Ammonite: Experts are scrambling to understand the situation, and to predict how serious it may become. The devastation extends worldwide. The future habitability of the Earth might well depend on the answer.

This has happened throughout the history of the Earth. The only difference now is that humans are here & modern humans don't like change.

Homo Sapien wouldn't be here but for a world wide drought that lasted 2 thousand years. Homo Sapiens split into 2 groups from the Horn of Africa & one group went went west to Western Africa. The other to Southern Africa. When the drought shifted West & South & the Centre became green again Homo Sapien came back together to begin what we have become today. Let's look at changing Earth. 12000 years ago the Sahara Desert was a swamp & Nigera was a Desert. The centre of Australia was an inland sea but you could walk to Papua New Guniea.

The Earth changes all the time. One area becomes Desert, another becomes filled with lush vegetation. All this happens over hundreds of years. Plants & animals, including Humans, shift & adapt. Such is our nature.

Now modern Man has become selfish & refuses to change. Demanding that Nature changes to suit man. Do you think that is going to happen? Yair right! Big Business has built down to the sea. It has cost them copious amounts of MONEY. Now they will lose that when it is flooded.

That's what driving this Carbon debate. Not the change itself.

Without going to all the trouble of researching the source, I think
you will find that the CO2 used in drinks is a byproduct of another process.
That which does not go to the bottlers would be releasd to atmosphere.

Anyway, it appears that there is no agreement internationally on co2
and China and India are simply not going to agree to any restriction.
Therefore it is pointless us doing anything so save our money.
We will need it for the transition to a new energy regime.
That is far more important.

Bazz: it is pointless us doing anything so save our money.
We will need it for the transition to a new energy regime.
That is far more important.

I agree Bazz. The sooner the transition to Alternate Power the better. Unfortunately it can't be done over night. The transition will take at least 50 years in the West. Maybe it can be done sooner in 3rd World countries. 3 world countries don't have a large Oil driven infrastructure. Alternate Energies could be put in place without upsetting the status quo of the Power Conglomerates , as would happen in the West. There the West could experiment with various Alternate Energies & perfect the ones that work well. The transition would be slower in the West as cleaner technology replaces older polluting technologies that have worn out & need replacing.

This will mean a change in Wall street as happened in the 1920 but, if managed correctly, without the crash, but somehow I don't think so. I can see the Energy Conglomerates resisting change to their power base & refusing to pass the batton to someone else.

Actually Carbon Dioxide is not the "worst" greenhouse gas. The "worst" is water vapour. See table from Wikipedia:

Water vapor H2O 36 – 72 %
Carbon dioxide CO2 9 – 26 %
Methane CH4 4 – 9 %
Ozone O3 3 – 7 %

To eliminate "Global Warming" you must reduce the amount of water vapour in the atmosphere. As oceans comprise about 70% of the earth's surface, the easiest way is to cover the oceans with a thin film of paraffin, thus stopping evaporation. Of course, you will also stop the oceans being aerated, killing all fish life. You also stop rain (dry atmosphere = no rain) but you can't win every time.

And methane is created by all rotting vegetation, so it is better to burn off the forests rather than let the leaves, twigs and trees rot.

Use CFC aerosols to destroy the ozone layer, and you reduce global warming from that source. Lets in harmful ultraviolet rays. Pity.

Perhaps it is best just to let the earth warm in the normal cycle to the same temperatures it had in the Middle Ages and Roman times.

Final thought - all the carbon in coal and carbon dioxide in chalk and limestone were once in the atmosphere before plants and animals took it out. No catastrophic warming then, hence we cannot create one now.