PRO

  • PRO

    According to The Center For Biological Diversity, the...

    Acceleration Of Climate Change

    According to The Center For Biological Diversity, the world’s climate is changing as a result of the burning of fossil fuels. The burning of fossil fuels creates carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide traps heat in the atmosphere, and this causes the world’s temperature to rise. This is likely to reduce the amount of arable land on Earth, and it will cause food prices to increase. Furthermore, climate change is likely to result in rising sea levels. There even are major cities that could be flooded. As the population increases, the production of fossil fuels will increase. This is likely to result in climate change occurring at an increasingly rapid pace.

    • https://debatewise.org/2123-should-we-be-concerned-about-population-growth/
  • PRO

    1] While attributing individual events to climate change...

    Climate change is already costing lives

    Lives are already being lost to climate change; a report by Climate Vulnerability Monitor estimates that already almost 5million are lost per year to climate change, even without the distorting numbers from pollution there are 400,000 deaths per year.[1] While attributing individual events to climate change is difficult research by climate scientists suggests that the lack long rains in Somalia in early 2011 is between 24 and 99% the result of greenhouse gasses.  This famine has killed between 50 and 100 thousand people.[2] With lives being lost the urgency of funding adaptation to reduce these loses is clear.   [1] Climate Vulnerability Monitor, ‘A Guide to the cold calculus of a hot planet’, DARA, September 2012, http://www.daraint.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/CVM2ndEd-FrontMatter.pdf, p.17 [2] Straziuso, Jason, ‘Global warming may have fueled Somali drought’, Phys.org, 15 May 2013, http://phys.org/news/2013-03-human-climate-big-factor-somali.html

  • PRO

    It is through heavy industrialisation that developed...

    The developed world is mostly to blame for climate change

    It is through heavy industrialisation that developed countries are developed – since they contributed more to climate change, they have a greater obligation to resolve it. Climate change has largely been caused by long-term emissions by developed countries. While China is now the world’s biggest CO2 emitter and other developing countries emissions are rapidly rising historically the vast majority of emissions have been from developed nations. From 1900 to 2004 the United States produced 314,772 million metric tonnes of CO2 compared to China’s 89,243 million metric tonnes and while India now produces more CO2 Germany over the same period emitted three times as much.[1] As CO2 can remain in the atmosphere for a long time, about 50% will be removed within 30 years, but 20% or more may remain for thousands of years, the history of emissions is as relevant as current emissions.[2] Since they contribute more of the damage, and since each nation has a responsibility for the harm it has caused, developed nations have an increased obligation to combat climate change. [1] Vaughn, Adam, ‘A history of CO2 emissions’, Datablog guardian.co.uk, 2 September 2009, http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/datablog/2009/sep/02/co2-emissions... [2] Inman, Mason, ‘Carbon is forever’, Nature Reports Climate Change, 20 November 2008, http://www.nature.com/climate/2008/0812/full/climate.2008.122.html

  • PRO

    We all have some responsibility for climate change. ......

    Dealing with climate change – regulations versus market methods

    We all have some responsibility for climate change. Our lifestyles result in large amounts of carbo...

  • PRO

    The sun drives the global climate

    Man made climate change is a myth

    The sun drives the global climate

    • https://debatewise.org/debates/1757-man-made-climate-change-is-a-myth/
  • PRO

    Moreover these same places are the countries that have...

    Developed countries have the greatest capacity to combat climate change.

    It is the developed world that has the capability to combat climate change. It is they that have most to cut per capita. More importantly it is these developed countries that have the research capabilities to come up with the necessary technology to make the economy greener, to produce renewable energy, to mitigate against the effects of disasters. Moreover these same places are the countries that have the finance available to fund these activities; not only funding the research into the solutions but also the financial resources to put them into action all around the world. Poor countries turn to the powerful financial centres such as London and New York to finance large projects, the same will be the case with projects to mitigate climate change. Finally these countries have the expertise to put these new inventions and projects into practice; they have the experts to work out the best places to build, to advise on building, and make sure the project does not have unintended side effects. As the nations with the greatest capability, developed nations have an increased responsibility to act.

  • PRO

    I would first recommend reading [The Green New...

