WeComeInPeace said:
@Zak Gordon
Most people on this planet live close to the sea. 80% live less than 100 km (60 miles) from a coast.
Regarding simple models: I honestly thought that those were necessary to make people wake up and understand. Now I'm slowly realizing that people are already awake and scared, so doing/showing them simple models just make it harder for them to look away and (not) talk about the weather. You can do that to anyone to a certain degree before they snap. It's like constantly being reminded of your mortality. Even though it's an important part of anyone's life, most people hate thinking and talking about it. I guess a potential extinction of Homo Sapiens pushes the same buttons.
Yes, our (humans) mostly living so close to the coast is one of the reasons i post as many of the studies and topics that deal with sea level rises. Decades ago my mother told me to never buy property near the sea, as in the future it would become valueless (due to our acceleration of sea level rises), and i think we're about a few decades away now of that being proven correct for many people!
In terms of graphs i'm all for them
The point i was making (and failing at it seems) is that it is VERY EASY to become interested in the topic of AGW, then study it at an academic level and then using that process end up in a position where you find you can see no future (say beyond the next 300-400 years) for humanity as a whole.
Personally that is not (totally) why I became interested in the topics of this thread and why i want to give them greater public viewing etc. Partially it might be down to personality types ( I am an optimist in general) but i am also someone that has had the good fortune to be able to spend time traveling the world and living with many different peoples (often what we would call 'primitive' , but i learned to understand as often the most wise and best of humanity), and from that got to understand the amazing range of the natural world and the ability of people to live 'with it' (out of respect and care) rather than 'against it' (for greed and profit). So while we can study in detail various aspects of the problems around AGW, it is such a complex subject (as the totality of the natural world and the web of life we have on this amazing planet) that it can maybe be a form of our own arrogance that we think we understand everything.
Absolutely 100% of the vast majority of people today whose 'normal' life choices have all contributed to AGW (from the Stock Market seller to the White Diesel Van driver, and very much the top richest people (and families) that have shaped that structure) are going to have a very 'hard landing' when the real effects of AGW start to hit. Much of that shock is already lined up and can not be avoided as we have already put it into the natural systems (our very high CO2 levels etc), so yes in that i'm 100% with you on the Human Race is going to have a hard time and soon (TM)
I stop at being able to conclude we are all doomed though, i just don't think that takes into account natures own ability to absorb and adjust in surprising ways or humanities own abilities to adapt and change. The only thing i can conclude is if we don't change how we run the world soon (maybe the next 50 years in particular) then we may well hit numerous hidden tipping points in the natural worlds systems (from run-away permafrost melts (releasing more CO2) to the Atlantic Conveyor flipping 'off' and most of the modern western world becoming 'Arctic' etc) that would make any kind of recognizable world of modern mankind unlikely. So while i see great cause for concern, and a great need for all of us to understand just 'how on the brink' we really are, i don't think we are beyond saving (as a species) or beyond redemption (as people). We still have the opportunity to have a future in short.
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Anyway another attempt to clean up some of that plastic island in the pacific is underway:
'Great Pacific garbage patch: giant plastic trap put to sea again':
Floating boom is designed to trap 1.8tn items of plastic without harming marine life – but broke apart last time
www.theguardian.com
We need more actions like this imho, across the whole range of AGW and environmental concerns.