Ted Turner says civilization will end in 30-40 years because of global warming. Do sane people believe that?

Question

Ted Turner says civilization will end in 30-40 years because of global warming. Do sane people believe that?

Answer 1

No, no sane person believes that and those that do believe that should be checked out at a local mental institution or clinic.  

The same arguments were being made in the 70's with global cooling but most of these people are too young to even know that.

Answer 2

Good question.

   I think people are accepting the idea without question,  because they don't realise the costs, and the AGW proponents are so vitriolic about dissenters.

     The costs include reducing our ability to produce and manufacture at competitive prices. (like we need more of that) - in our service economy, folks don't realise that production of goods requires energy, and putting "low watt" light bulbs in (for example) an aluminum plant, will not reduce power consumption much. Worse yet - high cost energy will make it harder to adapt to the end of oil.

     I think the key is to get more people interested, by presenting a few facts. Media isn't doing this. If people get interested, they can find info on the internet, and have a chance of seeing thru the hype.

      - CO2 is 380 parts per million of the air. this works out to 2 feet per mile.

      - water vapor content varies- at a median value of 2%, there would be about 100 feet per mile of this  very effective greenhouse gas.

      - we're not questioning that CO2  retains  heat- the dubious part is the "catastrophic, runaway, positive feedback" concept,  requiring drastic, disastrous remedies.

     I think our remedies should be limited to things that we should do anyway - reduce our oil usage by: reducing speed limits, and taxing petroleum would reduce CO2 more than  a " cap & trade "  bureaurocracy and tax system - that'd be more of a sneaky power grab.

      oil is a major part of our trade imbalance- we import a half trillion dollars worth. our profligate consumption keeps the price high. foreigners must resent this , and with justice. liquid fuels are far more practical for mobile uses. We should conserve it, so that future generations will have some for their fire trucks & ambulances.

Answer 3

Thats the dumbest thing I've ever heard besides the end of the world (2012). And yes, INsane people believe that.

Answer 4

Ted Turner -his comments are so out of this world and without fact. Cannibals?  Jeez. Google the great global warming hoax. Have a nice day!

Answer 5

I'm very intrigued to hear what Ted Turner has to say about the weather.  What's next - Mike Tyson on marine biology?

Answer 6

Some, but not me.  Ted Turner?  I believe the real scientists.  What they say (the vast majority) is:

It won't be a Hollywood movie style disaster. Gradually coastal areas will flood and agriculture will be damaged. But it will be very bad. Rich countries will cope, but it will take huge amounts of money. In poor countries many people will die of starvation, but not all of them.

They also they we can avoid the worst by taking action to reduce it now.

Good enough for me.

Answer 7

Ted Turner said that, then it must be so.  Now I'm really scared.  Is this the same Ted Turner who goes around breaking up marriages?

Answer 8

No they do not. Do you know Ted Turner? Do not believe people like that. Look to science.

Answer 9

It's not only sane to consider possible scenarios, it's prudent.

As we reach peak oil production in the next couple of years, civilization will have some very bad times due to the skyrocketing cost of oil, regardless of what global warming is doing to our food supplies at the time:

Ten Ways to Prepare for a Post-Oil Society

http://www.agoracosmopolitan.com/home/Fr...

As for global warming, here's one possible scenario that the Pentagon has studied for global riots and anarchy in about 12 years:

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/...

Already, according to Randall and Schwartz, the planet is carrying a higher population than it can sustain. By 2020 'catastrophic' shortages of water and energy supply will become increasingly harder to overcome, plunging the planet into war. They warn that 8,200 years ago climatic conditions brought widespread crop failure, famine, disease and mass migration of populations that could soon be repeated.

Randall told The Observer that the potential ramifications of rapid climate change would create global chaos. 'This is depressing stuff,' he said. 'It is a national security threat that is unique because there is no enemy to point your guns at and we have no control over the threat.'

Randall added that it was already possibly too late to prevent a disaster happening. 'We don't know exactly where we are in the process. It could start tomorrow and we would not know for another five years,' he said.

'The consequences for some nations of the climate change are unbelievable. It seems obvious that cutting the use of fossil fuels would be worthwhile.'

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The Pentagon isn't saying that it's the most likely scenario for 2020, but we have no firm plan for reducing the greenhouse gas emissions of the two largest sources, China and the U.S., so we do seem to have a very bleak outlook for the future, whether it's 2020 or some other date.

"The bottom line is that recent observations and research make clear the planet almost certainly faces a greater and more imminent threat than is laid out in the IPCC reports. That's why climate scientists are so desperate. That's why they keep begging for immediate action. "

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/0...

Ted Turner's scenario has a timeframe 18-28 years after the Pentagon one, which provides a lot of room for further decline.

The U.S. will conduct war games this Summer to simulate these types of scenarios, putting down "civil disobedience".  That's right, they're going to simulate deploying our own troops on our own soil (which was banned by the Posse Comitatus Act in 1878 following the Civil War, but has quietly been overturned in recent years).

U.S. experts will stage climate war game

http://www.upi.com/International_Securit...

"U.S. foreign affairs and military experts will stage a war game this summer to study and highlight the national security threats posed by global warming.

The exercise, being staged by a coalition of seven think tanks and other non-profits called the Climate Change Consortium, will get technical assistance from the U.S. National Laboratory at Oak Ridge, Tenn., a statement from the organizers said Tuesday.

It said the exercise would be held in Washington July 27-28 and would be the first of two."

The people who have applied our best minds to the most recent data have concluded that our outlook may not be at all rosy.  It would be insane to ignore their preparations.

Scientists say that we still have time to prevent the worst case scenarios, but not much.  Is it sane to do nothing and simply allow those scenarios to come about?

Answer 10

Yes-- though it will probably start breaking down then and die slowly. There will be "islands" of civilization here and there.

Answer 11

I'm not sure.  Do you know any?

Answer 12

I understand where this guy is getting that. People can believe whatever they want, that doesn't mean you should call them stupid.

My personal beliefs are that, we will suffer. A bunch.

Answer 13

1000% I agree. All the polar ice is melting and will bring the seas up about 20 to 30 feet and with all the polution in the atmosphere we are getting hotter with global warming.  After that we go into a ICE age for a few million years. If anyone servives it will be amazing.