So what happens when everyone switches to CFLs and buys a Prius and recycles plastic bags?

Question

and nothing changes?

What then? Do we start tinkering with terra-forming and stuff? Or do we just admit that humans have little control over global climate and figure out how to adapt to the changes?

Answer 1

There will always demands by the environmentalists to do more and more to protect the environment. Some of the really extreme ones will not be satisfied until all humans are gone, because only then is the planet natural. The source is the web page of "The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement ". So just get used to it, it will never end.

Answer 2

No, we leave the CFLs on less, drive less and buy less bags in the first place.

Answer 3

It's inevitable, every solution will one day be realized as a problem, and by being green today we are probably delegating another responsibility to our children tomorrow. We can pray (or hope if you don’t believe in prayer) for the best. However the mercury epidemic we will one day face when all the CFLs in service today begin to all burn out may not have a solution avaliable. You want to be sustainable... implement geothermal air handling into your next rehab... solar and wind do not capture enough energy to warrant a return on investment that would encourage installations. We have to rouse excitement and show evidence of financial incentives that are complimented by mankind’s sustainability of his/her environment, that’s the only thing the general public cares about: WHATS THE COST! The first thing we should do is create a collective voice that can stand up against bully’s like ComEd. HOW DARE they pay residential solar providers (which provide installations for the common good) half as much for the same kilowatt of energy they charge residential customers...  I realize that the grids and installations are their property but were those grids not almost entirely subsidized with our taxpayer dollars, JUST AS THE IMPROVEMENTS TODAY which Exelon claims is their justification for hiking Midwest energy costs?. Our government officials are in bed with the greedy corporate CEOs who will do anything to prevent sustainable evolution (I’m sure you haven’t heard that before, but how many more times will you have to hear it to ACT AGAINST IT). IT wont be their demise if they make decision that reflect on common sets of morals!!! Thanks for allowing me this opportunity to vent some of my frustrations. Please do your part, with elections coming up, take this opportunity to start spinning a wheel for a brighter and cleaner future. And finally sorry about the grammatical and spelling errors I have to rush as my vanpool is leaving.

Answer 4

so is nature digging out fossil fuels? is nature causing acid rain? is nature causing the ozone hole (exactly the same things was said in the 90s)?

humans don't control over global climate, we can just really stuff it up.

Answer 5

It will take quite a while for the CO2 already in the air to begin to drop. However, the thing that will happen very quickly is threefold:

>First, people wil start saving a lot of money--which they can then spend on other things. So their lifestyle and finances will get better--and the economy will grow.

>Second, people will start to see jsut how thoroughly we have been exploited and ripped off by the oil and coal companies--and the right-wing sheep that worship them because they have a lot of power and money

>Three, these same right-wing jerks will be told to sit down and sut up, because people are sick and tired of being ripped off jsut to cater to their neoconservative fantasies and ideology. about so-called "capitalism"--which is precisely what we dON'T have in America anymore--thanks to the neoconservatives.

And--as the efffects of global warming get worse--as they will, because this is not going to be fixed quickly, no matter what is done--those same right-wing nitwits will be told to take their irrational anti-science patter about "not believeing" in global warming, evolution, etc., etc., etc. and shove it.  VEry few peope ares till fooled by their lies--and the number is shrinking eveyry day.

Answer 6

If we all halve the worlds energy consumption we would go back to where we were about 20 years ago and in 20 years time we will be back to where we are now, but we won't worry so much second time around because we would have moved onto different fads by then.

Answer 7

The billion Prius cars will have been built in China, using coal-fired electricity, made from raw materials dug using diesel-burning earthmoving equipment and shipped on diesel-burning ships and trains, and the finished cars will have been shipped on diesel-burning ships and trains.

In use the switch to cars averaging 55-60MPG would save maybe 10% of all emissions.  You're correct; that and the light bulb switch would be insufficient to stop the warming, but slowing it does buy us time.

We are already having to adapt, and yes, things like human-induced SO2 aerosol cooling are being considered.

Answer 8

Are you afraid of a cleaner planet? We are already "tinkering" with earth. Erosion of topsoil, destruction of forests, the polluting of oceans and the pumping of billions of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere every year are among the "tinkering."

Being so naive is dangerous.

Answer 9

nothing will change because the other 6 billion people on earth that doesnt include america wont do it either because they dont care, or they cant afford it, so the end result will still be the same, no net change.