Warmist William Chameides sees CO2-induced "bad times" that "might parallel the period when the plague wiped out a third of the world's population"

Living in the new abnormal because of climate change | AspenTimes.com

A panel Saturday morning at the opening session of the Aspen Environment Forum painted an often bleak picture of how climate change is altering the world and how humans are dealing with the challenges.

The annual conference, presented by the Aspen Institute and National Geographic, is titled “Living in the New Normal” this year. The opening discussion carried the same name, but it soon became evident that there is no new normal.

“We're living in a new abnormal, perhaps,” said Dennis Dimick, National Geographic magazine's executive editor for the environment. He showed detailed graphic displays that demonstrate how global temperatures have increased 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit since the 1970s. Projections indicate that summers in 2040 to 2060 will be “warmer than the warmest on record,” he said.

Go ahead and throw weather records out the window, agreed Kevin Trenberth, senior scientist with the National Center for Atmospheric Research. The atmospheric conditions are changing to the point where “every weather event is different than it would have been,” Trenberth said. “We keep changing the climate so there is no new normal.”

Moderator and National Geographic magazine senior environment editor Rob Kunzig called Trenberth “the go-to guy” for journalists writing about extreme weather events...
He gave a sobering assessment that humans are headed toward “bad times.” It might parallel the period when the plague wiped out a third of the world's population, [William Chameides] said....Humans across the planet burn a million years' worth of “ancient plant goo” in the form of fossil fuels every year, Dimick said.

If the carbon production grows unchecked, that spells trouble for the planet. By the time the general public realizes that something must be done because of direct consequences on the way they live, it will be “too late,” Trenberth said. “Fifty years from now, ecosystems won't be viable where they are now.”

David Orr, chairman of the environmental studies program at Oberlin College, said, “We're talking about the end of what we love and value,” yet too few people grasp it. The problems revolving around climate change won't be dealt with until people start waking up at 2 a.m. and realities are slapping them in the face, he said.
[David Orr] sees the potential to create a “green tea party movement.”