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Massive permafrost thaw documented in Canada, portending huge carbon release

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Re: Massive permafrost thaw documented in Canada, portending huge carbon release

#241

After carefully reading your post, it seems to me that the whole point of it is, due to some self perceived superiority of the Dutch people (pretty sure you mean white Dutch) you're bond to survive even the Armageddon. I can just say, I wish you well young man.

How on earth did you find any racism in my comment? I never once so much as hinted at race. I explained why a combination of large land area, low GDP, and bad/limited history of water management will put Bangladesh in a very bad situation in the coming years if sea levels continue to rise. None of that has anything to do with race: you're welcome to replace 'Bangladesh' with 'Kaliningrad oblast' and the entire comment holds (with the exception of one Bangladesh-specific statistic about Dhaka flooding.)

The only thing I said the Dutch were superior at was water management. You might find a racist person spouting nonsense about "nonwhites have a lower IQ", or some garbage statistic about violence, but I can't seem to think of the last time "bad at water management" was used as an insult. Additionally, this isn't some kind of made-up pseudofact pulled from totally-not-wrong-statistics.biz, it's pretty damn obvious. One of the few things the Netherlands is universally known for is good water management: without it, most of the population would be underwater.

The Dutch waterboards are some of the oldest continually operating forms of government in the world. One I bike by daily (Delfland) has operated continuously from 1289, and there are older ones still. Meanwhile water management in Bangladesh is considered an absolute disaster, on every level. Thirty million people have or will have chronic arsenic poisoning from their consumption of poisoned water, aquifers are being depleted, sanitation is unregulated, and most of the few extant water resource authorities survive on donations. The reasons for this are many, from idiotic colonialist rulers to conflicts with neighboring countries to improperly allocated aid dollars. None of this has anything to do with skin color: you're the only one to bring that up. When sea levels rise, skin tone doesn't matter: experience fighting water does.

It should be obvious that the Netherlands, which has successfully dealt with these problems for eight hundred years straight and has far more money to spend, will probably fare better than Bangladesh, which is one of the most impoverished nations on earth and does not have a history of successfully fighting rising sea levels.

I'd appreciate it if you read my comment again, think about it, and apologize. Thank you.

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Finally, for anyone else reading this: for all of my adult life (and even for years before that) I've been active in fighting for political and social causes I believe in, donating my time and money to NGOs and political groups large and small. In particular two of these I'd like to highlight are anti-racism causes and furthering the education of engineers in the third world. For the past several years I've also commented on the Internet using my full first and last name, as I have here in both these comments. If you have any doubts whatsoever about my lifelong opposition to racism, I encourage you to Google-stalk me and verify this for yourself.

Re: Massive permafrost thaw documented in Canada, portending huge carbon release

#242
post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

James Hansen is the Doctor Oz of climate change. Dude will release study after study before they hit peer review. He's a god damn charlatan. https://theconversation.com/study-predicts-multi-meter-sea-l...

Be careful, as your sources are suspect and don't speak to his research. Your mashable link is a summary of a piece from Glover Park Group, in their own words they turn 'strategies into outcomes', so they seem to be a firm that gets paid to shape public opinion. For that reason alone we should dismiss the messenger. While your 'the conversation.com' link seems broken, but searching on their site for Hansen returns a…

Heard and agreed. Somewhere i have quotes from his peers on the topic. Those are the fastest i could find in a rush. Will look tonight.

Re: Massive permafrost thaw documented in Canada, portending huge carbon release

#243
What I've come to realize now, with the feedback mechanisms, the denialists can keep at it forever. Look, the CO2 is really coming from the permafrost, not coal! It's coming from the oceans! (Which some people have already claimed to me.)

Re: Massive permafrost thaw documented in Canada, portending huge carbon release

#244

I understand how the personal responsibility plays into the climate change and already follow most of the best practices: biking to the office, driving electric (Ontario electricity), energy conservation at home, reducing consumption, but feel that I can do more. Can someone suggest a few environmental charities that can be donated to?

No sure if you already do this, and know it has been said 1000xs before, but seriously, reducing/cutting meat consumption is probably one of the largest/cheapest impacts you can have for the personal cost.

https://foodtechconnect.com/2014/01/17/infographic-of-the-we...

And if you have the financial means to take the risk to be picky about your job (and are technically inclined), have a read of Bret Victor's "What can a technologist do about climate change?" post, so much to be done assuming it's not all too late already.

http://worrydream.com/ClimateChange/

Most charities are about damage control, not dealing with the problem.

