Ed said, "People had better start thinking in these terms soon. I thought ahead and now live at 8500 feet. :-)"
I'm at about 5500'. might be beachfront in a few decades! J -mark From: Edmund Storms [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2013 12:56 PM To: [email protected] Cc: Edmund Storms Subject: Re: [Vo]:NHK: ocean levels may rise 9 m by 2100 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 <[email protected]> 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
