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This is not an apt analogy. > I ask whats going to happen when the building gets hotter quickly and get 10 different answers. It shouldn't be surprising that

This is not an apt analogy. > I ask whats going to happen when the building gets hotter quickly and get 10 different answers. It shouldn't be surprising that there isn't one clear answer. Earth is a complex system, and it is changing in many ways right now. > I ask if it's actually even bad that the building is getting hotter quickly and everyone says "Of course it is! It's never heated up this fast before!" The pace of global warming is indeed a problem, as organisms cannot migrate or adapt fast enough. Forest ecosystems, for example, may not be able to migrate to cooler latitudes or elevations. [1] > I also wonder why none of the engineers suggested opening the windows instead of producing less heat. Not an option. Except for the sunlight streaming in, our planet is a closed system. A spaceship[2] may be a better analogy. [1] http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/09/130915-climate-change-amazon-rain-forest-science/ http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/09/130915-clima... [2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaceship_Earth https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaceship_Earth

semi-extrinsic 10y ago
> Not an option. Actually, it is an option. Either we can take CO2 out of the atmosphere and put it back underground where it came from; or we could start doing climate engineering to increase the reflectivity of Earth (less sunlight in), using water vapor clouds at low altitude or aerosols at high altitude; or we could put up a big shade in space between us and the sun. Are those expensive and difficult things? Definitely. But all of them are possible.
- cardamomo 10y ago
  I guess I was thinking more literally: the Earth does not have large windows we can use to exchange air with the outside environment. Carbon sequestration doesn't remove CO2 from our "spaceship," though it may help.
  - mitchty 10y ago
    Why would you want to completely remove CO2 from the earth and not sequester it? There is a bunch of useful carbon and oxygen in it that you can at least leave for future humans to use if its sequestered.

semi-extrinsic 10y ago

> Not an option. Actually, it is an option. Either we can take CO2 out of the atmosphere and put it back underground where it came from; or we could start doing climate engineering to increase the reflectivity of Earth (less sunlight in), using water vapor clouds at low altitude or aerosols at high altitude; or we could put up a big shade in space between us and the sun. Are those expensive and difficult things? Definitely. But all of them are possible.

cardamomo 10y ago
I guess I was thinking more literally: the Earth does not have large windows we can use to exchange air with the outside environment. Carbon sequestration doesn't remove CO2 from our "spaceship," though it may help.
- mitchty 10y ago
  Why would you want to completely remove CO2 from the earth and not sequester it? There is a bunch of useful carbon and oxygen in it that you can at least leave for future humans to use if its sequestered.