Many studies have been done into climate change, resulting in calls going out for governments and economists to take action before it is too late. However, a further look at the Earth's climate history tells us that change is very much part of our planet's ecology.
Paleoclimatogy has revealed that natural occurrences such as volcanic activity and the elliptical orbit of the planet around the sun can have an effect on how much warmth and light is received, thus either heating or cooling the surface exponentially through what is called feedback loops. Less warmth and the oceans and land freezes, trapping carbon dioxide (C02), methane and water vapor. More warmth and the ice melts, releasing these gases. When C02 and methane are released, they act as amplifiers of warming by shielding the ground and not allowing the heat to dissipate. This is why emissions of these gases are frowned upon by ecologists.
However, history also teaches that climate change is very much a part of the natural function of our planet. Man is a fairly new species to this world, but even before his appearance paleoclimatology has found evidence that climate shifts, brought on by everything from large meteors to increased vulcanism, were responsible for the extinction of millions of forms of life, including the dinosaurs. After humans were on the scene, climate change was responsible for the collapse of ancient civilizations such as the Old Kingdom of Egypt and the Akkadian Empire in Mesopotamia, probably through crop failures. Even in the current era there have been climate shifts, including one called the Little Ice Age that began as early as the 13th century and lasted four to five hundred years, causing a two year famine in Europe at its height.
Since then, humans have dumped enough C02 into the atmosphere to warm three planets, and another climate shift is upon us. What man has done is and will make the problem worse, but even a radical change in our technology and habits will not stop it, for climate change is a natural part of our planet's ecology. And so the problem becomes, not whether we can stop it (which we can't), but if we can adapt to a new climate on this world. All species need to adapt in order to survive, and we are no exception. Through our own stupidity and negligence, we have shortened the amount of time we would normally have for this adaptation, but that does not change the fact that it must be done.
Remember that climate change has caused some of the worst catastrophes on our planet and wiped out many forms of life, including human civilizations. The process was obviously painful for those effected, and it will undoubtedly be the same for us. But, instead of deluding ourselves into believing that we can flip a switch on some power plant somewhere and everything will just go back to the way it was, we need to start planning and researching for the coming new world. This will mean changes not only in our energy production and transportation options, but also how we produce our food and obtain our water. Because change is coming and we are going to have to deal with it, whether we want to or not. And if, through our own stubborn pride, we refuse to accept this, we will be condemning ourselves, as a species, to the fate that awaits all that cannot adapt. Extinction.
