# What are the benefits to Global Climate Change? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 10, 2012, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-benefits-to-global-climate-change/640627 "2012-11-10T22:32:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-benefits-to-global-climate-change/640627/61 "2012-11-13T03:18:52Z")
> [@XT](#): > > And this is different than what I said how, exactly? For instance, I never said that we shouldn’t continue to try and mitigate our CO2 footprint, or not have an energy policy…you seem to be using a tape recorder to respond. What I responded to was to what you posted: “we’d collectively be best served trying to anticipate the change and plan for and deal with the consequences then to spin our wheels dreaming about large shifts in our CO2 footprint that seem unlikely to happen.” That indeed sounds like we should not try as it is a “dream”. Besides that, now it is my turn to point out that I’m also not saying something with much of a difference too, the point here is that there are many people in power that are not dealing with that change either. Shifts will indeed not happen and they will be more unlikely if we let them continue to prevent change. > **[Why Oil Companies Don't Want us Talking about Climate Change | OilPrice.com](https://oilprice.com/The-Environment/Global-Warming/Why-Oil-Companies-Dont-Want-us-Talking-about-Climate-Change.html)** > > A look at why climate change has become so sparsely talked about even though the evidence to support it stacks up. The oil companies are driving this ignorance because their wealth > [@](#): > > When I talked about a carbon bubble at the beginning of this essay, this is what I meant. Here are some of the relevant numbers, courtesy of the Capital Institute: we’re already seeing widespread climate disruption, but if we want to avoid utter, civilization-shaking disaster, many scientists have pointed to a two-degree rise in global temperatures as the most we could possibly deal with. > > If we spew 565 gigatons more carbon into the atmosphere, we’ll quite possibly go right past that reddest of red lines. But the oil companies, private and state-owned, have current reserves on the books equivalent to 2,795 gigatons – five times more than we can ever safely burn. It has to stay in the ground. > > Put another way, in ecological terms it would be extremely prudent to write off $20 trillion worth of those reserves. In economic terms, of course, it would be a disaster, first and foremost for shareholders and executives of companies like ExxonMobil (and people in places like Venezuela). > > If you run an oil company, this sort of write-off is the disastrous future staring you in the face as soon as climate change is taken as seriously as it should be, and that’s far scarier than drought and flood. It’s why you’ll do anything – including fund an endless campaigns of lies – to avoid coming to terms with its reality. So instead, we simply charge ahead. To take just one example, last month the boss of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Thomas Donohue, called for burning all the country’s newly discovered coal, gas, and oil – believed to be 1,800 gigatons worth of carbon from our nation alone. > > What he and the rest of the energy-industrial elite are denying, in other words, is that the business models at the centre of our economy are in the deepest possible conflict with physics and chemistry. The carbon bubble that looms over our world needs to be deflated soon. As with our fiscal crisis, failure to do so will cause enormous pain – pain, in fact, almost beyond imagining. After all, if you think banks are too big to fail, consider the climate as a whole and imagine the nature of the bailout that would face us when that bubble finally bursts. > > Unfortunately, it won’t burst by itself – not in time, anyway. The fossil-fuel companies, with their heavily funded denialism and their record campaign contributions, have been able to keep at bay even the tamest efforts at reining in carbon emissions. With each passing day, they’re leveraging us deeper into an unpayable carbon debt – and with each passing day, they’re raking in unimaginable returns. ExxonMobil last week reported its 2011 profits at $41 billion, the second highest of all time. Do you wonder who owns the record? That would be ExxonMobil in 2008 at $45 billion. > > Telling the truth about climate change would require pulling away the biggest punchbowl in history, right when the party is in full swing. That’s why the fight is so pitched. That’s why those of us battling for the future need to raise our game. And it’s why that view from the satellites, however beautiful from a distance, is likely to become ever harder to recognize as our home planet. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-benefits-to-global-climate-change/640627/62 "2012-11-13T03:20:21Z")
> [@XT](#): > > Oh, come on…the demise of Ice Road Truckers has GOT to be worth all the pain of global climate change!! I agree… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-benefits-to-global-climate-change/640627/63 "2012-11-13T03:31:33Z")
[QUOTE=GIGObuster] What I responded to was to what you posted: “we’d collectively be best served trying to anticipate the change and plan for and deal with the consequences then to spin our wheels dreaming about large shifts in our CO2 footprint that seem unlikely to happen.” [/QUOTE] Why only respond to half of that sentence, let alone to the rest of my post there though?? > [@](#): > > That indeed sounds like we should not try as it is a “dream”. But that’s not what I actually said, nor the overall thrust of my point there. I never said we shouldn’t continue our efforts at a stronger energy policy, nor stop our efforts for alternative technology…merely that it IS a dream to think that any of this is going to happen rapidly, unless you mean in the next 2 to 3 (or more) decades. It’s going to be that long before we really turn the corner, IMHO, at the current rates of change…especially since I doubt we are going to see a large revival of nuclear in the US (or any revival at all), and longer still for market forces to really start making hybrid or AEV technology a major contender for market share in the US. There are literally hundreds of millions of ICE vehicles on American roads, and it’s going to take a long