Wow, I'm impressed. It turns out that ADOM players can have an argument over something not called Treasure hunter.

There's a lot in this thread that I'd like to respond to, but for now just a few remarks. I will drop my sarcasm now, I'm not that good at this thing called humour anyway.

Polar bears get a lot of attention from environmental organisations in relation to global warming, but I'm afraid this is spreading the false impression that it is mainly a problem of those animals. It is not. Polar bears are hit relatively hard and early in comparison to human beings, but the long-term problem is far broader and larger in scale than a local threat to wildlife. Sea level rise is going to be a problem for many nations, while an increased frequency / probability of extreme weather events (or extended droughts) are theatening food and freshwater supplies. It is a problem that has been created in the geological blink of an eye, but will most likely last for centuries upon centuries. If in the next centuries we would be reckless enough to extract and burn every source of fossil fuel that can be found, not just oil and gas but also all coal, all oil in tar sands and oil shales, we may even be risking a runaway greenhouse effect like on Venus (according to NASA scientist Jim Hansen this is even a `dead certainty`). I know this is a bit hard to believe, since that would be a disaster even worse than the sensational crap in some movies. But yeah, this has a scientific basis and may actually happen.

In a first reply to Gut, I like how you are open about your personal economical dependency on coal and yeah, of course it is not realistic or desirable to advocate a complete ban on fossil fuels, at least not in the next decades. Our lives currently depend on consumption of fossil fuels. We?re addicted. But opening our eyes and recognizing that this addiction has at least potential negative consequenses is the first step toward finding a cure.