EDIT: 29 billion tons PER YEAR
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I used to care about such things, but then I realized I am not invested in the future.
I'm nearly 50, I have at best 40 more years on this god forsaken ball of mud. I won't be around for the seas flooding out huge areas of land.
I don't have kids - and frankly I don't care that much for humanity to actually give a half fuck if the whole thing goes into the trash bin.
I am a man of Faith who had a rational leaning. I believe that the cause of the Big Bang is that entity my brothers and sisters in faith call 'God'. I further believe that everything that has taken place that science calls 'coincidence' isn't really coincidence, that God laid in every turn, every event, every atom meeting another atom to marry in molecular matrimony that lead to amino acids, the proteins then DNA strings. I believe that the meteorite that did in the Dinosaurs was all part of the plan, that rock set in motion billions of years ago by events that took place not directly connected to setting its trajectory to meet earth some 65 million years ago.
I believe that this earth does indeed go through massive life affecting changes and that they happen cyclically and that its not that humanity just so happens to be on the scene at this time, but that God made certain when He set the atoms to spinning that humanity would arise at the right moment and achieve civilization on the right day to where it would be at this stage of its development when the Earth decides to shake off the species like a dog attempts to shake off fleas.
While most Christians rely on a God who had to take 6 days to make everything, then had to rest because it was exhausting, then spend the next 6000 years tweaking it, adjusting parameters and getting involved because He just couldn't seem to get it right the first time. My God laid it all out exactly as it needed to run before He uttered 'Let there be light' - Lets face it, that Big Bang lead to a hella of a lot of light.
Humanity is indeed heading for a Tribulation. However like most traumatic events in humanities history, Humanity will have the option to rise to the challenge and make changes in itself in order to not only survive but become better.
Humans are a species that put off doing what is needed until they have some event to make them take notice. The Titanic is a great example of how humans do shit.
While everyone knew that there were not enough life boats, that the vessel and sea laws could be tweaked to prevent it. Its not until AFTER the Titanic went down that all of those minor adjustments were made.
Humanity already knows that its time here on Planet Earth is in delicate balance with a very, very active world that is, based on geologic history recorded in the very stone, a dangerous place to live. Humanity also knows that it needs to diversify and get its collective fat ass off Mother Earth - The Birth Pangs are here - its time for us to leave the womb.
We won't, of course not, its not until that one Apocalyptic Event that forces humanity to face its future that humans will actually spread out into space.
Or die out as a species... Humanity's Choice.
Eventually the Earth is going to die. It may not be tomorrow, and it may not be for billions of years until the Sun goes Red Giant and starts eating her own children, Mercury, Venus, Earth, perhaps even Mars.... Earth has a finite life span, we already know this. I don't see man panicking and building space ships to get the hell off this dangerous doomed world....
Civilization as we know it is fucked up in the head in many serious ways. Looking back at the past, Except London, any city that underwent a major devastating fire took advantage of the ruin and ashes and tweaked their layout, changed things to make the city a better place. Human civilization is like that, after the fires of its destruction burn out, humans will take advantage of a near blank canvas to do it better... Maybe not right, but better.
So in a way I look forward to the seas washing out coastal cities, to earthquakes laying waste to vast un-reinforced brick cities... its not a bad thing, its an opportunity for humans to do it better.
Just as God intended.....
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^^ Beautiful, my dark and lonely wood elf. Simply beautiful.^^
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Well, how do we solve this, then?
Yes, climating changes are to be expected periodically. Wasn't Antarctica a tropical paradise once?
Are not the poles to be shifted one day like they have in the past?
Let's also add that God refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol (the fucker), cause them volcanoes throw more Green house gases in one eruption than what we can manage in a long time.
Now does industrialization get to go home blame-free?
No, sir, Industrialization has elevated by some 40% the amount of these gases in the atmosphere. That's no feeble number. Only in the Cretacean did we get something like that (poor, poor dinosaurs) and that was due to unbelievably increased volcanic activity, something non-present right now.
Add to that the indiscrimininate deforestation, increasing desertification and there you go. Global Warming. And it's quite real people.
Let's not give in to the paranoia that we Humans can cause the whole planet to shift its weather patterns, but we are certainly having effects that no other species has had so far.
What we are doing can very well exacerbate changes, without necessarily causing them.
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I think the only solution is 'Darwin's Theory of Evolution'
Adapt or perish, because these changes are going to happen regardless of what we do. It has always been a matter of 'when' rather than 'if'
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