All
of the warmest years on record have occurred since 1997, the year that
climate change skeptics claim warming trends stopped. Quantifying the
degree of global warming has required world wide data collection on
land, sea, air and from orbit in space. Mere isolated local and regional
observations did not give the big picture.
Some
locales
may seemingly benefit from climate change in the short term future. But
as global warming trends strengthen, the weather patterns will continue
to shift in bigger ways as greenhouse gases continue to accumulate and
amplification mounts. All in all, a warmer planet will alter the lives
of every plant and animal species on Earth --
including our own, the
Naked Ape.
Meanwhile,
fearful conservatives in all walks of life cling to their
antiquated views on life and choose not to realize the dangerous
situation we are all in together. Indeed, their shortcomings may
ultimately prove to be disastrous by prolonging the length of time that
we seriously procrastinate. The momentum of CO2 buildup continues to
increase. And even if we do manage to reverse our course, global warming
will continue regardless because the existing level of greenhouse gases
won't magically decrease overnight. Indeed, we can only slow the rate
of increase. In short, we're really screwed.
Our
descendants for many generations will live on a warmer planet
regardless of what we do now. How much warmer depends on what we do or
don't do in the future. We will survive, but the future generations may
very well hold us in great disdain for our miserable lack of foresight
and for our greedy expediency.
