Watch All In With Chris Hayes Highlights: Aug. 18

Way back in the 1960s, I said that by time we get proof positive of global warming

it would be too late to act.  The reasoning for this postulate goes like this:

When the industrial revolution started in the 1800s mankind had already been burning

fuel for several hundred years, mostly in the form of wood, when the IR got started

in earnest, wood was being turned in go coke, and use of coal had increased 

significantly as steel-making and steam engines came into use. Okay, forload the sake

of brevity let's say that up until 1800 we had added 1 heat unit to the global atmosphere.

Let us again say that we doubled the addition of heat units every decade.  So we get:

2,4,8,16,32,64,128,256,512,1024 and that takes care of the 1800s.  Now we come

to the 20 century and we only then begin to notice the effects because they've finally

become dramatic enough to notice, rivers not freezing over completely as before and

milder winters with longer growing seasons such and the like, but still not enough

to cause any alarm and faint enough to be disputed and refused. Well, now we

add our twentieth-century load to the mix and we go from 1024 at 1899 to 

2048 at 1910, then it's doubling every decade from there 4000, 8000, 16000,

32000, 64000, 128000, 256000, 512000, 1,002,400 and so that's how many

heat units we've added during the 20th century, quite enough to now notice

concerning effects not seen before like Hurricane Sandy and such with sea

ice retreats at the poles and mountain glaciers.  So we start on the 21st century

and in the first decade, we add 2,000,000 in the oughts, and 4,000,000 in the

teens, we are now in the twenties and we are on our way to adding 8,000,000

heat units and now we're  seeing rather dramatic and very concerning heating

effects, almost enough to convince all that there is something foul afoot, but still

not enough to concern all.  There2 is no panic but the third decade 16,000,000

heat units will be added and the effect will be so terribly dramatic we may lose

our ability to operate at our highest intelligence levels due to an ensuing turmoil.

Once in the embrace of a clear and present disaster the ability to think clearly

and operate collectively in a cohesive fashion usually is beyond reach.  So the

next decade may be about all we really have left.  Hopefully, we will pull through

but it remains to be seen.   So, Good Luck to all.