This is, accidentally, a plug for Nature magazine. www.nature.com.
I read. I read the Report on Business in the Toronto Star, because many social issues are exposed there.
I read Nature. I have a subscription. It is a British research journal, comes out every week, has a high rating and excellent content. Many articles are too dense for me to understand, particularly western blots and material science. But I read, and get the general gist.
We are going to run out of fresh water. Here is a hotlink to that article in Nature.
We are going to run out of natural gas. The US estimates of frackable resources are grossly overstated. Here is a hotlink to this in Nature.
We are going to run out of Antarctic ice. Here is the Nature link.
We are going to run out of Arctic ice as well. Here is the Nature link on this topic.
The world air circulation patterns have varied over time, and will vary with global warming. Here is the Nature link to this topic.
This last is more important than might at first appear. Naively, one would expect the central overturning of air to be at the equator. In fact it is pushed toward the warmer of the two hemispheres, and is roughly six degrees north of the equator now. If it moves a bit farther, worldwide rain patterns will shift. Historically, Sahara may have had lots of rainfall, and may experience it again – in your lifetime. Conversely, other areas will or could suddenly be all-drought. This on top of the freshwater issue mentioned first above.
Now for the dumb questions.
- Will any politician of any stripe suggest any action about any of this?
- Will all oil and gas extraction plans go ahead, once the price of oil recovers?
- Will assumptions of quantity available cause over-investment in extraction projects?
- Will global burning and global warming continue?
- Will gross climate change occur in the foreseeable future?
- Could we, if we all understood, avoid these outcomes?
- Will any politician of any stripe suggest any action about any of this?
As usual, they are dumb questions.