Climate Change is Naturally Occurring Because Humans are a Part of Nature

I heard about this book on NPR:
http://gwagner.com/books/climate-shock

... if we know the world is warming and there’s a 10 percent chance this might eventually lead to a catastrophe beyond anything we could imagine, why aren’t we doing more about climate change right now?

First, "climate change" is not synonymous with "global warming."

When the glaciers "advanced" through northwest Ohio at least twice, that was global cooling. When the glaciers "retreated" each time, that was global warming. Together, that was climate change.

Climate change has occurred since this planet has had an atmosphere, which is around four billion years.

The correct phrases to use for this subject are "human-caused global warming" or "human-accelerated global warming."

Nothing on this Earth is as powerful as our Sun. If the Sun dims or brightens a bit more than normal, it could be a bad time for us.

It's possible that the current global warming trend is naturally-occurring. This planet saw multiple global warming and global cooling trends before humans existed.

If the current global warming trend is natural, then the next argument is that human influences have accelerated the rate of global warming. Instead of taking 1000 years to reach a certain temperature, it will only take 200 years.

As someone who likes to observe Nature, I generally and casually split the world into human-based and nature-based with the latter referring to the rest of our flora and fauna that is non-human. But I'm an amateur naturalist.

Humans are a mammal species. Mammals are a part of Nature.

If humans have caused or have accelerated global warming, then it's naturally-occurring because like it or not, we humans are a part of Nature.

Continuing with the argument that humans are responsible for global warming, then it's possible that fewer humans could decrease global warming.

We are warned that global warming will cause catastrophic natural disasters, leading to massive destruction of property and life. If true, that would decrease the human population, which would help reduce our influences on global warming.

It seems that Nature will eventually balance itself out. Humans, which are a part of Nature, have caused global warming, which will cause human-killing storms, which will decrease the human population, which will ultimately slow the rate of global warming, which will help the planet obtain a more natural balance.

Obviously, a few species of nature will go extinct during the time that it takes for the planet to balance itself, but humans have cared little about other species in the past anyway.

Warm or cold, this climate change will always be naturally-occurring, unless aliens overtake our planet and introduce something to upset our atmosphere.

I don't think people are drastically altering their lifestyles to reduce their carbon footprints. Sorry, but purchasing conscience-clearing carbon offsets is an intellectually dishonest scam because the energy was still consumed.

A wealthy person who consumes tons of fossil-fuel-based energy could buy enough offsets to have a carbon footprint of zero while a homeless person riding a fossil fuel-based bus and trying to stay warm by starting a little fire could have a higher carbon footprint. People buy into this snake-oil carbon offset scheme do so to rationalize their hypocrisy.

We would have to adopt a standard of living lower than the Amish because Amish that I have known in the past have used cell phones and optics that were made overseas. Those goods were shipped here somehow. And Amish have used generators fueled by gasoline.

We buy items over the Internet that are shipped by planes and trucks.

Most of our produce comes from the Central Valley of California. That's a long trip to Ohio. Some shipping may be done by trains.

Our clothing, electronics, and some food are produced outside the U.S. and transported here probably with fossil-fuels.

It's hilarious when person whines about global warming by posting to a social media service with a smartphone. How much energy went into the creation and transportation of that phone? How much energy is used to charge the phone?

Think of all the massive data centers that have been built in the U.S. over the past 10 to 20 years to support our Internet lifestyle. Large swaths of land were developed. That's a loss of greenspace. These centers may use some green energy, but I bet some fossil fuel-based energy is used also.

Using the Internet, playing video games, watching TV, etc. destroys the planet because our high standard of living contributes to global warming.

It's a global economy. The manufacture and shipping of our purchased goods consume fossil fuels.

Plastic. We use a lot of plastic. How much of our plastic is derived from oil?

Coffee. A lot of habitat has been destroyed in coffee-growing areas to meet the world demand for this beverage. If you are not drinking certified shade-grown coffee, then you are contributing to the destruction of the environment.

Coffee is grown outside the 48 U.S. states, so it has to be shipped here.

We talk a big game about climate change and "doing something" but we are not going to reduce our standard of living in a drastic manner. Buying energy-saving light-bulbs is not enough. How about using NO energy at all? Try that for a month.

Grow our own food. Make our own clothing. All year. If we lived like the early 19th century, that would help the planet. That would be doing something real. But who is leading that charge?

A lot of hot air talk exists, regarding global warming, but no drastic lifestyle changes occur. The talk is pointless.

Over the past few hundred years, humans have dramatically changed the planet in both good and bad ways, and we will continue to do so into the future.

We can do nothing about global warming, so the subject should be ignored. Well, the alarmists and the ideologues deserve to be mocked.

Spend time with family and friends, work hard, observe "nature", help people in your community, and enjoy life.

#climate - #book - #humor