:-)
"Destroying the planet" is exactly the sort of obvious hyperbole that feeds skepticism. Changes will occur and the new environment will result in extinctions but also open up new environmental niches which will be filled, as always, by evolutionary change. Some habitat will shrink and some grow. Some species will be negatively affected and some positively. Humans may be negatively effected on the whole, especially in the third world. Some regions, like northern Canada, may become more diversified as far as species go.
We. Will. Never. Know. Everything.
Knowledge needn't be complete to be useful. Even in the middle of the cold war, in 1963, the major powers got together and agreed on a Test Ban Treaty in order to limit the buildup of Sr-90 and other radioactive contaminants in the environment. We know much more about this now of course, but actions based on the limited knowledge of the time resulted in clearly beneficial policies. |
