Blog 8: IPCC says the same old thing

Summary:
The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released their latest report last Monday and the news is pretty much still the same. The scientists described many catastrophic scenarios for various nations around the world, focusing mostly on conditions worsening in areas that are currently being impacted. The most interesting aspect of this new report is the focus on worsening social problems as a result of a planet in upheaval. Lack of access to food and medicine, eruptions of violent conflict due to resource scarcity, and the spread of disease top the list as major areas of concern for the world. The current report utilized countless instances of "proof" that climate change is taking place, and urged a reversal of our current energy sources.

Analysis:
While I do believe in climate change, I also believe that this issue is just too big for the average person to wrap their head around. For those that do understand the risks associated with climate change, you must consider that many people will fall victim to the free rider problem. It's overwhelming. If climate change has already progressed as much as the IPCC claims, how are we to ever reverse it? It seems that at this point, climate change could only be reversed by a 100% reversal of civilization overnight, and that is not going to happen. What if climate change is supposed to happen as a defense mechanism for Earth itself? Since most of the world's population lives near the coast, maybe this is just a natural cleansing method. Disease also spreads pretty easily through water. My suggestion would be for people to prepare as much as possible for a changing climate, and to focus more effort on local environmental problems. We probably do not have time to change the way the entire world operates, so we might as well focus on making our local communities more sustainable and environmentally friendly and more prepared to endure the coming storms.

Link:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/30/un-climate-change-report_n_5060317.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular,climate-change