When I first heard of global warming I thought it was ludicrous because I could remember a number of years ago reading about the coming ice age and all the evidence for that.
(Not saying you still believe this, but note): To the extent that was predicted at all and was not simply popular press inflation of a contrarian viewpoint, it was due to aerosol air pollution, which drastically reduced starting in the 1970s.
if you do not change what China, India, and Africa are doing you are for all intents and purposes doing nothing but rendering the US and Europe less important and powerful in the future of earth.
1) Germany has been putting a lot of effort into this. How's their economy doing, again? Seems all right.
2) Fossil fuels are inherently limited, [edit:] and[/edit] you don't need a very long term before relying on them begins to seem like a false economy. Fossil fuels as a whole may still be growing as fast as ever, but oil's growth has slowed down. Even if global warming weren't happening at all, we'd be better off getting ourselves significantly freer of oil over the next decade or two.
3) IF they don't change... well, it's not as if these are entirely independent. If we put in real efforts, we'll have a lot better standing to demand that they change. Our doing nothing has been their excuse to do nothing for nearly 20 years.
4) As you alluded, there are cheap and VERY expensive ways of mitigating CO2 release.
2) Fossil fuels are inherently limited, [edit:] and[/edit] you don't need a very long term before relying on them begins to seem like a false economy. Fossil fuels as a whole may still be growing as fast as ever, but oil's growth has slowed down. Even if global warming weren't happening at all, we'd be better off getting ourselves significantly freer of oil over the next decade or two.
In a free market, so long as the interest rates are not too high, depleting fossil fuel reserves would raise fossil fuel prices decreasing fossil fuel consumption, with no...
Note: Please see this post of mine for more on the project, my sources, and potential sources for bias.
I have written a couple of blog posts on my understanding of climate forecasting, climate change, and the Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) hypothesis (here and here). I also laid down the sources I was using to inform myself here.
I think one question that a number of readers may have had is: given my lack of knowledge (and unwillingness to undertake extensive study) of the subject, why am I investigating it at all, rather than relying on the expert consensus, as documented by the IPCC that, even if we're not sure is correct, is still the best bet humanity has for getting things right? I intend to elaborate on the reasons for taking a closer look at the matter, while still refraining from making the study of atmospheric science a full-time goal, in a future post.
Right now, I'm curious to hear how you formed your views on climate change. In particular, I'm interested in answers to questions such as these (not necessarily answers to all of them, or even to only these questions).