What can be done to adapt to global climate change?
Al Gore has his question up on the board that assumes we can reverse the effects of global climate change. I sincerely hope we can turn things around. But so much lifestyle change is required that I think climate change will overtake us before we can make an impact. So lets imagine that more coastal cities around the world get drowned by walls of water, and more inland places basically get parched. Add to that the possible global cooling if the gulf stream gets shut down by the increased rate of melting ice caps. Possible proposals for human adaptation: GM modified crops, more efficient transportation of needed supplies (and communication of where such support is needed), communal societies. ..
Global warming doesn’t simply mean that your back yard will get warmer. I came across an article in a TIME magazine from earlier this year how rapidly the arctic ice cap is receding. The question isn’t whether global warming is happening – if there’s any question, it’s whether we’re contributing to it or not. I’m sold on the answer that we are. I’m not sold that we can do something about it, but we should try. (Basically translate that as kicking the oil addiction – it’s giving us headaches besides the unquantifiable environmental impact)
There’s been a lot posted to this board that doesn’t answer my original question. A number of posts here have been trying to answer different questions (like ‘Is Global Warming real?’ and ‘How can we conserve energy’, and ‘What can we do to stop and reverse the effects of global climate change’.)
To restate the assumption behind my question – things are happening. Assume more things are going to happen. We aren’t going to like them. If we are to survive cities being flooded / turned into swamps, droughts etc, then we need to be prepared. I think focus would necessarily switch back to basics – simply obtaining food will become a day’s work!
And here’s the question in brief: How can we prepare for the changes and adapt to them when they happen? Can we retain some semblance of economy, government and infrastructure?
I’d love to answer his question, but I can’t seem to ask Yahoo’s search engine the right question. If someone knows how to get my answer to him please cut & paste my answer.
Since no one seems willing to live at a much lower life style than fossil fuels allow, we have to change the economics of Renewable Energy. I’ve written to both governments that are going to be required to facilitate changing the economics of a replacement energy resource. Their replies have simply been to say they have done exactly what I wrote was in adequate. Their actions did nothing more than guaranty that the cost of energy will rise dramatically.
With possibly the start of the space program the government was made aware of the need of energy to support our life style. Governments were aware of need for energy to be economically viable. With the space part of energy the economics were the cost of transporting energy source/generators.
They saw the need for a replacement of fossil fuel because the supply dwindling. The government obviously realized that the economics of Renewable Energy wasn’t directly economically viable at the power grid level. Combining the economics, need, and people’s love for the utilities, they advanced the backyard collectors of energy. They hoped the ones that could afford to pay for their energy bill 30 years in advance would subsidize the energy needs of the rest.
My solution starts out with the presumption the energy utilities are both intelligent & self-serving. (Self-serving is a positive in this discussion.) If the solution to the energy crisis on the horizon that the environmentalists say of Renewable Energy & The Hydrogen Economy is directly economically viable why is it the exception? After the energy crisis in California one would expect the new power plants to be Renewable Energy based. The new power plants were natural gas based. These new power plants will have to be fully depreciated before they are replaced.
The economics of Renewable Energy & The Hydrogen Economy appear to be the reason. The “Fuel” of solar & wind technology are free, but the cost of the infrastructure isn’t. For at least solar, the engineers are trying to use less of the solar cells because of their cost. The cost of solar cells is directly related the cost of energy used to purify & crystallize the cell.
Volume of energy consumption follows population densely. To help get the quantity of Renewable Energy required to keep the economy supplied with energy the government initiated a rebate program. The individuals that were in remote areas quickly made use of the rebates. If one combines the cost of bringing the power grid with the rebate to them made the up front cost of Renewable Energy infrastructure almost awash. In the area that was already served by the power grid even with the rebates didn’t adequately change the economics for those that could afford to pay for their energy bill 30 years in advance. These people are looking for a return on their investment not a return of their investment. With time value of money for the ones that could afford it were even less likely to invest in Renewable Energy. The government appears to feel that the Renewable Energy can’t create sellable spin-off benefits by design; that is why they went after encouraging backyard solar collectors.
The energy cost of isolation of hydrogen conforms to the laws of thermodynamics. The wire-to-wire efficiency is only 40%, or another way to look at it is return of investment. This 40% doesn’t include the energy required to store the hydrogen either by compression or liquefaction. I’ve been told compression consumes up to 12% while liquefaction requires 40% of the energy of hydrogen.
