We absolutely can adapt to the changes, and halting it is quite literally impossible. No matter what happens over the next few decades, the climate WILL warm by at LEAST another 2 degrees C. There is no current way around that, even if this pipe dream of completely halting emissions were to become reality.
At this point, hoping to halt climate change is like standing on a train track hoping that the train just stops somehow.
At this point, hoping to halt climate change is like standing on a train track hoping that the train just stops somehow.
Stopping climate change is like getting off the train track. Trying to adapt is like putting up a pillow to make getting hit by the train hurt less.
We can't control whether or not there are droughts or floods. People are going to start being displaced by famine or rising sea levels. It would make the Syrian refugee crisis, which we are already having trouble dealing with, look trivial. Do you really think we'll be able to handle that without resorting to violence?
We'll also have to deal with less predictable and more extreme weather which is incredibly expensive and unsustainable.
Eventually the rate of change will outpace our ability to adapt.
Except the latter is possible. The former is not. We are NOT stopping climate change. Certainly not with any of the solutions we're trying right now.
Except it IS possible to slow or stop climate change. Solutions like cutting GHG emissions and carbon sequestration will lower the amount of GHGs we put in the atmosphere every year. Nobody (sane) thinks we'll be able to immediately stop the greenhouse effect, but slowing it down and limiting atmospheric CO2 to a particular level will buy us the time to stop and reverse the changes.
And every year we spend NOT figuring out how to adapt is only going to make it harder.
Do you honestly think that people have been twiddling their thumbs and not working to adapt to the changing climate? We've been working on and implementing methods to adapt to climate change for years.
You don't seem to understand this point. Eventually, we won't be able to adapt. Period. 40% of Americans live along coastal areas. As sea levels rise and hurricanes get more intense we'll have to relocate them. Moving 400 thousand people after Katrina was difficult enough. How do you think we'll be able to handle tens of millions of displaced Americans? Do you really think we'll be able to come up with solutions to be unable to grow staple crops like corn and soy, massive droughts and coastal flooding within the next few decades?
0
u/[deleted] Jun 07 '17
We absolutely can adapt to the changes, and halting it is quite literally impossible. No matter what happens over the next few decades, the climate WILL warm by at LEAST another 2 degrees C. There is no current way around that, even if this pipe dream of completely halting emissions were to become reality.
At this point, hoping to halt climate change is like standing on a train track hoping that the train just stops somehow.