    CMV: The Green New Deal distracts from climate change, by tying climate change to left-leaning policy/rhetoric. The bill seems designed to raise republican opposition, and is a disappointment/insulting for people who believe that climate change is the #1 issue of our lifetime.

    I would first recommend reading [The Green New Deal](https://www.congress.gov/116/bills/hres109/BILLS-116hres109ih.pdf) if you haven't already, its about 14 pages, with huge spacing (about 3-4 real pages). But to summarize the bill in my own words, the Green New Deal calls for essentially every democratic agenda to be passed into law(to include climate change). As a democrat, I agree with most of the agenda items(it's literally the democratic agenda), but there is something wrong with creating a bill like this. By tying together climate change, and a plethora of other issues, like equal protection and rights for illegal immigrants, government-run(?) healthcare for all, etc, it is ensuring intense opposition by non democrats. Since I do not believe any rational human being could read the bill, and think it would get bi partisan support, my view is that there was no real intention of ever getting the bill passed into law/policy. (Sure, the gender wage gap is important, so are Native American rights... But there's no need to make that stand on a climate change bill, and doing so is insulting to the Americans who want to see huge climate change initiatives as our national policy) **The abridged, loose, logical argument:** Premise 1) If you want a bill to get passed into law, when possible, you will write it in a bi partisan way. Premise 2) Climate change can be written in a Bi-Partisan way Premise 3) The Green New Deal was not written in a bi partisan way(or was written in a partisan way). Conclusion) The Green New Deal was not written to be passed into law. (And this disappoints me, because in my opinion, climate change is the #1 issue of my lifetime.) \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ Edit 1: I learned that the intent of the bill wasn't necessarily to pass something into law, but more of a political statement or some sort of rally cry. Not sure how I feel about that one or what changes, but its worth noting. (its a function of a specific type of house resolution) Edit 2: After reading some of these posts, I now realize that the Green New Deal is actually divisive within the democratic party, and received a (soft) "bipartisan" rejection in the senate. This seems to indicate the increased importance of having a specific targeted bill, as it seemed some senators did not want to go on record supporting it, because of what it said.

  • PRO

    It is the sun that is the driving force of our climate...

    The sun drives the global climate

    It is the sun that is the driving force of our climate and so it makes sense that it has the biggest impact on our climate rather than anything that humans might be doing. The sun is therefore the most likely cause of global warming. Professor Henrik Svensmark, a physicist at the Danish National Space Center in Copenhagen argues that climate change is caused by solar activity.[[Louise Gray, 'Copenhagen climate summit: global warming 'caused by sun's radiation'', The Telegraph, 8/12/09, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/copenhagen-climate-change-confe/6762640/Copenhagen-climate-summit-global-warming-caused-by-suns-radiation.html%5D%5D Solar activity, as determined by sunspot activity, is historically high being at its highest over the last 60-70 years for over 8000 years. Solar activity could affect climate by variation in the Sun's output or potentially through having an effect on cloud formation. Solanski et al. Sunspot numbers and cosmic ray fluxes... show correlations and anti-correlations with a number of reconstructions of the terrestrial Northern Hemisphere temperature, which cover a time span of up to 1800 years. This indicates that periods of higher solar activity and lower cosmic ray flux tend to be associated with warmer climate, and vice versa... This suggests that effects induced by cosmic rays may affect the long-term terrestrial climate. The positive correlation between the geomagnetic dipole moment and the temperature reconstructions provides further evidence favoring the cosmic ray influence on the terrestrial climate. [[I.G. Usoskin, S.K. Solanski, M. Schussler, K. Mursula, Solar activity, cosmic rays, and Earth’s temperature: A millennium-scale comparison, 1/10/05 http://cc.oulu.fi/~usoskin/personal/2004ja010964.pdf%5D%5D

    • https://debatewise.org/debates/1757-man-made-climate-change-is-a-myth/
  • PRO

    Our lifestyles result in large amounts of carbon being...

    We all have some responsibility for climate change. Our lifestyles result in large amounts of carbo...

    We all have some responsibility for climate change. Our lifestyles result in large amounts of carbon being released into the air. Unless ordinary people can be brought to change their behaviour we will never tackle climate change. So it is fair to use market methods that raise the price of energy to encourage us to change our behaviour. Ways can be found to make sure that no one suffers under this new system. For example, other taxes can be cut to make up for having to pay a carbon tax. And even if emissions were tackled by regulation instead, that would still have the effect of raising the cost of energy and fuel. Producers would pass the increased costs of regulation on to consumers, so we will have to pay more one way or another.