Hydrogen like electricity isn’t a source of energy, but a conveyor of energy. The source of energy to isolate hydrogen has to come from somewhere. Hydrogen isn’t naturally available. The volatility of hydrogen is a double edge sword. It is what makes it a courier of energy, but also the reason it isn’t in its isolated form normally.
This paper may appear that it is throwing in the towel with Renewable Energy. This solution to make Renewable Energy economically viable is based on changing the value of land to subsidize the cost of infrastructure. Mulholland may have had the technology to bring water to Los Angeles. The documentary The Cadillac Desert hints at the way to pay for infrastructure. The movie implies the taxing the areas land paid the bill for bring the water to Los Angeles. This is only ½ right. The head of the chamber of commerce, Frank P. Wiggins, marketed Los Angeles worldwide. By populating the area he upped the quantity of water that would be consumed and increased the value of land. The increase value of land increased the tax collected. Renewable Energy infrastructure is so expensive that taxes collected will not be enough to adequately subsidize to cost alone. To keep our energy bill from skyrocketing sellable spin-off benefits have to be designed in. The utility has to participate in the increase land value that its design/vision creates. No new technology is being offered, but if it does come, its not precluded!
The government has a place in the solution. Being an authority figures they need to indicate the need is real & that they believe that a return on investment is possible & they back it. By having a lively debate with press coverage they do many valuable services, acknowledge the need is real, the due diligence for the investors & advertise the solution. The solution will need both the investors and the businesses to locate in the area to change property values. This place also includes investing/donating the land in the right area.
According to environmentalist 5% of continental USA would be required to supply our energy needs. The amount of land I’m asking the governments to donate is large, yet it is much less than 5%.
The change over will not be a flip of the switch. The .com era showed the problem to of building capacity too fast. Expensive infrastructure requires paying customers at an intense level. The .com caused the bankrupting of Global Crossing & Enron.
The change over will have to start before the energy crisis collides with the retirement bill of the baby-boomers. Without the change over starting well before this collision the 1st World’s economy will not recover. The 1st World’s economy is based on energy consumption. Energy makes us more efficient & our products require energy to be used.
Many say show on a small scale that this solution will change the economics on a small scale. It will not, because of the way one gets sellable spin-off requires a threshold level.
I think one of the "simpler" solutions would be for humanity to adapt a nocturnal lifestyle.
Let’s look at businesses. The lights are on all day because the building is inhabited, and then some of the lights are left on at night too, so there’s partial illumination for security and safety purposes. Why don’t we just occupy the building at night, have all the lights on then, and then use natural daylight to provide the partial illumination for when the building is not occupied?
First why is increased rainfall a symptom of global warming and being parched always follows? Seems like fast talk to me. Infrastructure, cofferdams, pumping systems, drainage and all that good stuff. Oh and good security to keep the less well prepared hordes out.
Simple, stop doing the damage and allow events to run their course.
Simple! Wear the proper clothing for the proper season. Wear less when its hot, wear more when its cold!
Have every person in America (and only in America) who is between the ages of 13 and 21 give up all their toys (computers, cars, jetskis and mopeds, et cetera) and get a job picking cotton or digging ditches– by hand. No machinery is to be used to do these jobs. The money which is earned by these youngsters should be given to the government to be subsequently wasted on failed social programs. Maybe then you idealist punks would understand how we who earn our livings everyday feel about the government telling us how to live.
I live in central Canada and have been waiting for the long promised global warming and the opportunity to own beach front property. But all I hear is talk, talk, talk. I’m waiting.
Stop breeding.
Well, I’m not sure if this is possible, but I think we should put more money into our science programs and have them find different, more economic ways to power our cities. Like hydrogen power, or solar power. I think they’ve done a good job on those super economic cars that get more miles to the gallon, and yet take up less mass and resources than the suvs. I’m anxiously waiting for news on the cars that supposedly run on water. That would be amazingly good on the environment. I think we should make national laws about putting filters on our exhaust pipes instead of just in the big cities that are full of smog. I think instead of dumping more and more trash into landfills, we should recycle it into useful resources instead of sucking more out of the planet. These are all ideas I think would at least slow down the global warming.
