September 10th, 2009
Global warming, bring it on...
That’s the attitude our current approach to global warming seems to reflect. We are doing precious little to blunt climate change. A report just published by a group of scientists finds the effects of global warming on other animals is already severe. This report focuses on arctic wildlife.
Polar bears, caribou and ringed seals are three of the arctic species that are being hurt by the warmer winters and summers in the Arctic. More southerly animals are expanding into the Arctic while walrus, narwhal, Ivory Gull and other Arctic species suffer. Many face extinction. The climate is changing too fast for them to adjust.
Loading ...MY COWARDLY BEHAVIOR
From one reader who really does not like my blogging. He decides I am a coward. Guilty. I am afraid of rising ocean levels and massive extinctions. There are many animals far more interesting and attractive than most of my fellow humans. Then this reader says: “And of course, as usual Fuller doesn’t substantiate this “drive by” statement of his. Anyway. It’s totally ok if things get warmer. Here in Canada 75% of the land mass is practically uninhabitable due to that darn cold weather. So wtf? Why is getting warmer a problem? Bring it on!”
And will Canada agree to take in the ten of millions of flooded out Bengladeshi? Or should those suckers just suck it up and accept the Darwinian conclusion they should die off? The Tongans have an agreement they can move to New Zealand, anybody wanna take in the millions of folks from Houston or Amsterdam or Lagos?
We humans have not done well with war, starvation or hurricanes, how the hell are we gonna do with something as widespread as sea level change?
STANDARD BOILER PLATE
This verbiage will now be attached to any blog I do about global warming. It’s amazing to me that somebody who can apparently read and then post comments still wonders in public why global warming matters on a technology web site. But I am naive, always assuming everybody’s paying attention.
It’s because of money. If global warming has enough acceptance among corporations, the public and even pols, there will be more money spent on green tech, wisely or unwisely. If oil prices stay low and most people don’t care a fig about global warming, green tech will have a difficult time succeeding, regardless of its merits. Not every good idea succeeds. VCs usually invest where they think there’s best chance for a good return. In greentech as in any tech the winners will often be determined by luck, brilliance, timing, happenstance and even marketing. Behind it all will be the money and behind that: whether the evidence for global warming and curtailing pollution drive action or is written off as claptrap.
A newsman since 1969, Harry Fuller has worked for CBS, ABC, CNBC Europe, CNET and was founding news director at TechTV. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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