The new monument to an ancient puissance and splendor: an obelisk with a universally understandable message reading “Look on my works mistakes, ye mighty or humble, and learn from them*. We were warned. We did nothing. Worse, we attacked those who warned us. Worst of all, we condemned millions to death and drowned five millennia of civilization. Learn.”
Someday, I hope we build a monument (on high ground) and chisel the names of every prominent climate-change “skeptic” on it, to shame them for all eternity. But for that plan to work, they would need to have shame in the first place.
In 10,000 years, someone may compare Stonehenge, Chichen Itza, and this new monument and marvel at how cyclical human civilizations are. Perhaps they will recognize the self-deluding, self-destructive tendencies before it’s too late. The original post details some evidence that the effects of climate change are no longer linear, that positive feedback is accelerating the process: the melting of glaciers warms the water at the polar regions which in turn is melting ice sheets that have been frozen for millennia.
Something causes warmer conditions.
As a result, some snow and ice melts.
This lowers the surface albedo.
Lower albedo causes more solar radiation to be absorbed at the surface.
More absorption of solar radiation causes warmer conditions.
Go back to Step 2.
If this is right, then the process rolls along until some external force changes it’s course, as implacable as a river or a landslide.
My, what a cheerful thought for a beautiful Sunday morning.
* Apologies to Shelley.