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NickB79

(19,244 posts)
Sun Jun 16, 2013, 11:44 PM Jun 2013

Climate talk shifts from curbing CO2 to adapting

http://news.yahoo.com/climate-talk-shifts-curbing-co2-adapting-130423769.html;_ylt=AqV2gdhleX6TG.qbGR6P5WMPLBIF;_ylu=X3oDMTNmOTM2cTFmBG1pdAMEcGtnA2Y2ZTVhMDU1LThiZDQtM2VmMy1iNGNlLTcwZWVmYmIxY2FjNwRwb3MDNQRzZWMDbG5fV2VhdGhlcl9nYWwEdmVyA2ZiZmJmNjYyLWQ2MTQtMTFlMi1iYjVmLTVmMGU3MWU3OWI0ZA--;_ylg=X3oDMTEyZ25nc2EwBGxhbmcDZW4tVVMEdGVzdANIUl9Tb2NpYWxfTGlnaHRib3g-;_ylv=3

WASHINGTON (AP) — Efforts to curb global warming have quietly shifted as greenhouse gases inexorably rise.

The conversation is no longer solely about how to save the planet by cutting carbon emissions. It's becoming more about how to save ourselves from the warming planet's wild weather.

It was Mayor Michael Bloomberg's announcement last week of an ambitious plan to stave off New York City's rising seas with flood gates, levees and more that brought this transition into full focus.

After years of losing the fight against rising global emissions of heat-trapping gases, governments around the world are emphasizing what a U.N. Foundation scientific report calls "managing the unavoidable."


Better late than never, I suppose.
5 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Climate talk shifts from curbing CO2 to adapting (Original Post) NickB79 Jun 2013 OP
Now we're talking RobertEarl Jun 2013 #1
Are increased asthma rates related to global warming? Downwinder Jun 2013 #2
Adaptation - it's not just a smart choice, it's the only choice. GliderGuider Jun 2013 #3
“Wait - can we still call it a choice if there was no alternative?” OKIsItJustMe Jun 2013 #4
Do nothing? GliderGuider Jun 2013 #5
 

RobertEarl

(13,685 posts)
1. Now we're talking
Sun Jun 16, 2013, 11:50 PM
Jun 2013

We have been successful in getting the media to take notice. Congrats all!

Capitalists are now stepping up and making grand decisions.

They will try to build their way out of the problem.

Problem is they will only end up contributing to the problem.

We have this saying, those of us who live with the waters, Water Always Wins.

 

GliderGuider

(21,088 posts)
3. Adaptation - it's not just a smart choice, it's the only choice.
Mon Jun 17, 2013, 02:13 AM
Jun 2013

Wait - can we still call it a choice if there was no alternative?

We persist in our mistaken thinking that the actions of individual humans can change the collective statistical outcome. They can't, and in fact they never could.

Most people believe that individual actions determine the collective outcome. I mean, it's just obvious, right? I'm pretty sure this is just another flat-earth mistake born of misinterpreted perceptions, though. It falls in the same category as believing that the Sun revolves around the Earth. The scope of human behavior is circumscribed by hard-to-perceive physical principles - principles of physics, chemistry, biology, genetics, gravity and thermodynamics. The recognition of these limits is not an admission of defeat, but simply the completion of the Copernican/Galilean revolution. Mankind moves ever further from the center of the universe - no matter how many people would prefer that it not be so, and therefore decline to look through the telescope.

We have been chained to the thermodynamic tiger since before our ancient ancestors were eukaryotes. The links in that chain are the natural principles of physics, chemistry, biology and genetics. The lock is the Second Law of Thermodynamics.

What individual humans do best is adapt to the inevitable.

OKIsItJustMe

(19,938 posts)
4. “Wait - can we still call it a choice if there was no alternative?”
Mon Jun 17, 2013, 09:28 AM
Jun 2013

There is an alternative.

It is to do nothing.

 

GliderGuider

(21,088 posts)
5. Do nothing?
Mon Jun 17, 2013, 09:48 AM
Jun 2013

Cool, I'm down with that. Of course if you're not, you should be free to do whatever seems right to you.

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