Who said anything about 3 years? This is a catastrophe that will play out over centuries.

It is also true we are seeing effects measurable on the scale of years or decades, so rapid are the changes taking place.

The effects of increased greenhouse gases are all around us: melting glaciers, rising sea levels, intense and prolonged drought and resultant forest fires, increased atmospheric moisture and resultant flooding, movement of habitat ranges of some species (including pathogenic ones) toward the poles or uphill as they seek to compensate for higher temperatures, extinction of species that cannot move or have nowhere to go, melting of permafrost and resultant release of methane and CO2, etc., etc. All of these things were predicted by climate scientists, but the changes are happening faster than expected. The pace of change is accelerating.

@Flyingsaucesir the United States is one of the cleanest nations on earth.
Im not willingly changing shit until the liberal cry babies fix China, Russia, Africa, and South America first.

Climate change is nothing more than a taxation money grab system that the ignorant support.

@CourtJester Through the 20th century the USA was the greatest polluter on Earth, producing a quarter of all greenhouse gases with only 5% of the world's human population.

@Flyingsaucesir

You spelled China wrong.

That's their superior Jesus-inspired morality. The rest of us are going to hell anyway.

On this issue we should already be on a war footing. We should have already nationalized the entire fossil fuel industry and be winding it down while pouring all of its profits into green energy alternatives. As it is, we are left as individuals to try and reduce our carbon footprints as best we can. And there is a lot we can do as individuals. Personally, I have sworn off flying. I recycle every scrap of paper. I have reduced my driving down to less than half the national average. I drive a compact car. I take short showers, and skip as many as possible. I have reduced my consumption of meat, and all but eliminated beef from my diet. I use only LED lights in my house, and don't leave lights on where I don't need them. Solar panels and an electric car are coming in the not too distant future.

@Flyingsaucesir Shoulds and Could haves. I live a monastic life, don't anticipate flying again, reuse materials, power drive, shower only when necessary, never wash the car (how dumb was that at any time?), also mostly eliminated beef, use LED's, and might be in the market for a Prius. But individual effort is not going to save the day (most likely). New technologies and architecture will help a lot more. I guess we'll see if it's enough.

@rainmanjr You are absolutely right: what we do as individuals will not be enough. Not until we are all moving in the same direction, with a national/international concerted effort backed by government policies and rules favorable to transition.