time for that to shift significantly…and in the mean time, millions of new ICE vehicles are not only going on our roads each year but on roads in China and India (and Europe for that matter), and it’s going to take time for that to change significantly. On the positive side though, mileage and emissions are improving, and the older vehicles are slowly being replaced by newer, more fuel efficient and cleaner ICE vehicles…and the new stuff in China and India are better than the older vehicles in the US, so that’s something. > [@](#): > > Besides that, now it is my turn to point out that I’m also not saying much a different thing, the point here is that there are many people in power that are not dealing with that change either. Shifts will indeed not happen and they will be more unlikely if we let them continue to prevent change. I think we ARE changing, and those in power are being slowly shifted by that change…but, again, it’s going to take time. Years, decades. Obama has a chance to craft a policy right now that will make significant changes…if he doesn’t try and do too much too soon and get a ton of additional push back (well, ok…he’s going to get pushback if he tries to say that the sky is blue). I think the public is ready for some realistic change and tightening of our energy policy…but not to the extent that is going to make any immediate or large scale change TODAY. Or tomorrow or next year…or 10 years from now. The public isn’t ready for it, not just in the US but in any of the 1st world nations, at least not IMHO. and if the public isn’t ready, you can be certain the politicians aren’t, since it’s the public who elect those guys. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-benefits-to-global-climate-change/640627/64 "2012-11-13T03:47:59Z")
Not sure that it was an informed public though. As the latest Frontline expose, _Climate of Doubt_ showed, > **[Climate of Doubt | FRONTLINE](https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/documentary/climate-of-doubt/)** > > FRONTLINE explores the massive shift in public opinion on climate change. It is clear that most of the ones elected that are against change were funded and helped to be elected by the same groups that have an interest in denying that that change is taking place. Most of the media has (liberal media my hiney!) not reported much on the issue, however most polls show that most Americans are concerned about this, and it seems to me that many more Republicans (virtually all the ones that deny this issue in congress are) would had gone to defeat in the past elections if the people had been aware of how crazy their representatives are on this issue, just as what happened when people found out how cuckoo several of them were regarding rape and pregnancy, virtually all of the rape guys were defeated. Our job IMHO is to keep vigilance on what the current House will do and press them hard if they do not do the right thing. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-benefits-to-global-climate-change/640627/65 "2012-11-13T03:55:40Z")
[QUOTE=GIGObuster] It is clear that most of the ones elected that are against change were funded by the same groups that have an interest in denying that that change is taking place. [/QUOTE] Sure, and as the public becomes better informed, and as things like this latest perfect storm that hit the east coast causes the public to consider more, that’s going to shift…to a certain extent. However, again, that’s only going to go so far, even with a public fully on board, because we are talking about those 100’s of millions of cars and addiction to electricity, much of which is going to remain mainly produced by some sort of fossil fuel system for the foreseeable future. Nuclear is pretty much a dead issue, and wind and solar are decades away from being significant contributors…if then. I agree, informing the public IS a major step, and I think that’s happening and should continue to be pushed. I think new energy policies should be pushed, as well as every increasing bars for fuel efficiency in our vehicles…but you are only going to be able to push those things so far and so fast, and in the end we are going to have to deal with the climate change that’s already happening and is going to continue to happen as more heat energy is input into our global system. Anyway, I know the OP wants to focus on the positives, but from where I’m sitting there aren’t a hell of a lot of those…certainly, the balance seems to be negatives from a global perspective. But, negative or positive, we are going to have to deal with this for the rest of the life times of every poster on this board…certainly, for the rest of my own, and I plan to live another hundred years or so with the new medical technology I’m convinced is right around the corner. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-benefits-to-global-climate-change/640627/66 "2012-11-13T04:08:53Z")
Tourist will no longer ruin Venice. Lots of new seaside real estate opportunities will open up far inland. Sales of sweatbands and neck kerchiefs will skyrocket. Waterworld will go from looking like a joke to being hailed as a prophetic masterpiece. But this will really only benefit Kevin Costner. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-benefits-to-global-climate-change/640627/67 "2012-11-13T04:26:22Z")
[QUOTE=Aquadementia] Waterworld will go from looking like a joke to being hailed as a prophetic masterpiece. But this will really only benefit Kevin Costner. [/QUOTE] Even if you got God involved somehow with the magical waters from the deep it’s never going to make that dog look either prophetic OR a masterpiece. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-benefits-to-global-climate-change/640627/68 "2012-11-13T16:11:53Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > This is one of the things that makes climate change such a hard sell in Canada - we’ll get warmer? WooHoo! Bring it on! And Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana as well 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-benefits-to-global-climate-change/640627/69 "2012-11-14T14:22:21Z")
Speaking of benefits, my hardy banana plant got 12 feet tall this year. And if we get a decent storm, it’ll be surf’s up at Buckeye Lake. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-benefits-to-global-climate-change/640627.md?page=3)