So we go all the way to 11 degrees F. of temperature rise, whats the big deal? Just means we will have to run the A/C a little more, we have lots of coal to make all the electricity we need!!1!11

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“Drill Baby Drill” seems kind of pointless when known reserves already represent five times more carbon than we can “safely” release. Like the article points out even if we stopped adding carbon today we are still on track to see another 0.8 degree Celsius rise on top of the 0.8 we already have. We have already used up 1.6 degrees of the 2 degrees scientists think we can get away with and still have “manageable” adverse effects.

To put it bluntly there is no way we are stopping at 2 degrees rise, less than 16 years just isn’t enough time to change the way we power the planet. If all the nations did it on a crisis emergency footing and at hideous expense, maybe, but that is just not going to happen. The public at large just does not believe or understand the threat, much less understand tipping points.

Hopefully as the negative effects become more pronounced and verifiable we will be able to convince the public at large of the necessity of change. Maybe we will still be able to arrest the increase at a slighter higher number if too many tipping points are not fully realized. It doesn’t look good though with methane release from the oceans and permafrost already occurring.

It’s sad, but with all the monied interests in fossil fuels actively working against the acceptance of AGW we cannot convince enough people to demand change soon enough. The orientation towards short term profits and willful blindness are built into our system of business and without unified public pressure will not change. Stopping warming at the 2 degree target is realistically a hopeless cause at this point. Let us all hope that our planet is forgiving enough or that we are smart enough to allow us to survive our own stupidity with civilization still somewhat intact.