The sad thing is that Not Meany< People will change to make the world a better palace. So You must start at the top. Get the Big guys to change the way cars and industry make pollution. Then get the transporting people to help But you have to have government help like tax incentives. But I didn’t vote for bush so good luck
Hopefully our spoiled egos will not restrict us from simplifing our lives—in turn adapting to global climate change. We need to become more reliant on solar energy and less reliant on oil. We need to become more organic in our eating habits and turn inward for solutions. It all comes down to what we can do individually—cause unless everyone makes the changes we are all pretty much doomed to our own privy.
every one join hands and pray.PRAYOR changes things.
Global climate change is a cyclical condition of the growth of the planet. Think of the planet as a living entity with the jet stream and the gulf stream as the various circulatory systems of the body in constant flux states of aspiration and respiration. Would humanity then be considered a virulent strain infecting the planet to be wiped clean in a forced fever or as the white antibodies protecting the body?
This analogy would, of course, cover all the gray areas in between these two divergent spectra.
En Extremis, humanity would be wiped out save those individuals hardy enough to survive annihilation; need to exodus offworld; or revert to a less industrialized culture to continue growth without overburdening the planet. On the other hand, humanity as a whole would adopt a more GREEN attitude and work intentionally upon healing the planet or adapt as a bio-organism to the more excessive weather patterns.
This is working under an ideology of holistic thought…not very popular. Through satellite microwave pinpoint irradiation of specific areas of the atmosphere and oceans, could we not induce our control over the weather and the respiration of the planet? Or perhaps "mine" space ice from passing comets and increase cold areas of the planet or increase the surface water area?
I think the American lifestyle will have to change in order to reverse the damage that has been done. I think one of the best ways to solve this problem is to get Congress to make a law that makes corporations accountable for polluting our water supplies and soil. Secondly, we have to find other means of energy such as wind, solar, etc. In fact, Willie Nelson started an energy company that produces oil for cars. Check him out!!! His products may be in your area. Another idea I think would help if we all start to recycle. I recycle because it’s right and it’s manatory to do so.
We are in serious trouble. Something needs to be done soon because natural disasters are happening much more frequently. I am afraid that something could happen in the northeast. Not much has happened yet but it’s possible. Our climate is not like it was five years ago. Last fall, it took a long time for the leaves to change color and fall. Then when they started to fall, they didn’t change color. The leaves just fell. That was the first time I noticed that around my area.
Okay Al Gore comes out with a movie about global warming. I commend him for addressing the problem. However, I remember a time when Gore didn’t care about the environment. Some people asked Al Gore to remove the electrical towers from their area. The people said that they were getting symptoms of radiation poisioning in the water supply and different types of cancer. I can’t remember the state (it could be Kentucky or Tennessee) these people lived in but I couldn’t get this off my mind. Gore claims he wants to solve the global warming crisis but he didn’t help those people when he was in office. He’s a real phony in my book.
I think, the government should work by discouraging people using cars with fossil fuel, and at the same time build more public transport – subways and electric buses. The impact of cutting the number of cars using fossil fuel will be big reduction in pollution.
I believe sun protection is key
The O3 molecules in the atmosphere, that protect us from the harmful radaiton coming from the sun by absorbing the energy in their bonds,are regenarated (slowly, very slow) by life processes on earth. If the world could find alternate sources of energy, then it is possible for the damage to be eventaully undone, but this would take thousands of years.
Truth is, no one really cares enough to take the time out of there day to change their lifestyle. Those who discover new technologies, and develop everything we come into contact with, will take us for everything we have. Automotive companies and oil companies are bed fellows, they live and thrive off one another, and is a a cycle that will cause the innovations that may be able to help prevent the death of the enviroment to be smothered out of existence. These people care only for themselves, we care only for ourselves, Humans will never rise above this, ever. Its more profitable to treat the disease than to cure it. The ignorant and the uneducated govern our countries, and nations, they make blind decisions, unaware of what the reprecussions will be on scales from local to global.
