Reducing Carbon Emissions Won't Stop Climate Change
By Morgan
@OneOfMany (12150)
United States
January 26, 2016 8:58pm CST
All the time whenever I see a video about rising sea levels they talk about reducing emissions like that's the solution. It might have been once, but the ball is rolling, even completely stopping emissions wouldn't stop the rise now. People need to understand that the variable here isn't the carbon emissions, it's where water is stored.
The simple solution to preventing ocean rise is to store more of the freshwater inland. Aquifers (ground water), arid lands (desert environments) and even bio-storage (plants and animals) are all helpful storage places that would prevent ocean rise. And the great thing is that most of this fresh water is delivered every year right to the places that can direct it to where it needs to go. All we need to do is build simple systems to make it a reality.
That's far better than trying to stick new laws all over the place. Forget the politics. Look at the physical nature of the problem and build a solution. That's all it takes to preserve the future in the image we want it. Otherwise do nothing, the future will happen one way or another.
8 people like this
6 responses
@vandana7 (102698)
• India
28 Jan 16
How come we think alike? I mean I am not well read enough and I have been thinking about this issue for quite a while. I know coastal regions are going to sink. Whether it is in your parts of the world our ours. But we have a choice. Hold on to that water pump it away into regions that need it. We had a plan called river linking to prevent floods and droughts. Somehow it never materialized.
1 person likes this
@vandana7 (102698)
• India
29 Jan 16
@OneOfMany ..yeah..and there will be many disputes too, and homeless, which will force others to take to arms. One favorable outcome would be that regions such as the one I am in where we are almost short of rains every other year, will get better rains since coast would come nearer and more clouds would be up there.
1 person likes this
@OneOfMany (12150)
• United States
29 Jan 16
@vandana7 It might get over run by all the people displaced by the coastal rise. I think it would be better if we start dropping the ocean level and have more land for people to spread out to. Everyone upset about ocean life will have to realize that fish have lived in the shallower ocean just fine in the past (even better in some cases).
1 person likes this
@OneOfMany (12150)
• United States
28 Jan 16
Preventing floods and droughts is what my ideas are all about. Water stored in places that keeps us high and dry from the oceans, and certainly not letting the ocean win. The current estimate is that the oceans will rise about 1 meter by 2100, but it will probably be higher than that. That will flood a lot of coastal cities. If there is any time to start fighting against that future, it's now. :)
1 person likes this
@Jessicalynnt (50523)
• Centralia, Missouri
27 Jan 16
I want a nice water filtration system at my home, once we build the home, self sufficient everything
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@Jessicalynnt (50523)
• Centralia, Missouri
28 Jan 16
@OneOfMany pretty much, good gardens, a stocked pond, and hidden well off the road, with some serious fencing.
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@OneOfMany (12150)
• United States
28 Jan 16
I want a nice house that stays warm even if they power goes out, and that draws water from the well when I need it. The ground is my filter, and it does a great job!
1 person likes this
@OneOfMany (12150)
• United States
28 Jan 16
@Jessicalynnt Multiple filtrating rain barrels, heated greenhouses, canned goods and composting black water collection (while reusing gray water), and then you'd have a sustainable bunker for any season!
1 person likes this
@bunnybon7 (50970)
• Holiday, Florida
27 Jan 16
you are so right. also we hear we are running out of clean water. why don't they find a way to move it where it is needed?
1 person likes this
@OneOfMany (12150)
• United States
27 Jan 16
I did a paper for my environmental management class about 5 years ago and the statistic was that 75% of fresh water that falls every year goes out to sea in flood waters. If you siphon off the flood waters with new flood prevention methods, then you can trap a large portion of that number every year for re-use. You certainly won't be running out of freshwater if you learn how to direct it!
@OneOfMany (12150)
• United States
29 Jan 16
Thank you. I'm starting to write it as a book. Hopefully I can finish the project and get more people interested in it.
1 person likes this
@OneOfMany (12150)
• United States
27 Jan 16
The plan doesn't actually involve flooding valleys though. Aquifer recharge cisterns would be set up like reverse wells, so water is filtered and fills up the aquifers. From there farmers or whoever can use clean water to expand operations in the desert climates. Of course for irrigation, a distribution system of sediment containing waters wouldn't matter, since it would supply nutrients to the crops. The structure of my system is very environmentally friendly (because it gets harder to build when the crazy people resist its importance).
1 person likes this
@pgiblett (6524)
• Canada
27 Jan 16
@OneOfMany I have heard about the technology many years ago, I thought it was a good idea. However in areas like the Sahara there aren't many rivers active, the North America deserts are different as they do have rivers running through them.
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@OneOfMany (12150)
• United States
27 Jan 16
@pgiblett That's because it's been 6 to 8 thousand years since it became a desert. The sands have shifted so much that the old river basins have been covered up. Except in the rocky areas. Of course, I don't think flooding it is the greatest way to establish a new order. I think it would be a gradual shift.
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@indexer (4852)
• Leicester, England
27 Jan 16
The way to stop ocean levels rirsing is to store more water in the icecaps, and that means keep temperatures at the Poles below freezing, which means keeping global warming in check, which in turn means controlling all forms of greenhouse gas emission.
Sorry, but you cannot get away with saying that we no longer need to control exhaust emissions (etc) because we most certainly do.
@OneOfMany (12150)
• United States
28 Jan 16
I'm saying that controlling it by itself isn't the solution. You still have to battle everything that is already there. The ice won't collect at the poles any more, even if you stopped the emission of greenhouse gases. It's past that point.
And since I have said it I have already 'gotten away' with saying it. You suggest a world we used to have by pretending it will fix itself and ignore everything out there already. I propose a world where it doesn't matter what is out there. Because it can be changed and solved even if the world were to lose its ice. Fortunately, if action is taken to store water in other places, it would start to revert, but that's because of carbon storage and water removed from the collection point.
@OneOfMany (12150)
• United States
28 Jan 16
@indexer If all the ice melted it's said to go up 274 feet (83 m) so it would be pretty bad. But it would be good to avoid that.
Just because I don't focus on carbon emissions doesn't mean the world will stop trying to reduce them. It's beneficial for our health to have less, especially in the cities. I drive a hybrid car, so I'm doing my part in a small way. Of course, planting trees every spring too, though that's for business it plays its part in soaking up carbon.
@indexer (4852)
• Leicester, England
28 Jan 16
@OneOfMany Everyone needs to understand that climate change is extremely complex, with many factors working in combination with and against other factors. That said, there is still a huge role to be played by the reduction of carbon emissions in at least slowing down the rate of increase in atmospheric grteenhouse gases. Just as there is no one single cause, there is no one single solution either, as you make clear..
Incidentally, if the world were to lose all its ice, sea levels would be so high that many of the world's great cities would be several metres under water!
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