<div dir="ltr"><div><div>***** Original material contained herein is Copyright 2000 through life plus 70 years, Ted Moffett.  Do not copy, forward, excerpt, or reproduce outside the <a href="http://vision2020.moscow.com/" target="_blank">Vision2020.Moscow.com</a> forum without the express written permission of the author.****</div><div><br></div></div>We often encounter assertions that adaptation to anthropogenic global warming is feasible to avoid large scale catastrophe for humanity, allowing continued significant greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel use that it is argued are economically necessary for global development and overall human well being.  However, what is sometimes not given due consideration in this adaptation strategy is the speed at which human behavior is changing the climate.  Some assessments of this rate of climate change indicate a rate ten times faster than the climate shift during the PETM (Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum). a hyperthermal event about 56 millions years ago.  This very rapid rate of climate change renders adaptation of human culture, technological systems and ecosystems a very difficult proposal.  Advocating adaptation as a primary strategy is questionable insofar as it can justify public avoidance of the rapid "emergency" reductions in greenhouse gas emissions necessary to address global warming.<div><br></div><div>Quote below from National Geographic website article below:</div><div><font size="4"><i><br></i></font></div><div><font size="4"><i>Earth Hasn't Heated Up This Fast Since the Dinosaurs' End</i></font></div><div><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:12px 0px 24px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-size:19px;font-family:Georgia,"Times New Roman",Times,serif;line-height:1.632;letter-spacing:0.1px">"The carbon emissions rate is ten times greater today than during the prehistoric hot period that is the closest precedent for today's greenhouse warming."</p><div><a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/160321-climate-change-petm-global-warming-carbon-emission-rate#:~:text=The%20carbon%20emissions%20rate%20is,carbon%20stores%20into%20the%20atmosphere">https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/160321-climate-change-petm-global-warming-carbon-emission-rate#:~:text=The%20carbon%20emissions%20rate%20is,carbon%20stores%20into%20the%20atmosphere</a>.<br><div>---------------------------------</div><div><span style="color:rgb(18,18,18);font-family:"GH Guardian Headline","Guardian Egyptian Web",Georgia,serif;font-size:17px;font-variant-ligatures:common-ligatures;font-weight:700">James Hansen, who testified to Congress on global heating in 1988, says world is approaching a ‘new climate frontier’</span><br></div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jul/19/climate-crisis-james-hansen-scientist-warning#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThere's%20a%20lot%20more%20in,we%20knew%20it%20was%20coming.%E2%80%9D">https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jul/19/climate-crisis-james-hansen-scientist-warning#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThere's%20a%20lot%20more%20in,we%20knew%20it%20was%20coming.%E2%80%9D</a><br></div><div><br></div><div>Text below from the Guardian article at website above mentioned in the subject heading:</div><div><br></div><div><span style="color:rgb(18,18,18);font-family:GuardianTextEgyptian,"Guardian Text Egyptian Web",Georgia,serif;font-size:17px;font-variant-ligatures:common-ligatures">Previous shifts in the climate, spurred by greenhouse gases or changes in the Earth’s orbit, have caused changes to unfold over thousands of years. But as heatwaves </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jul/17/longer-hotter-heatwaves-driven-turbo-charged-climate-change-scientists" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-top-style:initial;border-right-style:initial;border-bottom-style:solid;border-left-style:initial;border-top-color:initial;border-right-color:initial;border-bottom-color:rgb(220,220,220);border-left-color:initial;font-variant-ligatures:common-ligatures;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-variant-alternates:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:17px;line-height:inherit;font-family:GuardianTextEgyptian,"Guardian Text Egyptian Web",Georgia,serif;font-kerning:inherit;font-feature-settings:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(199,0,0)">strafe</a><span style="color:rgb(18,18,18);font-family:GuardianTextEgyptian,"Guardian Text Egyptian Web",Georgia,serif;font-size:17px;font-variant-ligatures:common-ligatures"> populations unused to extreme temperatures, forests </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/17/wildfire-smoke-canada-us-air-quality" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-top-style:initial;border-right-style:initial;border-bottom-style:solid;border-left-style:initial;border-top-color:initial;border-right-color:initial;border-bottom-color:rgb(220,220,220);border-left-color:initial;font-variant-ligatures:common-ligatures;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-variant-alternates:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:17px;line-height:inherit;font-family:GuardianTextEgyptian,"Guardian Text Egyptian Web",Georgia,serif;font-kerning:inherit;font-feature-settings:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(199,0,0)">burn</a><span style="color:rgb(18,18,18);font-family:GuardianTextEgyptian,"Guardian Text Egyptian Web",Georgia,serif;font-size:17px;font-variant-ligatures:common-ligatures"> and marine life struggles to cope with </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/19/marine-heatwave-uk-irish-coasts-threat-oysters-fish-high-temperatures" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-top-style:initial;border-right-style:initial;border-bottom-style:solid;border-left-style:initial;border-top-color:initial;border-right-color:initial;border-bottom-color:rgb(220,220,220);border-left-color:initial;font-variant-ligatures:common-ligatures;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-variant-alternates:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:17px;line-height:inherit;font-family:GuardianTextEgyptian,"Guardian Text Egyptian Web",Georgia,serif;font-kerning:inherit;font-feature-settings:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(199,0,0)">soaring ocean heat</a><span style="color:rgb(18,18,18);font-family:GuardianTextEgyptian,"Guardian Text Egyptian Web",Georgia,serif;font-size:17px;font-variant-ligatures:common-ligatures">, the current upward spike is occurring at a pace not seen since the extinction of the dinosaurs 65m years ago.</span><br></div><div><span style="color:rgb(18,18,18);font-family:GuardianTextEgyptian,"Guardian Text Egyptian Web",Georgia,serif;font-size:17px;font-variant-ligatures:common-ligatures"><br></span></div><div><span style="color:rgb(18,18,18);font-family:GuardianTextEgyptian,"Guardian Text Egyptian Web",Georgia,serif;font-size:17px;font-variant-ligatures:common-ligatures">“It’s not just the magnitude of change, it’s the rate of change that’s an issue,” said Ellen Thomas, a Yale University scientist who studies climate over geologic timescales. “We have highways and railroads that are set in place, our infrastructure can’t move. Almost all my colleagues have said that, in hindsight, we have underestimated the consequences. Things are moving faster than we thought, which is not good.”</span><span style="color:rgb(18,18,18);font-family:GuardianTextEgyptian,"Guardian Text Egyptian Web",Georgia,serif;font-size:17px;font-variant-ligatures:common-ligatures"><br></span></div></div></div></div>