By D. L. Thompson
I have a confession to make. Originally this article was going to be about the science behind global warming and climate change. But upon completing it, I realized that I was wasting my time. Let me explain., Life, as we know it, would not be possible without the greenhouse effect. Without it the earth’s average surface temperature would be -18 degrees C (-0.4 degrees F), not the balmy 14.6 degrees C (58.3 degrees F) that we enjoy., But too much of a good thing can be bad. For the last few hundred years mankind has been altering the chemistry of the earth’s atmosphere by increasing the concentration of greenhouse gases. As a result, the earth is getting warmer. Ninety percent of the excess heat is being absorbed by the ocean, and will affect the climate for hundreds, if not thousands of years. It’s like filling a bathtub with hot water and closing the door – the room will stay warm for hours., The increase in greenhouse gasses is changing the climate, raising sea level, and making the ocean more acidic. These changes will be unimaginably expensive, or impossible, to mitigate., Neither the public nor our politicians understand the seriousness of the problem, or how difficult it will be to solve. In the 23 years since the 1992 Kyoto treaty, the addition of CO2 to the atmosphere has risen from 22 billion tons/year to 35 billion tons/year. Although there has been an abundance of meetings, scientific papers, and movies about climate change, we have done nothing. The concentration of greenhouse gasses is continuing to rise, and the problem is getting worse. We are headed for disaster., Ultimately we must ask the question – do we really care if the world gets a few degrees warmer? Wouldn’t we all be better off if the weather everywhere was more like Florida? The answer is no – because change is the real problem. Human culture is conditioned or “tuned” to a specific set of conditions. Most large cities are on the coast – a location determined by sea level. As sea level rises the cost to hold the sea back will be staggering. Larger areas, such as Florida, will simply be flooded. Most agriculture is determined by the local climate. As the climate shifts, so will the optimum location for many crops. Areas near the equator may become too hot or dry for human occupation, resulting in large scale migration. Where will these people go?, Solving the problem will require fundamental changes in power generation, manufacturing, transportation, and agriculture. These changes will disrupt most industries, and require worldwide cooperation. An almost impossible task., How do we accomplish this? If the majority of voters made climate change their number one priority, it would be a good start. However, at the present time this issue is not at the top of everyone’s list. People are just not afraid enough – yet. Apparently, the world is waiting until the effects get worse. So we wait. It would seem that no amount of lecturing about science is going to make any difference., Is humanity doomed? No – we will get through this. It will be very expensive, and many people, especially the poor, will suffer. Thousands of years from now historians will write about how we solved the problem. We will do it eventually – because we have to. Let’s hope we don’t wait too much longer., Dr. D. L. Thompson received his PhD from Princeton university in earth science. He has worked as a research scientist for the Canadian Government, and in mineral exploration around the world for private industry. He currently lives in Princeton, N.J.
