

Global Warming's Terrifying New Math - dleibovic
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/global-warmings-terrifying-new-math-20120719

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drharris
The headline is a bit sensational, for such a thorough article. Now, just
waiting for an article that summarizes the other side of the debate.

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drallison
There is no debate and there is no "other side". Facts are facts. Global
warming is a crisis of global proportions, one which will have an enormous
impact on all life forms. Personally, I fear we have reached the tipping point
where any actions we take to mitigate the disaster will be inadequate. I am
personally offended by the misrepresentations in the news which try to gloss
over the problem. Worse, we have no effective way for dealing with problems of
global magnitude.

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mhartl
It's refreshing to finally see Rolling Stone taking an interest in climate
science.

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Kelliot
I actually came here to question if we want our climate science from the
rolling stones.

After reading the article it seemed both extensive and broken down well for a
large audience that may not be the original target for publications in this
field.

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batista
There is a classic geek reaction to such things that goes like:

"There is nothing to fear because tech can't be bad / more tech will get us
out of this mess / it's always been that way so no way it's man made / etc".

Particular among Ayn-Randish/Ray Kurzweil/Free Market/ types...

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gizmo686
I would argue that only tech can get us out of this. According to the article,
given the damage we have done up to this point, we are going to gain another
0.8C, putting us up to 1.6C above where we should be. Seeing as we are already
observing real environmental damage, that should not be a satisfactory
solution.

Any satisfactory solution would need to include some form of active cooling.
These solutions are quite with are abilities. For example, prior to modern
pollution regulations, we were actually cooling the planet because are
pollutants reflected more heat than they trapped.

An event that I actually have figures for is 9-11. During the no-fly period
following the attack, we saw a 1.8C increase in mean temperature in the USA
(mean temperature tends to be consistent). Unfourtuantly, these cooling
methods are short-lived and associated with long-lasting carbon, but they were
accidental. I don't see any reason to believe we can not technology to
actively cool the planet.

