Maybe It's Time to Wave the White Flag

The global output of heat-trapping carbon dioxide has jumped by a record amount, according to the US department of energy, a sign of how feeble the world's efforts are at slowing man-made global warming.

The figures for 2010 mean that levels of greenhouse gases are higher than the worst case scenario outlined by climate experts just four years ago.

"The more we talk about the need to control emissions, the more they are growing," said John Reilly, the co-director of MIT's Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change.

The world pumped about 564m more tons (512m metric tons) of carbon into the air in 2010 than it did in 2009, an increase of 6%. That amount of extra pollution eclipses the individual emissions of all but three countries, China, the US and India, the world's top producers of greenhouse gases.

It is a "monster" increase that is unheard of, said Gregg Marland, a professor of geology at Appalachian State University, who has helped calculate department of energy figures in the past.

Extra pollution in China and the US account for more than half the increase in emissions last year, Marland said.
~ from Greenhouse Gases Rise by Record Amount via the Associated Press ~

As much as it pains me to write this, maybe the time has come for those of us who care about the environment to admit defeat. We should throw up our hands and wave a white flag.

For the past 15 years or so, scientists the world over have warned that we are very near a serious ecological tipping point -- a point of no return -- and yet, despite all the blathering, posturing and pontificating of world leaders (particularly, US leaders), we aren't making ANY meaningful progress whatsoever. In fact, as the article above notes, we're headed in the absolute wrong direction!

It is exceedingly obvious that the powers that be aren't going to do a damn thing about global warming until it's far, far too late to do much of anything. In the battle between a hospitable planet and global capital, the latter gets the nod almost every single time.

Since the elite run the show and we don't, we might as well throw in the towel. Instead of fighting a losing battle, we can spend our time writing letters of apology to future generations!