There's no doubt that climate change is here, and accelerating, and that it will have a big (and negative) impact on future generations. Sea level rise will cause the mass migration of millions (and a fair number of deaths.) Precipitation changes will increase flooding in some areas and reduce rain in other areas. Warming will increase droughts and wildfires. We will see mass extinctions, as we have every time we've had a rapid climate shift in the past.
However, there are many things it is _not_. It does not mean the extinction of Mankind. It does not mean the end of life as we know it. It does not mean that most of the US (or even most of Florida) will be underwater by 2100. And the world will not end in 12 years.
Climate change will not "force habitat construction upon us" in a way akin to "Noah's Ark." We will not reach an "extinction threshold." We will not see all the forests die. Such breathless predictions, although generally offered with the agenda of combating climate change denial, will tend to have the opposite effect - by predicting futures that never occur.
While I agree with the main message, that being that Climate change is real, I disagree with overly optimistic predictions you are suggesting.
Before responding in any detail to your excellent thread topic I wanted to share a recent article by our National broadcaster the ABC.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01...l-warming-six-groups-rebecca-huntley/11893384
In the article the author attempts to explain what is perceived as 6 groups of current opinion on the subject of climate change and based on surveys (?) the percentages of population to each of these groups.
below is an image file taken from that article and is pretty much self explanatory. ( it relates to the USA population only (?) )
Limitations:
As with all surveys published by vested interest groups one has to assume a certain amount of embellishment and confirmation bias may be present.
Note also that the population involved in the survey is 18yo+ and only a mere 1303 data points and probably conducted by way of online participation.
Given the small numbers and no reference to location (other than Americans) the survey only serves to create an impression of opinions, more than any objectively real reality IMO.
The reason I posted the above:
I have stated or implied in other threads that in my personal opinion, Human nature as it is today, will ensure that NO meaningful reduction in CO2 output will occur until the situation becomes a life or death one. The consequences of global warming have to be imminent and as such it will be way to late to do anything once those consequences are experienced by those who are responsible for managing our global CO2 output.
Example: The recent unprecedented catastrophic wild fires in Australia released a massive amount of CO2 into the atmosphere. 10million hectares that due to drought or low water will probably not grow back any time soon. Thus the net CO2 gain to the atmosphere will not be properly re-sequestered by new growth. With further wild fires predicted basically until there simply isn't anything left to burn.
I posted the above survey and article to highlight this point.
The Noah's Ark analogy is quite appropriate IMO
Evidence of a lost cause:
Currently Australia is opening it's largest Coal mine ( Adani ) to supply India and Bangladesh with coal for their rapid development of coal fired power stations. Numerous new developments are under construction in both these nations and Adani coal is only a part of it.
Suffice to say that there is ample evidence that Human demand for energy via coal and natural gas is increasing and is currently being filled by further development of the fossil fuel industry.
Reductions in CO2 will not occur in fact quite the opposite is most likely. IMO
Therefore one can surmise that by the time we humans decide to stop producing CO2 in such vast amounts our fate as a race will be sealed.
That this planet may very well become uninhabitable for
any animal with out the protection of artificial sustainable habitats whether subterranean, on the surface or under the oceans...or even in orbit...
Our Human nature will force us to sleep walk in to the nightmare our lack of vision has created.
