Global Warming: The Biggest Show on Earth

The earth has been getting warmer for 6000 years without humans being a factor.  I think it makes sense to assume that the earth is under much bigger influences than mankind's activity.  Mankind's emissions are less than 100 years, really less than 50 years. 

I have heard that there is no real evidence that what we do is actually impacting something as large as climate change.  In other words, the world is continually getting warmer, regardless.   

And who is to say this is even a bad thing?  People have always adapted, over the last 6000 years, so why wouldn't we just continue to do so? Seems better to adapt instead of trying to turn back the clock. 

To say that what was normal in 1990 is the best possible scenario, and it is the preferred normal, and anything different than that is bad, represents quite a few jumps in logic

I read in the Vancouver Sun that the Federal Liberals were buying "emission credits" from eastern block countries that they had not used, because of their economic downturn, and then using those credits to claim Canada was hitting Kyoto targets, when in fact we were not even close, nor can we get back to that level without major economic implications. 

This does not seem to be a good use of tax dollars.  

I suggest you do some indepth reading on climate change, and the catastrophic implications it will have on life on earth if it is not corrected. You can start here: 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/sci_tech/2004/climate_ch...

If you are unsure of how well we will adapt, try looking at this image of the lower mainland. This is based on a 6m rise in sea levels due to melting polar caps, which is, by today's standards, relatively conservative. Most of Surrey, Richmonmd and New Westminster underwater.

This says nothing of the potential collapse of the gulf stream and the amazon rainforest, nor of the the ecological impact due to extinctions (currently happening 10,000 times faster than at any other point in history) as the rate of climate change on earth in the past hundred years outstrips most species ability to adapt to changes in climate by orders of magnitude.

Climate change is bad for the economy because our entire economy is based on the assumption that our natural systems are intact. All of our wealth is drawn from natural capital that comes from the earth. The evidence is nearly indisputable. It is happening, and it is being caused predominantly by human activity. We put 10,000 years of earth stored carbon into the air every day through pollution. And we know that carbon in the atmosphere prevents solar energy from escaping the earth's atmosphere, thus causing warming.  

I forgot to put the link to the map of the lower mainland with higher sea levels. Here is the URL:

http://www.sierraclub.ca/bc/media/item.shtml?x=798

And here is a link to an article about a recent NASA study that shows that the arctic lost 14% more ice this year than last year:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5344208.stm

Here's another article on a research project discussing species loss due to climate change in the next fifty years:

http://www.leeds.ac.uk/media/current/extinction.htm