check out: http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/08/invention-and-progress/ on this site.

While I agree that humans have done much to change the biosphere, we ain’t seen nothin’ yet. If humans can begin to control themselves — control their adaptive powers as does every other organism — there is some chance that the amount of disruption of present ecologies will be small enough that the “normal” processes of change can reinstate.

The issues that you present are of utmost importance, however, short of an immediate focus in a form of a clear and present danger recognizable to the multitude and the association of that danger with the desires of an economic and political elite, there will be no WWII type of unified response to the terrible dangers that face not only the human species, but also the present ecological balance of the biosphere.

As individuals understand the issues they must act on their own in the ways that others must eventually act for the present ecological relations to be sustained. There is at least in this method the possibility that a critical mass of action will form and be available as the shit begins to hit the fan, when it cannot be ignored or denied. This is, I believe, our best hope. Everyone who begins to understand needs to speak out: to those in earshot, to the local community, to a regional or national audience by whatever means available. In this way people will be encouraged and supported in their comprehension.

This yields an empirical climate sensitivity. It is ¾ C per W/m2 or 3 C for doubled CO2.
This climate sensitivity includes all fast feedback processes: water vapor, clouds, sea ice, snow, and aerosols.
The physics is exact, it is not modeled. All of the feedbacks operate correctly.

Two conclusions should be emphasized. First the natural imbalance between geologic sources and sinks of CO2 is of the order of one ten-thousands of a ppm per year. In a million years that can cause a change of 100 ppm.
But the human-made rate of change is today about 2 ppm per year, about ten thousand times greater than the natural rate.
So the assertion that we should not be concerned about human-made climate change, because there have been much larger natural climate changes is nonsense. There have been larger changes, but on very long time scales. On any time scale of interest to humanity, humans will be in charge of the climate change. James Hansen

“The researchers found that over hundreds of thousands of years the equilibrium between carbon dioxide input and removal was never more than one to two percent out of balance, a strong indication of a natural feedback system,” wrote Alan Cutler, a science writer for Carnegie. “This natural feedback acts as a thermostat which is critical for the long-term stability of climate. During Earth’s history it has probably helped to prevent runaway greenhouse and icehouse conditions over time scales of millions to billions of years — a prerequisite for sustaining liquid water on Earth’s surface.”

“The system is finely in tune,” Caldeira told Cutler. “That one or two percent imbalance works out to an average imbalance in natural carbon dioxide emissions that is thousands of times smaller than our current emissions from industry and the destruction of forests.”

The researchers note that carbon dioxide is presently being added at about 100 times its historic rate of 0.1 billion tons of carbon each year, or approximately 10 billion tons. Most of these emissions result from human industrial activity and conversion of forests.

“The imbalance in the carbon cycle that we are creating with our emissions is huge compared to the kinds of imbalances seen over the time of the glacial ice core records,” Caldeira said. “We are emitting CO2 far too fast to expect mother nature to mop up our mess anytime soon. Continued burning of coal, oil and gas will result in long-term changes to our climate and to ocean chemistry, lasting many thousands of years.”

Oh I almost forgot something:
The sun is at a low point in it’s 11-year cycle of activity now. But over the next few years, sunspots will become more common and flares more frequent. The peak will likely occur in 2012 and El Nino will return this summer or next. Believe it or not still time that is if we try.

“We landed on the ice shelf just two days ago — flimsy looking piece of ice — and that appears to be hanging on by the skin of its teeth,” Vaughan says.

It could collapse any time in the next few weeks, he says.

“Not all of Wilkins will disappear overnight but a large part of it could,” Vaughan says.

This ice sheet is already floating on the ocean, so when it melts it won’t raise sea level. But it’s a powerful reminder that change can come quickly — and dramatically — in this land of ice. NPR

I disagree that “this is us.” I believe that we are no more “us” than a gorilla gone insane in a cage is a gorilla.

It is the human capacity for understanding that creates a tension: who we are versus who we should be. In our limited understanding we have pursued destruction in the name of convenience, self-destruction being an inextricably human trait.

Who we are is easy: This is us…

Who should we be? What is our agency in these realms of Order?