Top scientists declared in a report last week that climate change is a man-made threat to the globe, but that doesn’t mean the debate is over in the court of public opinion.
Many Americans remained unconvinced. “If we stop global warming, we will slide into the next cooling cycle sooner, sliding into the next Ice Age sooner,” wrote “Dreamer” in a fierce debate on the issue at , an issues-based community. “Which is better, a few degrees warmer with a higher ocean level or an Ice Age? Those appear to be the choices.”
Another HOTSOUP participant called “Rrose” said the United Nation’s report issued by scientists from 113 countries should not be ignored. “Human beings have, since the industrial revolution, been making short work of ‘conquering the wilderness,’ but irrationally refuse to acknowledge that there's nothing inevitable about human survival as a species.”
“Our survival is reliant on relatively fragile natural systems, whether we admit it or not,” Rrose wrote. “If we break them, we're done.”
Ian Broverman, a suburban Washington engineer, sought to find consensus in the debate. “There seems to be enough evidence that the earth is warming, and that warming will create situations that will definitely not be a rollicking good time for our species,” he wrote. “If there's still debate on what is causing this, wouldn’t it make sense to spend more research dollars on investigating the causes, and ways to prevent the warming? Would everyone be in agreement on this?”
The answer is no, Ian, because the argument continues at HOTSOUP and elsewhere. “The whole ‘is global warming real?’ debate seems pointless to me,” wrote one frustrated participant.
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