This discussion is so much fun. The reason we can't see the problem is that we cannot see the problem. We don't live long enough. We don't have perspective. We think we live on earth. We don't. We live in earth's atmosphere. We live in the skin of a bubble. The skin. We live in a gas cloud only about two miles thick. Our space is so much smaller than we think we see. Atmospheric pressure drops to half at 10000 feet. At 18000 feet most people will die in a relatively short period of time. Under water or outside the atmosphere that serves us we die. About two miles thick. That is our space. I first saw the CO2 curve over time in college in 1971. We knew about the problem then. We knew that CO2 reflects heat back down and contains it. We know how hot it will get. We know about snowball earth and how cold it can get. But the average bear needs to see it for himself, and he doesn't live long enough to see it.
If you really want to know what is happening in total, read the book Aku Aku, the story of Easter island. That will tell you about population crash.
There is a terrific body of knowledge at Columbia university in the center for the study of science and religion. There is a professor there who teaches about ethics. His presentation knocks my socks off. In a nutshell he tells why a scientist and a minister can't talk to each other. The reason is because the scientist expects disagreement. He wants you to challenge his theory. If you a have an argument based on reproduceable science that shows flaws in his theory, he invites that because he can then compose a new theory, an improved theory that is more accurate or is a breakthrough. The Greeks called this process thesis, antithesis, synthesis. The minister in a belief system however looks for affirmation. He looks for agreement with his belief system. Both are right in their own realm of thought, but their expectations and responses are 180 degrees out of sync, so they talk past each other. Never try to scientifically discuss a belief with a believer. He can't hear you.
Look at the data. Oceans can rise 20 feet with ice melt, but they can rise even higher with a rise in water temperature. The densest water is 4 degrees Fahrenheit. Raise the water temperature of the ocean and water expands even more, and that is the real big rise. You can get 100 feet of rise with increased water temperature.
Look at the loss of bird life in america. Read Audubon's book, his diary of travels to the Midwest. A flock of passenger pidgeons flew overhead. He stopped to measure the size of the flock. It took two days for the entire flock to pass by. That bird is now extinct. Man did that. What happened to the megafauna? We ate them until the gene pool was so small, nature took over and wiped them out. Read the book the limits to growth. What they predicted is, for the most part, happening. But don't try to live long enough to see the long term effects. You can't figure this out with experience. You don't live long enough.
On both sides of the discussion there are many points that you can surely all agree on, no matter whether you accept or reject 'global warming'.
