Please don’t tell us that rising CO2 and methane gases aren’t something to worry about. The effects of these GHG’s contributing to global warming/climate change is very real. Sure, deforestation is big. So is a damaged ozone that is killing our plankton and plant life and allowing more radiation (shorter light wavelenghts from UV’s to gammas in particular) to hit earths surface. So is an acidifying ocean where coral reefs are dying world wide.

My point? Its the combination of greenhouse gases, damaged ozone and the destruction of life from man made pollution to deforestation that is creating the accelerated global warming/climate change we are seeing now. Its not just one or two things, Paul. Its everything combined!

Otherwise, we agree on the seriousness of it.

Two years ago, I was in full agreement with scientists who were in the know, saying that we had 10 to 20 years to turn it around or face a greenhouse effect that would be ugly. Assuming a human population would remain around 6.5 billion or higher the worst case scenario, if we didn’t turn it around within 10 years, was a melted Artic cap 20 years from now, a permanently melted tundra/boreal forest releasing a new supply of CO2 GHG’s, a nearly all melted Greenland 40 years from now, and the last to go would be Antartica in 50 to 60 years and the reason why its predicted that this is unstoppable is the lengthy atmospheric halflifes of CO2 and CH4. If ice melts went to far the atmoshere, trophosphere (and to a lesser degree the ionosphere) would over time expand to approximately 2.5 times its ceiling the world has now, the gaseous atoms would venture too far from the earths gravitational pull and would waft their way off into space and earth would lose most of its atmosphere and water in accelerated fashion, but before this ocean currents would likely stop and the predicted ice age to follow halted ocean currents is far from a lock and why? Too many green house gases. Combine this warming acceleration with the CO2 gases released from boreal forests and dying plankton and… The long and short of it is the fate of Venus/Mars with very little if any environmental potential left on this planet to sustain life.

It is my belief that we are approximately 8 to 20 years away from this critical turning point if we continue to increase GHG’s past 8 years and/ sustain for the next 10 years, production rates of GHG’s and kill the life at the same rates that filters GHG’s from the atmosphere/trophoshpere.

In other words, if we don’t address human population growth and human consumption of resources with long term environmental sustainability in mind, the tipping point will be reached in approx 8 to 18 years assuming the smartest minds were right with their conclusions 2 years ago of Earths tipping point being 10 – 20 years away (of which I fully agree). Again, I’ll remind all readers that the half life of CO2 and CH4 is far too long to turn back the clock and the fear of C02 from permafrost becoming permanently melted are very real.

There is, however, a more diabolical, more sinister outcome that could effect human populations much sooner, so y’all listen up. Its not good. Barring virus epidemics like another Spanish flu over the next 2 to 3 years, the likelyhood of vast weight displacements from glacial ice melts particularly in Greenland, Iceland (forcing these continents to want to rise from their current positions) and increased weights overall displaced on the ocean at the accelerated rates its been happening could lead to tectonic plate shifts the likes of which no one is predicting. These shifts are most likely to be most severe at San Andrea’s fault and to a lesser degree but certainly not infathomable, fault lines around the entire pac rim. The result could be extremely catastrophic, setting off volanic activity not seen for hundreds of millions of years.

The immediate effect of such an unforeseen event would be a dramatic global freeze from light being blocked by volcanic ash lasting for months. After the ash dissipates, the dramatically increased CO2 levels would warm up the earth just as dramatically to levels we would see approximately 20 years from now if humanity did absolutely nothing and GHG’s increased due to rising energy consumption and continued human population growth to around 7.5, 8 billion.

Such a volcanic led scenario, if it came rapidly, would lead to the mass destruction of most life on Earth and see human populations drop back to less than a billion. Its not hard to predict what would happen to world economies from there. End of days, the great tribulation, such expressions come to mind in describing such an outcome.

Based on such rapid ice melts we’ve already seen with the weight displacements we have already witnessed or are about to in Greenland and iceland as well as glacial melts world wide, the timelines of such accelerated icemelts leading to earthquakes of this magnitude are hard to say, scientific models haven’t been done to follow such volcanic activities spawned by ice melt weight displacement… but it could be as little as 5 years away.

All readers should keep in mind that the earths crust is thin relative to its diameter. We are, in essence, floating on a ball of liquid molten lava and major atmospheric changes displacing weight from rapid icemelts could trigger such a phenomenom.

What should we do? Everything possible to stop it and if governments don’t do anything, do what we can as individuals to conserve, become more politically and environmentally proactive, hope for the best regardless, and… begin to prepare for the worst.

(Sorry about the long post Garth, had to get this stuff off my chest and the timing is right)