There is no doubt that this issue is politicized. But I think people approach the problem in the wrong fashion. To me it isn't important if humanity is the cause or is not the cause of climate change.
We know that there is an extremely strong correlation between carbon dioxide levels and temperatures. As CO2 increases so does temperature. Through ice cores we know that there were periods that experienced higher temperatures. One period of time, labeled the bronze age, was substantially hotter than our current temperatures today. Of course, people that are for the use of fossil fuels jump on that statement and say it is natural for the planet to warm and cool. This statement is true, but you also have to look at the complete picture. There is no doubt that current modern society is burning hydrocarbons at a pretty high rate. This releases CO2 into the atmosphere. Whether or not this caused the shift in temperature is not important, what is important is that we are contributing to further warming of the planet. There is absolutely no debate there.
This is really dangerous. The planet is known to have numerous feedback processes that we understand and that we don't understand. This is a fancy word for snowball processes. This basically means the added warming and CO2 that is released into the atmosphere is going to enact processes that enable conditions to further perpetuate those processes.
What is also given, is that the world will cool after a period of warmth. And, there have been multiple ice ages after periods of warmth. Sure we will not experience it in our lifetime, but we could very well determine the fate of the future human race by continually burning fossil fuels, when there is absolutely no reason to be burning them. Water, wind, and solar energy (does not include geothermal or space based solar energy) could provide the entire nation power at half the cost per watt/hour. The power would be cheaper. The power would be near limitless in supply. Our grid would be clean, and we could use access energy to store away the excess CO2 diminishing the effects of climate change. Extra power could be used to separate water into hydrogen and oxygen. Hydrogen could be used to fuel transportation systems, with the byproduct being water. And that is not all.
We could also individually power every home with renewables now.
We could also build a space based solar powered grid. This could provide power to the entire globe three times over. The extra power we would have would be absolutely crazy, and we could harness it in so many ways. The cost of power would be half of what we pay for it now.
We have the technology to do this. It is efficient enough. There is an economical reason to do this -- we would save money. There are environmental reasons to do this -- it would curb the effects of CO2 concentrations, help ensure the survival of humanity, and is just plain healthier for the planet. With regards to resource allocation, this frees up other resources to be used for other means. The only reason why this is not being moved forward is social and political.
Big interests and lobbying are keeping the transition to a renewable grid from moving forward.
There is a false perceivement by the public that with current technology we could not satisfy power demand and that it is too expensive. Any transition is going to cost money. There is always going to be an upfront cost. But the amount of money saved in the long haul is unparamount with renewable energies. It would cost about 1-2 cents/kWh. We would save money. And, excluding geothermal and space based systems, everyone's power demands would be met.
The purpose of the debate on whether or not humanity is responsible for this is to halt people from really examining the entire situation. It does not matter if we are responsible or not. What does matter is that we are contributing to the warming of the planet and will make the warming more intense, which would therefore intensify the cooling of the planet. We could transition to other means for energy. It makes the most logical sense. But really rich people wouldn't make as much money. They view every single resource of the planet as exploitable regardless of the consequences from that exploitation, and will find a way to keep humanity from transitioning to renewables. This is the purpose of the debate. It isn't about the planet. It isn't about CO2 emissions. It isn't about what is best for everyone. It is about the financial interest of the energy companies that are trying to maximize their profits by consuming the entire world's resources.
