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Scientists In Alaska Find Mammoth Amounts Of Carbon In The Warming Permafrost

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Re: Scientists In Alaska Find Mammoth Amounts Of Carbon In The Warming Permafrost

#71

Post by GuB-42 »

hanniabu wrote: post #9
mr_overalls wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The sad thing is that scientists have understood the risks of global warming for decades, and yet our civilization (maybe I'm just speaking for the US here) seems impotent to effectively coordinate a response to this slow-motion threat. It could be our own Great Filter. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Filter

and yet our governments

In all countries that matter, governments are elected. And they do what they need to do to be elected for the next term.

Assuming they really swept global warming under the rug, they did it because accounting for it was unpopular. We prefer to vote for a candidate that won't reduce our comfort rather than one who decides to tackle a problem most people don't really understand.

We are the ones to blame, governments just gave us what we wanted.

Re: Scientists In Alaska Find Mammoth Amounts Of Carbon In The Warming Permafrost

#72

Post by rexaliquid »

pmilla1606 wrote: post #36

I was expecting this to be mentioned somewhere: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clathrate_gun_hypothesis

The Clathrate gun hypothesis and the thawing of the Arctic ecosystem are two of the "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" that the US government investigates. These are possible scenarios for abrupt climate change (aka tipping points). The other two involve antarctic ice sheet instability and megadroughts in North America.

http://newscenter.lbl.gov/2008/09/17/impacts-on-the-threshol...

Re: Scientists In Alaska Find Mammoth Amounts Of Carbon In The Warming Permafrost

#73

Post by xyzzyz »

matte_black wrote: post #56
FuckOffNeemo wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mass death < managed population and immigration control.

Managed population? Such as one child per couple policies? Immigration control? Such as closed borders and deportation of illegals?

You prefer mass death?

Re: Scientists In Alaska Find Mammoth Amounts Of Carbon In The Warming Permafrost

#74

Post by iceprey »

matte_black wrote: post #50
ceejayoz wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Such events are necessary to keep human population under a manageable number. Is there any evidence for this assertion?

Which part, that the events are necessary or that we have to keep human population to a level that the planet can currently support?

It's not a given that such events are necessary because human population growth has already slowed down and will continue doing so as more of the world becomes developed. Furthermore, technological advancement can increase the number of people the planet can support. So, while there is definitely some population strain, it's far from certain that human overpopulation will result in catastrophe without events like this.

Re: Scientists In Alaska Find Mammoth Amounts Of Carbon In The Warming Permafrost

#76

Post by legohead »

corpMaverick wrote: post #2

It is not just a bomb that can blow the arctic. It can destroy all human civilization. And at this point, we may have lost any ability to do anything. Edit: Doom scale... 1 Inconvenient storms. 2 More frequent natural disasters. 3 Destroying coastal cities. 4 Causing hunger, wars and mass migrations. 5 Decimating human population. 6 Destroying human civilization. 7 Destroying all humans on earth. 8 Destroying all lif…

I don't get their test case. They took it to the lab, and thawed it up to room temperature? That's not going to happen. It's going to get warmer, maybe just warm enough for the bacteria to thaw, and then immediately die. Did they do any realistic tests?

Re: Scientists In Alaska Find Mammoth Amounts Of Carbon In The Warming Permafrost

#77

Post by matte_black »

grinsekatze wrote: post #65
matte_black wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is something we can do. We can enjoy what we have here and now, for as long as it lasts, for as long as we can.

Completely agree. It’s all natural cycles, transformations ... but accepting this is not really easy as long as one fears death. There is so much eternal beauty that we are part of and that we could focus on instead of wars and Desasters.

Personally, I think dying by something as unique as climate change would be a spectacular way to go.

Think of all the other mundane ways people die everyday: disease, a bullet, or even just tripping off a sidewalk wrong and hitting your head on the curb. Is that really any better of a fate?

Re: Scientists In Alaska Find Mammoth Amounts Of Carbon In The Warming Permafrost

#78

Post by matte_black »

xyzzyz wrote: post #73
matte_black wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Managed population? Such as one child per couple policies? Immigration control? Such as closed borders and deportation of illegals?

You prefer mass death?

Since I do not like government intervention in people’s lives, yes, a natural mass death would be better, especially if it leaves behind a stronger genetic pool.

Re: Scientists In Alaska Find Mammoth Amounts Of Carbon In The Warming Permafrost

#79

Post by ioioio8908 »

mr_overalls wrote: post #5
corpMaverick wrote: post #2

It is not just a bomb that can blow the arctic. It can destroy all human civilization. And at this point, we may have lost any ability to do anything. Edit: Doom scale... 1 Inconvenient storms. 2 More frequent natural disasters. 3 Destroying coastal cities. 4 Causing hunger, wars and mass migrations. 5 Decimating human population. 6 Destroying human civilization. 7 Destroying all humans on earth. 8 Destroying all lif…

The sad thing is that scientists have understood the risks of global warming for decades, and yet our civilization (maybe I'm just speaking for the US here) seems impotent to effectively coordinate a response to this slow-motion threat. It could be our own Great Filter. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Filter

Let's not kid ourselves either; Ycombinator and the startup fetish culture, and gadget fetishism, help fuel our approach to the edge.

The more neoliberalism continues to induce dopamine addiction, under some ridiculous premise everyone wants to be a celebrity, startup wunderkind, or hoodie wearing, macbook carrying hipster, the sooner the env is gonna fly right off the edge.

The global economy cannot keep fueling itself on disposable consumerism

Re: Scientists In Alaska Find Mammoth Amounts Of Carbon In The Warming Permafrost

#80

Post by bad-joke »

nerdponx wrote: post #35
cryptoz wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> decades More than a century, in some cases. Capitalism needs additional constraints or it will end all civilization. Simply, the cost of creating greenhouse gasses has never been priced in to the market since Exxon and the likes have lobbied hard for decades to not let the truth gain any traction. They should all be in jail and there should be no profits in destroying ecosystems. Otherwise there seems no hope.

In a socialized system you'd have the same thing, except perpetuated by bureaucrats instead of businessmen. If anything, capitalism has an advantage in that it's at least theoretically possible to mitigate the effect of greed on politics. Throwing all your eggs into the government basket gives you no such recourse.

The Volkswagen emissions scandal demonstrated that mitigating effects will be circumvented given the presence of a profit motive. Rather than construct an elaborate and exploitable maze of incentives, perhaps it would be simpler to remove the profit motive.
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