Agree that many of the global warming agenda is driven by politics. What isn't really. =) I think if we intend to have a meaningful discussion, we have to try and put politics aside and simply talk about ideas.
Although I don't agree that we are in the brink of boiling ourselves to death, I must say that there are undeniable evidence and science behind the claim that we are getting closer and closer to making parts of earth hostile.
Glad to hear that you think reducing the amount of carbon from the air is a good idea, but my point is that alone isn't enough. Like you said, we don't plant trees and they don't seem to (not sure about this) grow at the same rate as our carbon emission. So my point is we need to do that AND reduce our carbon emission if we hope to effectively stop the increase of this gas in our atmosphere (to be clear, where what we emit in to the air is the same amount being absorbed back to earth each year).
I also am a strong believer of "leading by example". Why wait and follow others when you can lead them? Just because they are big, doesn't mean they have to do everything first. In fact, maybe they are waiting for other countries to do it first? Then it becomes a stalemate. In my opinion, it doesn't matter if you are Canada or China (one of two worst offenders) or Iceland, or Singapore. I think countries cannot (and should not) conclude that what they do won't matter. I think it will - though perhaps not on the bottom line figures of global greenhouse gas emission metrics - they will certainly help with setting the right examples for others to follow. It works, and sometimes even a country like the US needs an example first to know that it will work before it commits itself to changing their way of living. If I was governing a country, I would see this as an opportunity to lead the rest of the world - heck the smaller the country the easier it would be to get this done! Obviously there are other political influences and monetary factors that I am too naive to consider, but I have to disagree on the point that what Canada does have no impact on the global stage.
Doesn't look like anyone is debating climate change. That said, I think we are still talking about irrelevant items. I am hoping to hear ideas from this group. What can be done to promote planting trees? What can be done on the emission reduction front? What have you guys seen or heard other places are doing to make this work that is effective / proven. I think there is enough talk and reports about what is happening (ice melting, temps rising, crops dying, etc.) and not enough talk about what can be done that works at scale. For one, I think that Elon Musk is doing with his Tesla battery is interesting. He aims to significantly reduce carbon emission from vehicles on the road by swapping the traditional car engine that runs on gas with battery powered engine. Arguments can be made that ultimately coal is needed to charge the batteries , but the counter argument is that numbers show that we are not expected to burn that much more coal than we are already burning today to achieve that goal. In otherwords, it takes much less carbon to run a battery-powered vehicle than to run a fuel-engine car. Plus the source of battery power is not limited to coal. It can be nuclear, solar, wind, or anything else. Where as the traditional engines rely solely on gasoline. What do you guys think of this?
Side note: did you know that some trees are better at absorbing carbon than others?
I'm really big on this, as you can tell. =)
