Global Warming: Who is guilty?

What if we stop pointing the finger at people, governments or nations and just accept the fact that we cannot control nature?

Science and technology has advanced exponentially during the past century.  Even with those advances under our belts, there's nothing we can do once nature turns.  Earth is 4.5 billion years old.  Dinosaurs dominated this planet for much longer than we have, so far.

Truth is, we're nothing but a mosquito on Earth's skin.  And it'll swat us if it feels us sting.  And that's all there is to it.  It's a cycle.  There have been many instances of global warming before.  There have also been many instances of ice ages and polar shifts.  There have also been many instances of bombardment by asteroids and meteors.  There have also been many instances of giant volcanic erruptions.  There have been numerous natural disasters and phenomena that we don't even know about.

So what?  People keep complaining about emissions and what not.  If everyone really wants to minimize the effects thought to be caused by the industrial age, then why doesn't everyone stop using electricity?  Why doesn't everyone stop using cars?  Why doesn't everyone stop complaining and just do what needs to be done?

You can't have your cake and eat it too.  That's the expression.  But in this case, it seems that we already have our cake, and yet, we still want 2 other cakes.

Quid pro quo doesn't just apply to situations between people.

Your gentle and emotional reply makes me let more time to think over what you've said. As a matter of fact, I don't accuse anyone of guiltiness. However, at the bottom of my heart a growing sense of anxiety has left me exhausted. Every thing has its cause and consequence. There is not an effect without cause.All of media of communication around me determine that the level sea becomes higher, so your persuative reasons couldn't interrupt my anxiety about the climate change, an important factor of our globe today.As you know,we have just built a wall of stone to keep the sea away from our land, so the flood didn't overflow our village after the attack of the typhoon which caused a lot of damage in our district.It reminds me of the image of a cameraman who was swept away by tidal waves and disapeared in a second on the Thailand beach that one of my classmate would decide to go for holiday after a lot of difficult days to do research in Laos.I have seen my professors and my friends from the third floor, fled to the exit after achieving their operation in the room where all things have dropped on the ground after a gentle movement of earthquake of 5 ritchters. and in my dizzeness,they took me to escape from the emergency exit. All of us couldn't forget the recent natural disaster has killed thousands of people in India.Last night, the TV speaker reported a United Nations conference was held with an alert about global warming.Scientists announced it was a major social importance, particularly for the young people.Actually, we don't dare to use spray for hair, though it is a kind of comestics to give our hair an appearance fashionable like Korean actor in order to decrease the damage of ozone layer. Our country has a great speed of developing ,thus we should make a plan for durability by controling smoke, toxic substance, poisonous waste to protect the environment.People predict in 2035, the temperature of our globe will increase more than 20 degrees Celcius. Our way of development should  pay greater attention to serious air pollution which is caused by carbon dioxide emissions from industrial plants such as coal burning, power stations and the increasing number of vehicles.Flood, earthquakes, typhoon, all of them occur in a rapid sequence didn't killed us a lot but they caused a great damage and frightened us.

Greetings

I really believe that the reality of global warming and its impact on our respective living environments is now more than crucial.  It has gone much farther than "damage control" and certainly beyond repair.  As foretold by my biology teacher (he was actually quoting the results of two scientifists -different sources- back in 1975 or 6 (news worthy events) when I was in my 11th or 12th grade [yes, I'm older] They said that if nothing was immediately done to change our lifestyle habits, by the year 2000 the damage done to the earth would be unreparable.  I was shocked and absorbed all that he said at that moment.

This teacher was well respected.  In the three years he taught me, it was the only time that he digressed from his subject matter.  He was a very serious teacher.  Extremely well organized both in classroom management and course content. I believed him.  Does that give the information he related to us then valid?  To me it did.

There are a number of notions that must be grasped in order to get a "sense" of what  "global warming" entails, and a whole lot of dedication to change one's outlook and lifestyle to deal with it.

I offer two links.  One is an article published today in the Toronto Star, Canada: http://www.thestar.com/News/article/203463. I have been to the Arctic, but always in summer.  I strongly encourage anyone who seeks adventure to include a visit to the Arctic.  It is  an  a b s o l u t e l y  extraordinary experience.  I became aware recently, that I experienced the ice dessert before its disappearance, and the disappearance of the polar bear of which I saw many when up there!  Of course, if your daily life is filled with ashphalt, bricks and mortar... it could be shocking.  When up there, it was common to hear stories of people who never even got off the plane: the place was too much for them.  I met  the Girl Guides of Canada's president in Pangnirtung in 1987 (include this place as a stop over - world class scenery) from Toronto where she was heading in a couple of days.  In a few sentences, she was telling me that it was only because she knew that she was going back home in a couple of days that she could complete her "stay" there: her two week visit across the Cnadian Arctic communities was a "little" too much for her, which included the environnement.  When I met her in May- ish, it was still minus twenty Celcius during the lengthening days.