  • PRO

    The developed world is mostly to blame for climate change

    developed countries have a higher obligation to combat climate change than developing countries

    The developed world is mostly to blame for climate change

CON

  • CON

    The effects of climate change will not necessarily be bad

    Climate Change is the end of the world

    The effects of climate change will not necessarily be bad

    • https://debatewise.org/debates/200-climate-change-is-the-end-of-the-world/
  • CON

    Acting to 'mitigate' climate change will cost a fortune.

    Climate Change is the end of the world

    Acting to 'mitigate' climate change will cost a fortune.

    • https://debatewise.org/debates/200-climate-change-is-the-end-of-the-world/
  • CON

    Yes there are almost certainly some casualties already to...

    Climate change is already costing lives

    Yes there are almost certainly some casualties already to climate change but almost certainly considerably less than either of these numbers; there have always been casualties due to ‘Heat & Cold Illnesses’ (35000) but are all these attributable to climate change? Probably not. There were extreme weather events even before climate change. Even if there are such deaths this does not amount to meaning the developed world should fund adaptation; just like not every outbreak of violence in Africa should be considered the responsibility of the developed world not every natural disaster is. 

  • CON

    While there is little doubt about the reality of climate...

    Acceleration Of Climate Change

    While there is little doubt about the reality of climate change, it is unknown how mankind will be able to adapt to it. New technology may create arable land in areas that otherwise couldn’t be farmed. Furthermore, it is possible that relocating people from areas that are flooded will become easier due to improvements in technology.

    • https://debatewise.org/2123-should-we-be-concerned-about-population-growth/
  • CON

    It was unknown that emitting greenhouse gases caused...

    The developed world is mostly to blame for climate change

    It was unknown that emitting greenhouse gases caused climate change until the 1980s – over a century after the industrial revolution. Developing nations were not initially aware of the damage they were causing, therefore the harm was unintentional. It is unfair to retrospectively punish these nations for something that was unknown to be harmful when it was done. The responsibility should therefore be based upon either current emissions or at most emissions from the period in which the damage caused was known and emissions could have been reduced.

  • CON

    Your CMV presupposes that the only way to fight climate...

    CMV: the fight against climate change will be impossible because of compromises.

    Your CMV presupposes that the only way to fight climate change is to stop doing things that negatively effect the environment, but you seem to have completely forgotten about climate control. I'd argue that it's far more likely, given humanity's propensity for technological solutions to problems and the rate at which we've developed so far, that we end up creating ways to control our environment, as opposed to stopping causing damage to it. While I appreciate this isn't physically possible right now, theoretically it is. And we already have certain elements of climate control like cloud bursting nailed. That is certainly one way we can fight climate change without making any (or perhaps very few) of the compromises you went through.

  • CON

    Developing nations are just as capable as developed...

    developed countries have a higher obligation to combat climate change than developing countries

    Developing nations are just as capable as developed nations of taking on the burden of combating climate change

  • CON

    Although there has been some attention focussed on the...

    Protests have drawn attention to climate issues

    Although there has been some attention focussed on the Camp for Climate Change the main press 'attraction' has been the protests outside bank and the antipathy towards city workers and capitalism in general. As usual the sensationalist press wants to cover violence rather than peaceful protest and with scuffles breaking out at Bank the climate protestors efforts have been overshadowed.

  • CON

    The idea that pinning responsibility on developed nations...

    Developing nations are just as capable as developed nations of taking on the burden of combating climate change

    This is not paternalistic because developed states are the most capable of cutting emissions. Techniques developed by the developed world will be made available to developing nations, who do have a responsibility at that point. Moreover that developing nations may have the capability to create their own solutions to climate change does not mean that they should have the responsibility to do so. The idea that pinning responsibility on developed nations will somehow stunt the efforts of developing nations is absurd. Solutions such as cheap stoves will continue to be developed regardless because such solutions are beneficial in all sorts of ways and so it makes good business sense to look for such low cost solutions.

  • CON

    It has become a new and fashionable way of attacking...

    Climate Change is the end of the world

    NO. It has become a new and fashionable way of attacking capitalism