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wedrifid comments on You're Entitled to Arguments, But Not (That Particular) Proof - Less Wrong
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Global warming is benign, though. The changes are generally positive. The idea of warming causing an expensive disaster that stalls economic and technological development is a fearmongering fantasy - and is not supported by science. The faster warming happens, the more quickly the Earth's carrying capacity will go up, the more food we will be able to grow, the faster the deserts, arid regions and icy-wastelands will vanish, and the more minds and resources we will have to dedicate to our real problems.
Those who want to stop warming appear to have identified technological development as the cause of the problem in the first place - and seem to be doing what they can to sabotage development - by restricting the access to resources by businesses - thereby attempting to cut off their air supply. My assessment is that such behaviour is likely to have a destructive effect that increases the planet's risk of reglaciation.
Ok, icy wastelands I can see. But the deserts and arid regions? Our deserts here in Australia seem to have more than enough heat already. And the most fertile land is that which is right near the coast, ready to be covered in salty water as the ice melts. Then all we would have left is desert.
According to Jared Diamond's book Collapse, Australia's biggest agriculture problem is a lack of good topsoil; you really can't farm it very well because if you don't return the nutrients from the plants to the soil by not harvesting, you end up unable to grow much of anything at all a year later.
Deserts are mostly an ice-age phenomenon. The positive effects of increased evaporation and precipitation eventually dominate as temperatures rise. Check with the humidity rises in northern Australia to see the effect - or see:
"Sahara desert goes green, thanks to warming"
Increased precipitation may also mean more hurricanes and other destructive storms. :(
Regardless of whether the ultimate effects of global warming are a net positive or negative, there are likely to be costly disruptions, as areas currently good for agriculture and/or habitation cease to be good for them, even if they're replaced by other areas.
Exactly.
I'm sure we can both produce a long list of positive and negative effects of global warming. Picking out items from the "negative" list does not constitute much of an argument - you have to look at the big picture.