Now to better understand the implications of what is said in the article about "thin ice", I will say this.  Sea water (salt water) requires a lower temperature to freeze. In "Arctic Dreams", Barry Lopez does an impressive job of describing sea ice formation (a must easy-read for environmental biology lovers, almost poetic).  Soft water is said to freeze at close to 0 degrees Celcius (32F).  Salt water also takes longer to solidify.  It has to be cold to freeze, colder even to solidify, and extremely cold to thicken!

When I went for my first walk on sea ice in early June in Pangnirtung, Nunavut, Canada, I was scared.  Pangnirtung settlement is 20 miles short of the Arctic Circle at 66 degrees 30 minutes north!  That was emotianal, because the Inuit said I had no worries as the ice was very thick. You can't see that from the surface. Ski-doos were crossing as I was out walking.  I eventually got over my fear, somewhat, as I walked along.  The ice broke that summer on July 13th.  Ice does not melt, it breaks due to tide, currents, winds, and higher temperaure. Down south, many are swimming in early June!

Later in July, as I was walking through the "ice scultures" on the sea bottom during low tide (water recedes away from its highest point as tide goes down leaving a muddy walking surface - Pang has a very long tide difference leaving lots of room for walking), I estimated the thickness of these ice blocks to be as high as eight feet (8 x 12 x 2.5 = measurements in metric).  Some were only three feet.  Here "in the south", ice is said to be completely safe to walk on at 1 inch thick (2.25 cm); at three inches you can drive a 4x4 half ton truck on it. Later even, the ice leaves with the currents.  It did not melt away.  It left the area.

So when an Inuit elder choses not to go out on sea ice in mid-winter because the ice has become to dangerously thin, unpredictable, then there is a problem (see article #1).  How does one explain, render the true sense of "experience"?  That experience was related by Inuit when I was in Quaqtaq, Québec in 2001.  Local people talked about the "radically" changing climate.  This community is on the outside of the western point of Ungava Bay, at the 61st parallel.

The second item is  the INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/02_02_07_climatereport.pdf .  This is a summary of what scientists from various countries have put together.  The information is in a concise text to help policy makers decide on what steps to take to "adress" the problem.  It is dated February, 2007.

I will undrline this highlighted text taken from the aforementioned document:

"Changes in the atmospheric abundance of greenhouse gases and aerosols, in solar radiation and in land
surface properties alter the energy balance of the climate system. These changes are expressed in terms of
radiative forcing2, which is used to compare how a range of human and natural factors drive warming or
cooling influences on global climate. Since the Third Assessment Report (TAR), new observations and
related modelling of greenhouse gases, solar activity, land surface properties and some aspects of aerosols
have led to improvements in the quantitative estimates of radiative forcing."

This, then, includes "solar" influences on earth's surface temperatures.  So the chap who sites an article stating that increased solar activity causes increased earth temperature is right.  But it is not the only item.  The text goes on with:

"Global atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide have increased
markedly as a result of human activities since 1750 and now far exceed pre-industrial values
determined from ice cores spanning many thousands of years (see Figure SPM-1). The global
increases in carbon dioxide concentration are due primarily to fossil fuel use and land-use change,
while those of methane and nitrous oxide are primarily due to agriculture."

Folks, think about it, China and India have a third of the worlds population!  As they seek to improve their living conditions, so rises the pollution level.  It is alarming!  Please note that this no way excuses or denies anyone elses use and abuse of the earth's "matter".  In the "Blue Planet", a documentary made in the mid-late 90s,  stated that ONE American produces the equivalent of "250" Indians in garbage every year.  And Canadians are not much different: where to put OUR garbage is a constant headache that comes up in our nation's newspaper regularly. As the issues of recycling and, happily now, composting (only in very few cities actually) are also part of daily considerations.  You may say that "dumps" don't affect the air... but it is a means of perceiving in a physical way what's left after "consuming"  products.  The problem with the air is that it is not so easily "seen".

We, people of the earth, are responsible.  That wise young Chinese-Canadian said to me, long ago, "My grand-father said that when you point your finger at someone else, there are three pointing at you!".  The citizen in his consumption which translates into industry production, his interventions in the community and towards its various governement (local, regional, country), the industry in its continuous research into fabricating products in a "environmently efficient" way, using a responsible approach towards land, water, and air, and the governement to insure that the industry and the citizen are indeed reusing, reducing,and recycling (the 3R's of environmental friendliness).

You may witness my idealism when I say, "Let's just accept it, not because of "fear", but because we understand the need to thread lightly as we walk our way through life so that we live well, but not abusively.

Thank you for reading these comments.

Everybody.

Me too.

I smoke.

Alexa