In the next 50-100 years won't technological advances, both prevent and mitigate global warming...?

Question

to such an extent it won't be a problem at all?

Answer 1

If we look past 2100:

- Global and regional warming could more than quadruple after 2100

- Sea level will still be rising at the end of the millennium (3000)

- Ocean pH will fall dramatically for all but the minimum emission scenario

- Business-as-usual could lead to abrupt climate changes

- Abrupt climate changes could occur long after emissions cease

- The ocean carbon sink becomes less effective the more CO2 is emitted

- The land could be a net carbon source on the millennial timescale

"Potential sea level rise on the millennial timescale (excluding the contribution of Antarctica), is 0.5-11.4m in GENIE-1 and 1.0-8.5m in MoBidiC.  Collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, if it occurs, could add up to 4-6m on the millennial timescale [Oppenheimer and Alley, 2004]"

“…our relatively conservative assumptions, for example regarding climate sensitivity or the exclusion of the Antarctic ice sheets, still produce the result that only by starting to reduce CO2 emissions in the very near future, and continuing to reduce them such that they are zero by year 2200, can we avoid dangerous climate change on the millennial timescale.”

http://www.tyndall.ac.uk/research/theme1...

I guess the scientists who studied our long term outlook didn't get the memo that we might find a "magic pill" solution.

Answer 2

Well...either that or the next Ice Age.  Six to one...

Answer 3

That is true.  100 years ago people were worried about the health problems of manure from the horses that were caring around people.  Can you imagine if they started thinking about what to do with all of that manure 100 year later?  But then along came the car and the problem of manure on the streets was solved.

With the demand for oil going up, so is the price of oil.  It will be economically viable, and the consumer will start demanding more fuel efficient cars.

As with all technology when it comes out it is expensive.  Look at computers.  With the passage of time and mass production they become cheaper.  In twenty years time solar panels will become economically feasible and desirable that the consumer will want one, even if global warming never existed.

Answer 4

I suspect that there will be plenty of technological advances such as solar panels in outerspace, fission and possibly fusion technology, and other ways to prevent and mitigate global warming if it ever becomes a problem which I highly doubt it would.  Perhaps,  we will develop satellites that can warm or shade certain portions of the earth should that become desirable.  Since it is hard to define optimal temperatures, it would be pretty controversial I think.

Answer 5

yep, that and the promised next ice age which should cancel out the alleged global warming quite nicely

Answer 6

nice.

let someone else take care of it.

it's not my problem.

kind of like our economy.

$3 trillion debt the last 7 years.

hey someone else can take care of it.

not my problem.

yeah, my kids get to pay.  not my problem.

my kids get to inherit the world i leave 'em.  not my problem.

Answer 7

Maybe, maybe not.

But one thing is certain. The world will run out of coal and oil some day. The latest estimates I have heard are oil runs out in 100 years and coal runs out in 500 years. After that we will not be adding any more CO2 to the air. But if we have not developed other energy sources by then we will have to revert to a pre-industrial culture. That will be REALLY bad and is to be avoided at all costs. In other words, we BETTER develop new technology by then.

Answer 8

We already have the technologies to mitigate the problem of global warming or our contribution to it, and these same new technologies will help ease the rest of the environmental havoc, other than global warming.

What we don't have yet is the political will to take the right steps.  

We need more than technology though, we need to change how we think.  Isn't it kind of arrogant to think that it shouldn't cost us anything to fix the problem, after we have enjoyed the benefits economically of using the earth the way we have been.

There is an old idea that applies to how we use the earth and it's resources.   It's called "usufruct", the idea that one has use of land to enjoy the fruits of it, as long as one does no permanant harm, and leaves the land in as good a shape as we found it.  The word translates as use of the fruit.  This is true stewardship.  No one truly owns the earth, we are only here for a short lifetime, during which we have usufruct, and not the right to destroy the land for future generations.

Answer 9

Global Warming ultimately boils down to one thing:  Overpopulation

Answer 10

Not unless said inventions alter the sun's behavior.

Answer 11

I like your theory!!!

Answer 12

Possibly.  Its hard to know exactly what the future will bring.  Such as, will we all blow each up tomorrow so that it doesnt matter?  More relavently, climate change could cause immense hardship for the people of our planet in the 15 years, before those technological advances can save us.

Answer 13

You're making a big assumption that we have that much time,

scientists are finding that things they thought were going to happen 20 and 30 years from now are happening now.