Different.
This is an evolving environment, and has always been. How it is when we are alive is not how it was before us, and will not be how it is after us.
Change is its natural state.
The human effect on climate is one aspect of change.
Yellowstone is our test case. Our control, in a scientific experiment.
Our landscape and environment will be changing significantly over the next 100 years. There is no getting out of that. Those changes will be accelerated and amplified by human activity. But having a space like Yellowstone will allow us to map that change clearly and scientifically.
Yes, it will be different.
But it always has been. (Not excusing our role in the change of our climate. Just stating a fact.) It's easy to see things as "set in stone" when their change happens slowly over decades, and then to deplore the changes as "not the way it was". But what says that your lifetime has any relevance to a mountain?
- Change is its natural state.
The human effect on climate is one aspect of change.
Change is its natural state until you look at CO2 emissions, global temperature rises, forest fire incidences, glacial levels, etc. etc. from the industrial era on. It's an extremely significant and extremely unnatural effect we have had on our climate. How can you possibly say otherwise, or have such a defeatist attitude? Mapping Yellowstone? Fuck off, dude. Any learnings or mapping will happen concurrently with other changes around the world and it will be too late to do much about it at that point.
We are already experiencing it. Go step on a glacier anywhere in Washington.
Can you clarify what you did say, then? If I am not intelligent enough in my reading comprehension I would appreciate help in developing an understanding of your point(s). I want to ask you point blank: Do you believe in human driven climate change?
Edit: Also, you do realize that that was a very demeaning way of engaging?
It’s already too late, we probably would have had to start to curb greenhouse emissions in the 80s or earlier to get where we would have needed to be today. At this point climate change has happened we need to work on dealing with the consequences and effects as they happen and affect our citizens.
The worlds major polluters aren’t curbing emissions fast enough to make anything the rest of us do matter significantly. Classic Tragedy of the commons type problem
- At this point climate change has happened we need to work on dealing with the consequences and effects as they happen and affect our citizens.
What does that look like to you?
Probably need to build up infrastructure like sea walls in areas that can be saved. Update flood prevention systems and dams, storm surge areas. Fund programs to breed seeds that are more heat tolerant. Model where future rains are going to occur and figure out how to manage, and store the water.
There are likely opportunities to terraform areas to level off temperature swings.
Ocean research is critical as well. They are getting f-up and we don’t understand them well at all. We need to collect dna for bio specimens that we can restore later when technology allows it.
Those things are a much better use of money than Current carbon reduction efforts.
What about water availability? That seems like something that's going to be a huge deal moving forward. Especially the Rockies and West in America, and obviously every place near the equator worldwide. How do manage 5 year droughts, how do we collect water during storms and safely store it in aquafors.
That’s exactly what we need to figure out, certain cities may need to be abandoned and practices that drain aquifers need to stopped. Thats the kind of forward thinking that can help mitigate some of the impacts for future generations. Essentially you need a comprehensive plan on dealing with the impact of climate change. You can’t stop Contries from polluting but you can invest in technology and infrastructure that will mitigate some of the impact. It’s not a perfect solution but it’s better than the current plans of pissing into the wind through tiny reduction efforts.
Damage due to Instagram vs Damage due to climate change... yeah things are going to change not for the better. Thing is climate change is inevitable, its happening and it cant be stopped. We need to spend more money researching how best to mitigate the impacts and preserve as much biodiversity as possible not trying to prevent that which cannot be stopped.
- “By the time my daughter is an old woman, the climate will be as different for her as the last ice age seems to us,” Dr. Tercek said.
That's really intense. I wish I could be more confident that's hyperbole.