M14 Shooter

Sky News - 'Five Years Left To Save The Planet'

And they say Bush & Co are 'fearmongers'...

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ashurbanipal

This report is so ridiculous--it's already too late. It was discovered in 2005 that the methane trapped under the Taiga is escaping thanks to an increasingly warm climate. That's enough of a positive feedback mechanism to get runaway global warming (a la James Lovelock). There is also evidence that the methane hydrates along the eastern seaboard of the United States are melting--another positive feedback mechanism that is impossible to stop.

By 2050, life will only be sustainable at the poles. It's happened on this planet before, and it's going to happen again, way faster than anyone thinks possible.

Kandahar

Umm it's not "fearmongering" if there is some basis for the claim. I don't think we can know for sure whether this assessment is correct, but it's certainly not outside the realm of possibility.

The thing is, there's really not much we can do in the next five years, even if this is true. We can get started on some necessary changes, but we can't dramatically change our lifestyle in that length of time.

We need a $2 per gallon gasoline tax, phased in at ten cents per month. We need stricter emissions requirements on vehicles. We need the US government to announce that it will only buy hybrid land vehicles (excluding tanks) by 2015 or so. We need to focus on nuclear power and get as many new nuclear power plants online as soon as possible. And we need for the US government to implement some kind of reward system for those who develop things like hydrogen fuel cells, or those who manufacture the most efficient automobiles, so that there is more of an incentive to innovate.

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Travelsonic

Regardless of any evidence to support the idea that certain changes are going to/are occuring in a certain way, 'Five Years Left To Save The Planet' is certainly alarmist to boot.

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mikhail

big business can reduce carbon emissions there is methods to make them do this however

how is the public suppose to believe in it truly

the y2k bug
bird flu
global cooling
small pox attacks
particle accelarators creating black holes
bees getting wiped out
the rapture
the illuminatti


The list goes on why should people be bothered when they have been told all kinds of end of world suggestions that havent come true.I believe in global warming i believe it judged on "experts" and my own understanding though i dont believe most people understand global warming deeply as its a much more complex issue than expressed in al gores inconvinent truth.

If this turn out to be bull**** it will totally shatter the publics view of experts scientists and governments.

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ashurbanipal

And that's a big secondary problem, really. See below:

the y2k bug--caused some issues and would have caused more had an army of programmers not worked on it for four years leading up to Y2k.

bird flu Who said that bird flu was something that was supposed to have already been an "end of the world" affair? No one that I know. It's still coming, though.

global cooling Never reported on accurately in the press, but still a concern for some areas.

small pox attacks Still possible, but unlikely. Then again, I'm not aware of any scientists saying it is a very likely scenario.

particle accelarators creating black holes This was someone's alarmist B.S. No credible organization ever issued a warning about this at all. It was some internet hoax bit.

bees getting wiped out That is happening as we speak. It will affect food prices this summer, and indeed already has in some cases.

the rapture Complete B.S. based on a misreading of a book written about 1800 years ago. Hardly on the same level as any of the above.

the illuminatti No comment.

Well, that really is the issue. People are too dumb (apparently) to effectively evaluate sources and claims for accuracy and credibility. It's kind of heartbreaking.

Inconvenient Truth was dumbed-down so people could understand it without having to understand a lot of technical information. Gore's claims were therefore simplified, but not over-simplified.

Travelsonic

Isn't it happening to domesticated honeybess in the U.S?

It is still a concern, but it would be moreso if every species (IIRC, 90+ in U.S alone) was being affected. I doubt it is that severe, but still a problem nonetheless. Hopefully we as a whole are smart enough to deal with the pesticide suspect first of all, then work from there to see and resolve other problems.

StrawHat

Anyone saying "we have 5 years to save the planet" probably doesn't know what they're talking about. The science is not nearly precise enough to give a marker like that. If they said "we need to do something soon", then yea, I could buy that.

Red_Dave

Do you think James Lovelock is a credible source? Alot of the scientific community dont, even those who belive we,re effecting global warming. Remember he has an insentive to be hysterical/exagerate because that will sell more books.

ashurbanipal

It is. It is also happening in Europe and IIRC Australia. Haven't heard from anyone else yet.

The issue is that we've bred the honeybee beyond it's normal extent and for so many years that other species have been marginalized. I've got a pretty big garden (1/4 acre) and I can already tell a huge difference this year. I still see some bumblebees, but the normal polinators, the honeybees, just aren't there, and nothing is coming in to fill the gap.

Britain's beekeeping associations are currently pressuring Downing Street to admit that CCD is happening there, but the official stance seems to be that there's no evidence for it (despite reams of evidence from the people who actually keep the bees). It's been reported also in Spain, France, and Italy, though it appears so far that Eastern Europe isn't affected.

One spot of good news is that apparently organically maintained honeybee hives are largely unaffected, and if so, by switching to organic methods, we will have a way to escape this problem. But there is no short term solution. Almonds, figs, plums, and other such crops will probably end up being very expensive in the short term unless government steps in to subsidize or something.