Climate change: the longer we wait to act, the more severe the costs.

[Direckshun]

It's really time for the excuses to end. There are a hundred arguments you could make against climate change:

Originally Posted by Direckshun

There's no way human activity can alter the climate.

And even if it can, there's no way it can alter it by that much.

And even if it could, there's nothing alarming about it.

And even if there was, there's nothing we can do about it.

And even if there is, it wouldn't do much.

And even if it did, it would cause too much economic collateral damage / be ineffectually implemented / inexcusably rob us of freedom to pursue.

Therefore, I am opposed to climate change legislation.

The science has shot down every one of these arguments, save the last one which is a political argument.

To that political argument, ask yourself one question:

Do you think, in our current trajectory of global greenhouse gasses, that whether it be 10 years, 20 years, or 50 years, is unsustainable and damaging to our ability to exist on this planet as we currently do?

If you do, than you really have no choice. We must act now to stave off having to suffer drastic solutions later.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...9010HU20130103

Cost of combating climate change surges as world delays: study
By Environment Correspondent Alister Doyle
OSLO | Thu Jan 3, 2013 7:15am EST

An agreement by almost 200 nations to curb rising greenhouse gas emissions from 2020 will be far more costly than taking action now to tackle climate change, according to research published on Wednesday.

Quick measures to cut emissions would give a far better chance of keeping global warming within an agreed U.N. limit of 2 degrees Celsius (3.6F) above pre-industrial times to avert more floods, heatwaves, droughts and rising sea levels.

"If you delay action by 10, 20 years you significantly reduce the chances of meeting the 2 degree target," said Keywan Riahi, one of the authors of the report at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Austria.

"It was generally known that costs increase when you delay action. It was not clear how quickly they change," he told Reuters of the findings in the science journal Nature based on 500 computer-generated scenarios.

It said the timing of cuts in greenhouse gases was more important than other uncertainties - about things like how the climate system works, future energy demand, carbon prices or new energy technologies.

The study indicated that an immediate global price of $30 a metric ton on emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the main greenhouse gas, would give a roughly 60 percent chance of limiting warming to below 2C.

Wait until 2020 and the carbon price would have to be around $100 a metric ton to retain that 60 percent chance, Riahi told Reuters of the study made with other experts in Switzerland, New Zealand, Australia and Germany.

And a delay of action until 2030 might put the 2C limit - which some of the more pessimistic scientists say is already unattainable - completely out of reach, whatever the carbon price.

"The window for effective action on climate change is closing quickly," wrote Steve Hatfield-Dodds of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in Australia in a separate commentary in Nature.

Governments agreed to the 2C limit in 2010, viewing it as a threshold to avert dangerous climate change. Temperatures have already risen by 0.8 degree C (1.4F) since wide use of fossil fuels began 200 years ago.

ECONOMIC SLOWDOWN

After the failure of a 2009 summit in Copenhagen to agree a worldwide accord, almost 200 nations have given themselves until 2015 to work out a global deal to cut greenhouse gas emissions that will enter into force in 2020.

Amid an economic slowdown, many countries at the last U.N. meeting on climate change in Qatar in December expressed reluctance to make quick shifts away from fossil fuels towards cleaner energies such as wind or solar power.

Each U.S. citizen, for instance, emits about 20 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year. There is no global price on carbon, only regional markets - in a European Union trading system, for instance, where industrial emitters must pay off they exceed their CO2 quotas, 2013 prices are about 6.7 euros ($8.83) a metric ton.

The report also showed that greener policies, such as more efficient public transport or better-insulated buildings, would raise the chances of meeting the 2C goal.

And fighting climate change would be easier with certain new technologies, such as capturing and burying carbon emissions from power plants and factories. In some scenarios, the 2C goal could not be met unless carbon capture was adopted.

($1 = 0.7585 euros)

(Scientist corrects carbon price to $30 a tonne from $20 in paragraph 6)

[KILLER_CLOWN]

This bullshit again?

Corrects carbon price? wtf?

Shits worthless.

[blaise]

So, have you stopped driving your car?

[KILLER_CLOWN]

Originally Posted by blaise

So, have you stopped driving your car?

:No just say a prayer to St. Al of the Gore and all will be better.

[CoMoChief]

These big oil companies go out and pay these scientists to basically lie about the climate exchange and global warming...meanwhile Obama and these democrats are shutting down coal plants all across the country and it's driving up energy costs, meanwhile these fat cat crooks like Al Gore are HUGE share holders in occidental potroleum (some of the biggest competitors to coal) and they want the American people to pay them money via carbon taxes. It's a giant ****ing scam.

[mlyonsd]

You champion a president that is digging the deepest debt hole in the history of mankind and you're worrying about this saying there are no excuses?

[Direckshun]

Originally Posted by mlyonsd

You champion a president that is digging the deepest debt hole in the history of mankind and you're worrying about this saying there are no excuses?

Do you think, in our current trajectory of global greenhouse gasses, that whether it be 10 years, 20 years, or 50 years, is unsustainable and damaging to our ability to exist on this planet as we currently do?

[Prison Bitch]

Is there any aspect of daily life that Liberals don't want to completely take over and Federalize? Do they have anything in their lives worth living for outside of controlling others? Any hobbies....interests, pursuits....jobs? Anything that interests them?

[Brock]

"Fix it"="Make every product under the sun more expensive"

No thanks.

[blaise]

Originally Posted by Brock

"Fix it"="Make every product under the sun more expensive"

No thanks.

"Someone else needs to fix everything. Until then I'll just keep driving around, heating and cooling my home, using resources, but recycling a little to make myself feel better."

[mlyonsd]

Originally Posted by Direckshun

Do you think, in our current trajectory of global greenhouse gasses, that whether it be 10 years, 20 years, or 50 years, is unsustainable and damaging to our ability to exist on this planet as we currently do?

I have no idea. And neither does anyone else.

To sacrifice our own economy at this moment in time is nothing short of asinine.

[Direckshun]

Originally Posted by mlyonsd

I have no idea. And neither does anyone else.

Really? Climatologists, scientists... have no idea?

[frazod]

Why don't you get a job, one who sucks the penis, then you could help pay for it.

[blaise]

Originally Posted by Direckshun

Really? Climatologists, scientists... have no idea?

Have you drastically changed your life due to this news?

[petegz28]

Climate change. Happens every year. Bank on it!