Susan Blackmore contracts apocalyptic fever

Somebody check that the moon hasn't gone blood-red because I find myself agreeing with Rolfe!
 
We've altered our environments lots of time. You can't protect against everything, or change everything, but it's worth a shot to do what you can.
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Then bring back aerosol deodorant. That should cool things off. None of this matters anyway. An asteroid (433 Eros) is going to slam into us. It could be as soon as 2012. So live it up.
 
The Painter said:
The point is; science changes. What was considered reliable science 30, 40 or 50 years ago is now known to be wrong. What will science say in 20 or 30 years? Global warming was a crock? Maybe. Who knows what the big picture has in store for us. Maybe it’s our purpose to change the environment to a point where we become extinct. Then a higher life form may evolve. Maybe humans are just a stepping stone in the evolution of life on Earth. Polluting and melting the ice caps might be exactly what we are supposed to do. Nobody knows.
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Well that higher life form can go f*** itself as far as I am concerned. *We* are alive now, and I, for one, would greatly prefer to keep it that way.
And as for us being supposed to screw up on such an epic level - you´d have to show me exactly who decided where and when that this is so. Then I might consider believing you.
I don´t give a wet fart about big pictures and higher plans and whatnot. I *do*, however, give a damn about the survival of humanity, as numerous as feasible, on as high a level of civilization as feasible, for as long as possible. If you don´t, well... then I advise you to move to the Maledives as soon as possible - and *not* learn how to swim.
 
Hoo boy. An interesting thread is started, and before the first page has even scrolled off, the ad homs begin.

I'll have to go back and do a little digging, but there were ways proposed back in the 1970's to deal with the desertization of Northern Africa, primarily through the planting of scrub pine native to the region. When tried, the results were spectacularly successful, and it was encouraged by what stable governments there were. Unfortunately, it was the lack of stability within that region that has undercut those efforts.

As to other sources of global warming, the simpler solutions proposed have tended to be the most successful. Decent public transit would solve a lot of problems. Decentralization of businesses would also help. (I think JJ and I might have mentioned this to one another, but I don't remember when or in what context.) Simple stuff. Alternative fuels like biodiesel are helpful, but they're a ways off, if I'm any judge of the technical stuff I'm reading.

Murray Gell-Mann at TAM IV was correct. We need to take action. There will come a time when it will be too late. And while I'm not grooving on the near-woo terminology of Ms. Blackmore, I DO think she has made some valid points. Hopefully, it won't be anywhere near as dire as she's predicting, but the way to prevent that from happening is to act in a responsible manner and deal with the dangers before it becomes a crisis.
 
Well that higher life form can go f*** itself as far as I am concerned. *We* are alive now, and I, for one, would greatly prefer to keep it that way.
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Wow, that’s exactly what the dinosaurs were thinking.
 
T'ai Chi said:
I enter in anywhere, anytime in a thread that has already admittingly "brokendonw", I am to blame. I see.

Bear in mind that that illogic only works in jj-land it seems.
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Is there a reason you lie about my position?
 
The Painter said:
I remember back in the 70’s, global cooling was a really big issue. We were heading into another ice age if we didn’t fix the environment. What happened to that? Did we fix it too good? Now it’s global warming. Who keeps screwing with the thermostat?
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Perhaps you should check into changes (now going both ways, I think) in particulate emission vs. CO2, and see what comes of that.
 
The Painter said:
The point is; science changes. What was considered reliable science 30, 40 or 50 years ago is now known to be wrong. What will science say in 20 or 30 years? Global warming was a crock? Maybe. Who knows what the big picture has in store for us. Maybe it’s our purpose to change the environment to a point where we become extinct. Then a higher life form may evolve. Maybe humans are just a stepping stone in the evolution of life on Earth. Polluting and melting the ice caps might be exactly what we are supposed to do. Nobody knows.
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Ah, yes, a deconstructionist or a nihilist, which are you?

In any case, despite the babbling, the measurements are clear these days, temperature is rising. The only debate is why.

But we'd better deal with the rising temperatures anyhow. That's the reality. You would have us all stand by idly and be victims. Is there some reason for this? Do you want the human race to be victims?
 
Jeff Corey said:
Me too. I forget what it was supposed to be triggered by, but there was a spate of SF stories about the new Ice Age. Now what do we get.
Waterworld.
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Look up the "Atlantic Conveyor". No evidence it's wrong, yet.
 
SteveGrenard said:
When someone asks a leading question and ends it in "right?" it makes
one wonder why they asked the question. Thank you for your response.
I actually didn't think anything which I why I asked you about it.
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You thought something. Too bad it didn't stick.
 
The Painter said:
Wow, that’s exactly what the dinosaurs were thinking.
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The dinosaurs weren´t sentient. They couldn´t see it coming, and they couldn´t fight it. We *can* see it coming, and we *can* fight it - and suggestions like yours that we should just bend over and take it, for the sake of whoever or whatever comes after us, amounts to nothing better than suggested genocide, as far as I am concerned.
 
We *can* see it coming, and we *can* fight it
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We can fight an asteroid? Isn’t the accepted theory, that an asteroid killed the dinosaurs? I think this theory replaced the “they farted themselves to death” theory.
 
The Painter said:
We can fight an asteroid? Isn’t the accepted theory, that an asteroid killed the dinosaurs? I think this theory replaced the “they farted themselves to death” theory.
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The point is that we can spot the asteroid AND do something to prevent it from hitting us.
 
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