Eventually the world will become uninhabitable, all life will die, plant and animal. Everything will return to inanimate substances and the world will go through thousands of changes over thousands and millions of years, until it can substain life again. We are all doomed, most likely not in this life time, but we die out, it is inevitable.
put in a huge freaking AC unit..
the earth will cool itself with an ice age. this happens every11,500 years. it’s been 11,500 years since the last ice age. the extra heat is coming from within the planet, not from greenhouse gasses. the heat causes more water to evaporate, which causes more rain/snow. the white snow reflects sunlight back into the atmoshere which eventually cools the earth. just like sweating cools you when you overheat.
we would have to adapt and evolve. your question is in great detail but you dont really think all the countries of the world would go to all this trouble to survive do you?if these terrorists we are trying to kill out in the world are subjected to killing others you really think they will conform to the rest of the earths ideas?i think not.they would die for their religious beliefs.al gore is wasting his time.there should have been something started to reverse the effects of global warming plus the hole in the ozone layer 20 years ago.the government has not allotted monies for this project and have you ever heard that a team of scientists are working on a solution?
the first thing to do is to accept that such a climatic change is in progress.Many a people are not prepared to accept this. They put dowm these changes to the vagaries of weather which is by definition unsteady.This may be partly due to their desire not to look at these changes taking place literaly under their noses. Some would reassure themselves with the thought that such climatic cycles are a natural feature and should not worry us.The real fact is nobody is willing to put himself under restrictions that would disturb his/her routine. The drive to office etc.Even if broadly speaking these people are far too wrong the fact remains that the heavy thud of the feet of the approaching doom are being heard coming near and nearer. While we may not be able to substantially stall much less stop and still much less reverse these changes we can at least slow its speeding.Perhaps ‘kayamat’ will not befall in our life time or even the life time of our children. But unless we take st eps the qualiy of life would go on deteriorating.For this purpose we have to drastically curtail our consumption of fuels,increase our dependence on clean sources of energy like solar energy,reduce generation of wastage etc.
Plans to cope with climate changes ignore the grim reality of global war,anarchy and terrorism that will accompany climatic changes.I can personally cope with all kinds of extreme changes in environment,but most of the experts and advisors will not last ten minutes on their own without backup.
Hello, my name is Nancy. I’m thirteen.
I’m not sure if this will help:
There are ways to prevent global warming:
1] Save water.
2] Save electricity. Unplug things that are not in use.
3] Walk on feet or even ride a bike.
4] NO POLLUTION.
Well, these are the few ways to prevent them.
(In China, many people walk or ride bikes. A lot better than in the USA.)
don’t wear clothes and quite owning gas hogs
While global warming is a serious concern, there are certain natural temperature changes that occur on Earth without any help from the inhabitants. The Earth has gone through several warming and cooling cycles before people ever existed (the ice age). Although, it does seem that the group that has been here the shortest period of time has had the greatest impact. We all should make an effort to limit our impact on the Earth in any way possible but, in the end Mother Nature will supersede all that we have done.
Smirnoff Ice
stop useing petrol and start useing natural resources.
we know the answer just people are ignorant and pretend that we need petrol but all it does is polute the atmosphere
We cannot control the natural destruction,man himself made his own negligence,so let us put our hands together to minimize the problem,and become more environmental friendly,educate the people,make some local ordinance or international amendments regarding the ecology,but the most important is,let’s begin it by ourself!
Sorry, I have very little respect for Al Gore or his scientific thoughts. He is not a scientist. Our planet has fluxed from hot to cold numerous times over the centuries (dinosaur age, ice age), then changed again. I don’t recall scientists putting a "global" name to it before. We have a limited time on this earth, as God has specified in the Bible, and it will end as we know it soon anyway. Our worry should only be that we live as God directs us.
Didnt Al Gore just ask this question yesterday… My answer nothing can be done.
i believe that if we stop tearing down important things like the rain forest that would be a start. Use things that lessen the effects to the environment like cars pesticides and other thing like that would also help.
i’m trying not to think about that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_oil_recovery
Carbon is the object that store heat- lock the carbon into soil or under the sea (plant more tree & enhance coral growth) will help- I love the idea of working shift at night
and actually doing it 
half of my time spent in tropical island (another half in the city of Kuala Lumpur) doing diving… and yes, weather changed- think it’s the cooling effect of more rain fall in Malaysia this year. the Rain brings down carbon and keeps it in the soil or the sea- nature is doing it’s work to preserve man kind’s playground- until the release of carbon into the air > it’s brought down to earth or sea again- we can’t blame mother nature of giving us up then- the earth will survive, we don’t
well, heard Hydrogen can replace our fuel at the moment- and side product is H2O (water)… if the risk of storing Hydrogen is much lower down, all energy-driven machine will depend on it in the future. hopefully, hopefully…
N O T H I N G
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I am seriously happy that you have posed this question! The long and short answer is posing the question like this……and EDUCATION! We need to keep communicating about this issue and live our lives in a responsible way!
