Now comes news that strikes at the heart of every greenie - with all that we are doing to improve the environment and stop global warming, it may not make a bit of difference. This is hard news to take. What is a self-professed “tree hugger” to do?
The Bad News
Yes, you heard it right. Some climate change is irreversible, according to a report released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Earth System Research Laboratory on January 26, 2009. “People have imagined that if we stopped emitting carbon dioxide the climate would go back to normal in 100 years, 200 years; that’s not true,” climate researcher Susan Solomon said in a teleconference. The truth is some of the damage is already done, and there isn’t much we can do to change it in our lifetimes.
One of the biggest culprits in the planet’s warm-up is carbon dioxide. Not only because of the “greenhouse effect,” but because it takes hundreds of years to break down. Other gases take much less time. We are currently dealing with not only our own emissions, but possibly the emissions from centuries ago as well. And our actions today will influence the environment of generations to come.
So what can we do?
