"100% Democrat" scientist comes out publicly against Obama on climate change

[yellowcanine]

39. Unfortunately you forget unintended/unknown consequences.

The truth is, the earth is too complex for anyone to be sure about how everything is going to turn out. For example, take the argument that more carbon dioxide is good for plant growth. That is only true if carbon dioxide is limiting. If something else is limiting, say nitrogen or, in many cases, water - then it is not true. Also, some plants will benefit from the extra carbon dioxide than others. In some cases these plants are/will be weeds competing with crop plants.

Your dismissal of the dangers of sea level rise is ill advised. For one thing, most of our populations are on the coasts. Yes, we can mitigate, adapt, but at what cost? We have flooding now some places every time there is a higher tide than normal, never mind storms. Also, on the unintended/unknown consequences front, there is the question of what effect melting glaciers will have on ocean currents? Ocean currents are what make many places habitable. If there is a major disturbance on the ocean current system, we can't even imagine what the effects might be in terms of storms, drastic changes in mean temperatures, whatever. How much of the earth do you think we can afford to make uninhabitable before the poop really hits the fan?