[paul cotter (OP)]

Personally I think it is pointless regardless of whether one believes in global anthropogenic warming or not. The possibility of global agreement on anything is close to zero given human nature. The conference head will be uttering lofty aspirations while selling petroleum on the side!

[Petrochemicals]

Vain morons with idealistic outlooks who have no idea how to do anything. You have the king of the UK who being terribly rich amongst politicians from Eaton Cambridge (<----- !) and harvard who are ex bankers speaking of their dreamy plans with no idea how to implement said plans and no need whatsoever to do so, they remind me of the just stop oit protestors. Heat pumps and solar panels are not an idea for the UK, if you want your own renewable energy source here, invest in a wind turbine.

These people cannot even make the economy function, so making a switch to renewable energy is going to end in failure.

[paul cotter (OP)]

Aha!, a response at last, thank you Petro, I thought my abject cynicism had precluded any replies. More or less I agree.

[alancalverd]

It is a conference of people who will not do anything because their careers depend on maintaining the status quo.  Politicians have a maximum 5-year horizon and with an average of 2.5y their only interest is in getting re-elected. Kings have a longer horizon but they are either powerless (in a democracy) or corrupt.   Businessmen have a legal duty to maximise shareholder returns. Climate "scientists" and protestors have a vested interest in continued problems, not solutions. The people who will suffer from the changing climate aren't born yet. So nobody inside or outside the meeting will do anything to mitigate the effect  of the inevitable.

[Origin]

I think it is a good thing.  We need to keep an eye on this experiment we are in where we warm the earth, because we really don't know how it is going to turn out.

[Petrochemicals]

Kings have a longer horizon but they are either powerless (in a democracy) or corrupt.   

There is jolly king Charlie, the kings of the middle east all sat round a table. This group owning vast swathes of land and sea, having  money that would make the forbes rich list blush yet the best they can do is tell me and my peers how bad we are with the positions of our birth and enforce legislation to make our lives difficult.

I don't want solar panels, I don't want an electric car yet, I will wait for better technology. I don't want a heat pump. I don't want to save water, I am in the UK, we have no shortage of rain, if you want to stop water shortages ban hosepipes permenantly. If they banned hosepipes in Califorinia they would have no shortage of water and the hoover dam would refill, but the golf courses would go brown.

[Zer0]

I think it is a good thing.  We need to keep an eye on this experiment we are in where we warm the earth, because we really don't know how it is going to turn out.

Bravo!
Finally someone Dared to speakout.

I'm quite tired of hearing doomsday predictions.

Anyways, i do have a doubt...

Is there a Tipping point in this scenario?

Say Global Temp increases by 10 or 20 or 30 degree Celsius.

When does the Runaway Effect come into play?

At what Temp or Time do We transform Earth into a 2nd Venus?

[alancalverd]

Historically, global mean temperature in the last million years has had a range of about 12 degrees, rising rapidly to a sharp peak about every 100,000 years then declining slowly. The atmospheric CO2 concentration follows the same curve, a few years behind the temperature graph.

Civilisation as we know it began during the present rise as the ice retreated and humans moved northward. We should be nearing the peak about now or within the next 500 years.

The cycle has nothing to do with human activity and there is nothing we can do to control it. We can however mitigate its effect on society, but that demands significant remodelling of politics , the abolition of religion, and positive collaboration between all people everywhere. With careful planning and execution we could preserve the benefits of the last 20,000 years' research and development through the depth of the next ice age. The alternative is global war and the destruction of all civilised values and comforts.

[alancalverd]

As for renewables, the coldest UK days in the past week were (as always) those with no wind. And there is very little sunlight this time of year.