> It's not your exhalation that is menacing the future of humans and other animals
I don't trust you, or anyone else, with the power to make this determination.
> These are people who know (and in many cases have known for decades) that what they're doing - large scale atmospheric dumping of co2 - is going to cause real harm and suffering to fellow humans
It is absurd to suggest that anyone "knows" what a system as complex as the Earth will be like in the future. Many people believe that this is the most likely future, and I'm sure some of them don't care.
> It is absurd to suggest that anyone "knows" what a system as complex as the Earth will be like in the future. Many people believe that this is the most likely future, and I'm sure some of them don't care.
it's absurd to suggest radiative transfer and heat retention aren't well understood scientific phenomena.
Is your argument "the earth is complicated enough that nobody can ever understand it completely, so don't even bother"? Because that's a laughable attitude.
Regarding your exhalation comment, the specific problem is not CO2 itself. The problem is liberating CO2 from fossil-fuel sinks where it has been sequestered away from the atmosphere for millions of years.
And I think your comments come to the real problem for people with controlling greenhouse gases. My dad is in this boat. He might say "I deny that my actions hurt the earth. I don't want to look at the evidence, and I don't trust anyone who says I might be doing damage by driving a gas guzzler. I deny I could be hurting things. I refuse to believe anything that leads to that conclusion".
I don't trust you, or anyone else, with the power to make this determination.
> These are people who know (and in many cases have known for decades) that what they're doing - large scale atmospheric dumping of co2 - is going to cause real harm and suffering to fellow humans
It is absurd to suggest that anyone "knows" what a system as complex as the Earth will be like in the future. Many people believe that this is the most likely future, and I'm sure some of them don't care.