Two topics which deserve a better post than this

[sqbr]

1) OMG Australian internet filtering ARGH ARGH

2) OMG Copenhagen, and global warming in general, ARGH ARGH

Any time I think about either of these topics I just get all ARGH and nothing coherent comes out. But yes. Argh.

This is a serious problem with me and climate change(*). I flip between not thinking about it and FREAKING OUT, neither of which leads anywhere very productive. I do force myself to read the posts that come up on my flist and do what I can to be less wasteful etc based on the knowledge I've managed to glean in bursts between thinking "What can I do about this?" and "ARGH can't think about this any more". But still :(

(*)The internet filter is bad, but might not happen and if it does is still very unlikely to lead directly to the end of civilisation as we know it.

Comments

[gretel]

If it helps, global warming is pretty much guaranteed to happen anyway, no matter what we do. All humans are likely doing is adding to the rate of temperature change.

Global warming hype at the moment annoys me because it means people will consider climate change and carbon bullshit over what are in my opinion more sustainable and less wasteful objects.

/bitter environmental geographer

[sqbr]

Huh. So what would you say is the underlying cause? Just one of those things? I'm not sure "We're screwed regardless" is much cheerier than "We're screwed thanks to our own actions" but I guess it has a certain appeal :)

From my ignorant perspective it seems that sustainable energy is a surer bet: regardless of global warming we are definitely running out of oil. Would you agree?

Pessimistic? Me?

[gretel]

The climate on the planet has never been a particularly stable thing. It has always swung between greenhouse and ice age kinda time periods.

This isn't to say that I haven't misrepresented the situation horribly in my above comment. In geological terms, from what we know the world is heating up. What we aren't as sure of, is how much humans are affecting the rate that it is changing, but there is evidence to suggest that we are increasing that rate of change.

This is why I get angry at climate change deniers, but less so at people who are a little more skeptical about how much humans are effecting it. In some respects I have a lot of patience for the people who are going, well its going to change anyway, what exactly do we do to cope with that? My other complaint is that all the energy stressing about being carbon neutral and focusing on climate change, ignoring many other problems.

Peak oil is an entirely different issue, that I honestly don't remember much about at the moment. So probably. If this new medication wasn't making me feel so goddamn sick I'd find my old readings on it. I know there's a few good documentaries, but I can't remember the names.

If you follow the ideas that technology will solve all, like some people do, the hydrogen fuel cell problems will be sorted out, long before oil runs out anyway.

Please note: While I have technically filled my requirements for geography, including a heap of units on the environment and management, I haven't done any specific climate studies units yet. They've only just been opened up to regular geography students (so I'm doing one, maybe two next year). So my understanding is still a gross simplification, just not as much as the ones currently in the media.

Re: Pessimistic? Me?

[sqbr]

Thanks. And that's ok, you still know more than me, with my "not paying much attention to year ten social studies 16 years ago" level of knowledge :)