Global climate change: Generational challenge?

If the US could meet Kennedy's challenge of getting to the moon in less than 10 years (and for the conspiracy theorists around here, we really did go there) then we can meet the challenge of replacing our fossil fuel based energy system with clean renewable energy over the next 20 - 30 years. But it requires leaders with vision and an end to the do-nothing & let the oil/coal companies take care of us mindset.

Edit:

Cindy - Just to keep the facts straight, the last US reactor to come on-line was in 1996 (not the 80's). It was the Watt’s Bar reactor in Tennessee.

It's challenging times indeed and could be very exciting if people just get used to that we really don't have any alternatives but to find a way to cooperate and fix these problems. It's actually not just about climate change, but imagine having free access to unlimited amounts of renewable energy with almost no cost once it's in place!

Others have pointed out that every generation has had its difficulties and that's true. But no generation until this has lived in a truly globalized world. If civilizations before ran out of necessary resources or polluted their neighborhood, their population died and they where in no position to alter the actual conditions on the whole globe. Now we see clear signs of how our globe is in bad shape and how our resources and margins shrinks day by day. Still, some people want to continue on like a huge swarm of grasshoppers until there's nothing left for anyone. It's not local anymore and there are no alternatives but to cooperate globally.

Wise words by Gandhi: "Nature has given us enough for everyone’s need, but not for everyone’s greed."

It's a simple logic problem. These are scientific facts that have nothing to do with politics or conspiracies or anything else, except for perhaps human psychology.

Fossil fuels allowed us the leverage to increase our population well beyond the sustainable carrying capacity of the planet.

E.O. Wilson calculated the hypothetical maximum possible (momentary) carrying capacity at 14 billion people. This is using every possible energy source and every possible place to live and grow food, like living on boats and growing hydroponic food in caves; "...and it will surely be a hellish place to live."

The sustainable carrying capacity has been calculated at between 500 million and 2 billion, which was estimated to have been passed in the 1970's.

We are at 6.5 and we are having major problems. I don't think we can sustain 9 or 10 for very long. We are estimated to be at 9 billion by 2050.

This generation is different. Very different.

E.O. Wilson also said "We will look back from the end of the 21st century with a profound sense of loss and regret."

We have all these examples of previous civilizations overextending themselves (locally) and collapsing. Now we are doing it again (globally).

How I wish I had the optimism to believe that something in us is going to change, something that will make it different this time.

Glaciers were melting for over 10,000 years and in basic terms because Glacier nationwide Park became named after the Glaciers that still remained there does not propose they were in no way going to soften away. i fairly do not realize why human beings imagine they proceed to exist a planet with a static climate, because we do not. And besides some extra winters like those we had this 12 months will actually revive those glaciers. did not it snow in Montana some weeks in the past? And it may snow interior the Mountains in July and August too. i became there in June 1983 and it snowed the morning we drove as a lot because the better degrees of the park. We had to placed our wintry climate coats on after we stopped on the seem out factors on the way up.

Every generation has always faced a challenge. Whether social, civil, economical, endemic or pandemic, environmental, health crises, the list can go on. But I really don't feel that people are at fault. I keep saying this and no one listens, "we are influence by necessity". Humans don't control the universe, quite the opposite.

The last part of your imply is : "Yep...whats wrong with a little reinforcement, and brotherhood."

Every single generation since the Babylonians thought they were the special generation that was here to save the world. GW is simply the latest fad cause.

I am not concerned with global warming but I wouldn't mind swift development of alternative fuels. But there is a problem with that. There is a wacko political force in this country. The left has been responsible for our lack of nuclear energy due to onerous law suits and demonizing it. Similarly they have thwarted attempts at building refineries as they have tried to stop all attempts at increasing our own energy production. President Clinton prevented development of the best coal field in Utah by caving into environmentalist and creating a park. Jimmy Carter put a tax on oil and increased the dependence of foreign oil as he was suggesting we needed to decrease it. The left clearly is not part of the solution. It is part of the problem. They need to get out of the way of free markets and energy independence. With their record, they clearly cannot be trusted.

Instead, all you get from the like of Obama (and sadly McCain) are windfall profit taxes and more demonizing of our domestic suppliers.

The energy problem will be solved by the very people you demonize, once and only once all of the cheap fossil fuels have been burned. Countries like China and India will continue to produce and ever increasing amount of CO2, you can continue to dream about alternative energy all you want, there is no cost effective alternative to produce energy except internal combustion. There will be no new world socialists government that will stop the third world from consuming ever natural resource available to them, only war, that is just what happens.

Actually, I think the challenge goes far beyond global warming. With both the population and energy use of the planet increasing rapidly, it won't be long before we find ourselves out of cheap fossil fuels. The challenge will be what we can do at that point to ensure that everyone has enough energy. Of course, population growth is the driver of all these problems. The question is can people learn to have fewer children?

After seeing Cindy's post, I wanted to add that this problem will not be solved by opening up ANWR (at best, only a blip on the US energy use) or more refineries (why build refineries if you don't have oil?) or more nuclear reactors (you can build them fast enough and there is not enough uranium to supply world energy needs). Barring a breakthrough in fusion power, we will need to tap more into solar power somehow.

Why would we "tackle" a challenge we can not do anything about? It makes no sense to think that we, as humans, can control the climate. It really is quite pathetic.

The challenge is that this generation is so brain dead and self imposed that even if a real challenged faced you; you would merely cry about it and ask someone else to take care of it, just like every liberal out there. Liberals cry about nuclear reactors, so no more have been built since the 80's. Liberals cry about refineries... No new refineries since the 70's. Liberals cry about Anwar being drilled for oil... Now, of course we have astronomical gas prices... Then now, liberals cry of this fake global warming thing, alternative energy and more crap... But not too many liberals in a lab trying to come up with the alternatives.... YES, they cry to the OIL COMPANIES to come up with alternatives....

They are the reason why this country is so screwed up! Global warming is simply another means of extorting money from those that have it, in order to accomplish NOTHING!

See, for example the first poster who says... Wait till the children grow up and realize that their parents and grandparents used all THEIR OIL!!!!

See what I mean?! Where in the world did that sense of entitlement come from?