Another option, is invest in a Solar Share program if they are available in your country. Possibility for good returns and helps build more solar energy.

Re: Massive permafrost thaw documented in Canada, portending huge carbon release

#245
post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

James Hansen is the Doctor Oz of climate change. Dude will release study after study before they hit peer review. He's a god damn charlatan. https://theconversation.com/study-predicts-multi-meter-sea-l...

Be careful, as your sources are suspect and don't speak to his research. Your mashable link is a summary of a piece from Glover Park Group, in their own words they turn 'strategies into outcomes', so they seem to be a firm that gets paid to shape public opinion. For that reason alone we should dismiss the messenger. While your 'the conversation.com' link seems broken, but searching on their site for Hansen returns a…

Ok. Two screaming kids... while i don't have time to find the direct sources of scientific comment, they should be referenced in the following article about Hansen's 2015 paper.

https://judithcurry.com/2015/07/26/hansens-backfire/

Lol. Don't read the comments, while i find judith to be above board, many of her fans are definitely rabid troglodytes.

Re: Massive permafrost thaw documented in Canada, portending huge carbon release

#246
post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that carbon tax pays for the building of the thing?

I don't think a carbon tax is ever going to be politically viable.

I think it would be if it replaced income tax & corporation tax.

Re: Massive permafrost thaw documented in Canada, portending huge carbon release

#247
post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Solar, wind and nuclear kill poor people?

Telling poor people that the only power they are allowed to have is too expensive for them to afford does result in their having shorter lifespans. Energy is one of the keys to modernity; you can't power an MRI machine with UN-subsidized corn. If you provide them with solar, wind, nuclear, geothermal, tidal, or possibly fusion power at costs lower than or equal to organic fuels, they will not suffer (and might benefi…

Who is telling poor people that? Nobody. Ever been to Africa? Poor people don't have access to energy not because of environmental regulation, but because they are poor. Coal mining and combustion kill far more poor people than this straw man,

Re: Massive permafrost thaw documented in Canada, portending huge carbon release

#248
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

even the most inhospitable places on earth (even post global warming) are far far more hospitable than the best places on mars.

Right. You can at least breathe in Antarctica. And terraforming Mars would be several orders of magnitude more expensive than even a massive readjustment of Earth's climate.

Terraforming is a nice long term thing but I would think some underground habitats could be built in the short term. If there's some water ice, oxygen, and useful minerals such as iron that can be harvested, a colony could be almost self-sustaining once they've set up their solar power, smelters, digging equipment and fabricating tools. Probably about a thousand people would be the tipping point.

I'm imagining a turn-key colony that initially accommodates 1,000 people and can expand arbitrarily, that is robotically prepared, then the humans arrive to a heated, lighted, oxygenated, self-sufficient habitat. Once this has been standardized, it's a matter of dropping these in various spots around the planet, not too far apart, humanity can then colonize the planet in 1,000 person increments.

It's not a solution for our climate problems back on Earth, obviously, but it's a way to ensure some redundancy, should the Earth become uninhabitable through climate catastrophe or war. Or an asteroid strike.

Re: Massive permafrost thaw documented in Canada, portending huge carbon release

#249
post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>What's wrong with migration? People do that anyway when they move out of their parent's house and into their own, often in another city This is hardly the kind of migration we're talking about. Come on... a bit of intellectual honesty goes a long way.

There may be a bit of short distance migration if the sea rises. It's projected to rise a meter or two this century so people could build inland a bit, planning permission willing.

A 2m rise is going to cause way more than "maybe a bit of short distance migration".

It's going going to be a lot worse, by an order of magnitude, than the current war refugee migrant crises currently in Europe, and will be happening globally at that.

Re: Massive permafrost thaw documented in Canada, portending huge carbon release

#250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I mean, literally, year old events that have dozens of news articles (including multiple right-wing sources) they choose to disbelieve over their chosen charismatic leader on YouTube and Right Wing Radio. Please explain to me why people are denying Sandy Hook was a real event? They also deny things like this happen: https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2015/11/the-3-a... http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/…

Because some people are ignorant and paranoid? I'm fairly sure those are qualities that span all walks of life. You're arguing against straw men, here, and while it's fun to destroy straw men at some point you need to move away from the fringes and start to tackle arguments that have some actual substance.

You are aware these include people advising the President, such as Bannon, correct?

This isn't some lunatic fringe at this point but includes people the President of the United States either takes advice from or treats as friends (i.e. Alex Jones).

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