So what is the down side to global warming?? (Several Questions)

Seen plenty of before and after pics and it got me to thinking on several things:

1. The whole Mother Earth thing - if (as some have claimed) that 'mother earth' is kicking our butts for our treatment of earth then how does that play? IE - if right wing christians are claiming god is punishing mankind many will get upset over that, but if they replace the term with 'mother earth' suddenly it is ok and a good thing?

2. Earth is doomed from the get go, the sun will burn out someday. How does it matter if we end things now instead of later by our consumption (and some would say we consume now and use the earth up to hopefully find a way off of it - assuming we were doing such a thing would that be ok??)

3. Regarding the original question on global warming - what is the downside for 1) humans, 2) earth (insert whatever you think appropriate here - like 'it is bad for animals, and as humans we should not be putting other species at risk, etc and so forth)

4. On what moralistic authority/philosophy do you base your opinions on? Personal views, religious, etc?

The sun will burn out in ten plus billion years. That's an almost unimaginably long time from now. It does make a difference if we end things so much sooner. And to think that using things up quickly will provide a ready impetus to move off-planet. . . . well, ask yourself, what was the person thinking when he (or she, it doesn't matter although it was almost undoubtedly a he) cut down the last tree on Easter Island.

When the last gallon of oil is burned, when the last whale is killed, when the last acre of farmland is black-topped, what will we be thinking then?

We are part of nature, like it or not. We affect the earth and it affects us. If we ruin it we will die. Or at least get thinned out pretty severely. If we get thinned out enough we will be incapable of further destroying the earth and it will recover.

In Scientific American this month is a pretty convincing article that points out that mankind has been affecting climate for 8,000 years, and that if it hadn't been for global warming that started when humans started slash and burn agriculture 8,000 years ago we'd already be well into a new ice age with glaciers covering most of northern Canada by now.

Isn't that a good thing? By holding back the ice age haven't we improved our chances as a civilization? Would you rather we had stopped global warming 8,000 years ago so that Alaska would presently be under a mile of ice?

Ultimately we, as humans, judge everything by human standards of what is good for us or for the race. But there is no absolute good or bad as far as nature is concerned. There is only what happens. If the earth heats up we'll either find a way to take advantage of that or we will suffer the consequences. Either way, that's what happens. Mother Nature doesn't really care one way or the other. If we go extinct she'll just try some other grand experiment.

'mother earth'? It almost sounds like (from some) that earth can think and has a mind of it's own (ie, it makes decisions based on what we do - versus simple science which is related to actions and their expected consequences).

Mother Earth is a living, sentient being, exactly as the Native Americans (for instance) have said all along.

two aspirns... And, please, only call if it is an emergency...

......and read

1. I personally don't get involved in the Mother Earth vs God discussion as to why the earth's climate appears to be changing.

2. Yes, the earth is doomed someday. The sun will probably go supernova a couple of billion years down the road. It's doubtful that humans will still exist in our present form...or even exist at all...at that point in time.

3. The downside of global warming is that the oceans will rise due to the melting of the polar ice caps and just about all of the glaciers around the world. That will cause flooding of all of our current coastal areas forcing humans to move inland. The weather will become much more severe...hurricanes more intense, etc. At some point after the melting of the ice caps, we will reach what I call a "tipping point", a point at which current ocean currents begin to exhibit new flow patterns because of the massive influx of cold fresh water fromn the melting ice caps. For instance, the Gulf Stream will cease to flow northward which will cause a mini-Ice Age for Great Britian and Europe, at the very least. The effect of an Ice Age on humans will be catastrophic.

4. I base my views on the latest scientific findings in regards to global warming.

...so the planet itself will happily go along adjusting to its new equilibrium, just as it always has.

What sucks for people is that we've built all these things we'd like to think of as permanent, but they're based on how things are at one particular equilibrium. Change that equilibrium, and inevitably human systems must adjust to it. Making that change, however, is economically costly, and moreso if the change is rapid. The only thing more costly is ignoring the change completely, because your system will collapse before it can adapt (again, the situation is intensified the more rapid the change).