Duke Juker wrote:
You can't expect people to do that, regardless of how climate change may sound or be presented. For one thing, it isn't economically profitable in some cases to, as people would term it, "go green." For example, you can't expect coal production and power to cease on a dime or to really decrease in any amount very quickly.
Well said, I think that sums up the issue nicely.
I don't deny climate change, it's quite clear that it's happening. There have been times in the Earth's past when the average temperature was warmer than what it is now. There have also been times when the CO2 concentrations have been higher, that's gone away too. We're an advanced species, we're at the point where we could easily survive if rapid climate change started happening.
It's not simple to just drop everything and go green. What's most often not realized are the economic ramifications of such a plan. What happens to the people who work in an energy sector right now? Better yet, what happens to the GDP of nations who solely depend on energy production for their economic welfare? They would tank sharply.
How would an individual relax if they were cut in the purging of dirty energy? How would an individual react if they were cut from the assembly lines at Ford to cut costs to research green initiatives? Overall I believe this would create a shock to the economy and potentially cause more trouble than the current credit recession.
At the end of the day, scientists are great. They know how to interpret their data and report the findings to us that are not involved in the scientific process. What they do not know is the intricasies of how intertwined the energy sector is into the economy and thus potential side effects of going green immediately.
So for those out there who say, "let's stop today" think about this and the potential problems it could cause.
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