Two characteristics of Nature - He Gang's comments

 

 

It's interesting to start the scientific discussion with a political speech, is it suggest that the focus of the climate change issue has trun to be a international political issue rather than a scientific debate.  I do agree with Haro and Amber that "we have reached the point where we should no longer debate the fact that climate change is occuring and that humans are accerlarating the process", you can find facts and figures in the three (maybe soon four) assessment reports for IPCC.

 

And my point is to accept the change but admit the uncertainty (please notice it was not risk), because nothing simple about nature, including climate change. "We have to remember that nature does not behave in a simple, linear fashion. Our natural systems have, over millions of years, developed complex systems of checks and balances. Humanity is now powerful enough to meddle with those systems and the results are unpredictable. That's something to keep in mind when we consider climate change, genetically modified food and other emerging scientific issues. We have to be cautious. And we can't assume we know how things will turn out, because with nature, the answer is rarely simple."

 

What Marthinus said "untested theories" always be black-box just like equation, models, etc. in scientific view, but nature never works as models scientists usually take, so my second point is we should keep in mind that the nature is easy to destroy but hard to repair. I think this characteristic of nature help us to understand that we can not repeat the road that developed countries once walk. I always take the body as a metaphor that you can not wait to keep fit when you get serious ill,  and we can not wait to take action when it is too late for adaptation and change. Otherwise, disasters probably to happen the day after tormorrow may truly come tomorrow.

 

As with uncertainty, as with easy and hard character, climate change is so big an issue that we should take joint action. We always consider that think global, act local, that's ture but not enough because local action make sense and joint action make difference, that's why I say let's together to make a difference.