Do we understand climate change?
Many blamed the city's furnace...
I’ve encountered climate change in the years before 2005 as very hot summer days in Bucharest, the capital city of Romania, East Europe country.
The normal temperature of a summer day in a continental temperate zone was a maximum of 30 deg C, but now I experienced 40 day after day... The street pavement was melting, the water was hot if left in a car, people passed out on street because of the heat, car steering wheels were burning hands, air conditioning was in great demand...
Many blamed the city's furnace... but I believed even then that it was more than that, and that it was already a manifestation of the climate changes discussed by some. Obviously I had nothing to support my point of view, but that's what I believed deep in my heart.
Years have passed and things are now more evident...fires, drought, melting glaciers, melting poles, many more and often extreme events are now the new norm.
...as an engineer used to engineering logic, I have a problem...
It becomes very difficult to ignore climate change, especially if it is a large insurance company that has to pay for damages resulting from extreme weather events or governments dealing with the large destruction of a wildfire.
Fewer people now believe that climate change is not a reality, more people today believe that climate change is happening in our lifetime...including me.
So, I've established, I'm not a "climate skeptic", I truly believe that things are changing at our own pace around us.
However, as an engineer used to engineering logic, I have a problem.
My problem is that I have yet to see a proper analysis of climate change and especially the causes.
...we are just shooting in the dark…
I have not seen a solid study that looks at the causes of climate change and informs the public about these three options:
- Are human activities the cause of change?
- Is a natural oscillation of the Earth's state the cause of the change?
- A combination of the above?
The purpose of this text is not to support or disagree with any of the possibilities, but to emphasize the need for proper study to determine and understand the causes of the phenomenon.
The point is that without properly understanding the causes, humanity cannot provide an effective response to the challenge of climate change. Without this understanding, we are just shooting in the dark…
Without feasible energy sources, we cannot expand beyond Earth.
I want to make one last point.
I'm not a fan of burning hydrocarbons, but not because I have anything particularly against it.
I'm not a fan simply because we can't get energy in outer space by burning oil and gas, and as long as we're comfortable burning oil and gas on Earth, we'll have no special incentive to intensively search for new technologies for energy sources in space.
Without feasible energy sources, we cannot expand beyond Earth.
If today's political leaders on Earth are pushing the economy toward renewables and other alternative energy sources as they pursue the technological leap that allows humanity to expand into space, then I'm already a big fan of them.
However, if this is the case, I would appreciate some honest input.