion to remove CO2 from the atmosphere.
We could do this at the same rate we are now adding it, or at a
greater rate. This might call for a gigantic effort on the scale of
WWII armament production, but it would be cheaper than abandoning
our cities.
Once the CO2 is gone, the problem should reverse itself.
I think there are many ways to fix this problem. I do not see why
you -- or anyone -- thinks it is "too late."
- Jed