The typical RRR
First, you have to get governments to admit there is a problem.
As the water level rises, people will be foreced to move, creating a mass exodus.
Forget about New Orleans; most of Florida disappears.
"The rocks are laughing at us." a line from the movie Grand Canyon
To adapt we must relie on it. Live off of it and use it wisely.
Please stop asking these ridiculous questions! Nothing can be done. As much as some optimists *cough cough Al Gore* would like to believe that we can stop "global warming", the truth is that we CANNOT. How many people would actually give up their current lifestyles for the environment? Well, maybe the environMENTALists but nobody else. Face it, global warming is just a myth used to make people pay more to "save our earth".
new techonolgy
Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. Easy to adopt, lots of benefits.
cause and effect my friend , you have a really good point there , this global warming was meant to happen , do you know how big changes happen ? , slowly is the answer , slowly we’ll be living only at night times , until we discover a way to find another planet to destroy
One thing that we can do is pray. Seriously, many people stray from the humbling of knowing the one true God. The thought of an all intelligent, all powerful Creator is outlandish to many human beings that consider themselves intellectuals. However, the majority of the hardship that our species is experiencing can easily be avoided if we would follow the basic principals of love and respect. If we loved and respected ourselves and one another, we surely would not sacrifice so many natural things in order to mass produce things that affect our society so negatively. The Industrial Revolution brought about substantially higher levels of carbon dioxide concentrations. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change forecasts a rise in the earth’s surface temperature within this century. The panel predicts the temperature will rise by between 1.4 ad 5.8 degrees Celsius. Many nations are working to decrease emissions. I support our cause and try and fulfill my part. However, I have no control over glutinous corporations and greedy people. If we want to change the current condition of our world, we have to change our minds. God put all of his people on Earth to experience a meaningful life. It is very sad that we allow less than five percent of the world control over our lives and our environment. Our best chance of survival is working together. Thank you for raising the level of Earth conciousness.
The difficulty with cities under the sea is actually building the cities. We have the technology to live under the sea and the technology to build structures that will survive indefinitely under the sea. The only real issue is building them. However, being that we KNOW that much of our coasts are going to be under water relatively soon, why not build under sea structures/cities now, on dry land when it’s comparatively easy and let the water come?
Another similar idea is giant, pre-manufactured, climate controlled structures with connectible air locks allowing you to add on indefinitely, essentially building cities that neither pollute the environment or breath pollutants in the environment. We’ve already done it on smaller scale with geodomes and similar. Just a thought.
Daniel
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Realistically, before anyone can begin to prepare for the future they must first be prepared for the present!!
Our climate is inherently variable and ALWAYS changing (with or without humans). There are many extremes in climate which we know occur and we have experience, yet we are still not prepared for and can not effectively respond to. How then can we prepare for changes of unknown magnitude?? We can’t!
The first step is to prepare for what we know can happen, then we’ll be ready to face changes.
Who told Al ?????????????????????
First it would be naive of us to think that we are going to kick the oil addiction even if the USA stopped immediately all oil consummation there would still be a mass of other places that could not afford to do the same plus the damage has already started and it will not be possible to refreeze the ice caps etc. So how do we deal. First of all it will be on a individual basis by making sure that you are inland .We will have to eventually give up the coastal areas , also you need to make sure you have food batteries etc for at least a year to give you the time to adapt. then you need to figure out a food and water source. Buy a gun or several as people as they get more desperate will get more ugly in their actions. We cant spend Billions on each Katrina that comes along as they will increase exponentially in the coming years.
Obviously you’re falling for the Al Gore global warming delusion, kinda like he did about his proclamation that he invented the internet, or that anyone REALLY wanted him as President of the United States. Once you get beyond his shared delusion that the globe is warming up in any unusual manner, then you can go to the beach and enjoy it for what it is: Summertime by the Sea. Hurry up though. It’ll be colder ‘n’ a Polar Bear in a few months, and you’ll want to change into some warmer clothes, because it’s gonna get COLD OUTSIDE, even here in Texas. God Bless you.