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Canadian permafrost thaws 70 years earlier than predicted

reuters.com

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Re: Canadian permafrost thaws 70 years earlier than predicted

#101

Post by _ph_ »

sunshinelackof wrote: post #64
Fede_V wrote: post #27

Global warming is the single scariest existential threat our species has ever faced, and we aren't doing nearly enough to tackle it. Our future descendants will heap scorn and curses on our generation, and we deserve every bit of it. Every politician that refuses to do what is necessary or finds it convenient to play stupid language games about 'settled science' is doing incalculable harm. As citizens, I encourage ev…

> voting exclusively on how credible a politician is on tackling global warming This is really the only important thing that we can do. Except maybe not flying in an airplane, there is little the average person can do in their daily life to inhibit climate change. Whether due to preventive policies or due to resource shortages our lives will change in the near future. Expecting individuals to shame themselves when th…

There are a few more things a person can do to fight global warming:

- most of all, speak out for reneweable energies and against coal

- if possible use some solar yourself

- try to buy an electric car or a real fuel efficient one, don't drive too much

- in general, try to use energy efficient devices

Re: Canadian permafrost thaws 70 years earlier than predicted

#103

Post by perfunctory »

> The team used a modified propeller plane to visit exceptionally remote sites, including an abandoned Cold War-era radar base more than 300 km from the nearest human settlement.

> Diving through a lucky break in the clouds, Romanovsky and his colleagues said they were confronted with a landscape that was unrecognizable from the pristine Arctic terrain they had encountered during initial visits a decade or so earlier.

Too bad we can't just use satellite images for this kind of research. Somehow satellite images are available for hedge funds to calculate the oil supply [0], but not for climate research. It's a shame.

[0] https://www.wired.com/2015/03/orbital-insight/

Re: Canadian permafrost thaws 70 years earlier than predicted

#104

Post by radicalbyte »

hi5eyes wrote: post #89
graeme wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Half of co2 emissions have happened since then. Emissions are at the highest they've ever been. We, presently, are deciding to do this and continue it.

there are locked in cycles that are going to cause 2 degrees and more in warming regardless of if we stop emissions completely right this second. it only goes up every year nbd

We're clearly going to have to so something to cool the planet down, but the transition to renewable energy is just so effective that you'd want to do it purely from the financial and health benefits.

Re: Canadian permafrost thaws 70 years earlier than predicted

#105

Post by [deleted] »

akvadrako wrote: post #94
Fede_V wrote: post #27

Global warming is the single scariest existential threat our species has ever faced, and we aren't doing nearly enough to tackle it. Our future descendants will heap scorn and curses on our generation, and we deserve every bit of it. Every politician that refuses to do what is necessary or finds it convenient to play stupid language games about 'settled science' is doing incalculable harm. As citizens, I encourage ev…

Global warming is not an existential threat if you consider the studies that look at existential threats in general. It's not even in the top 10. Of the top of my head, asteroids, bio weapons, disease, the Sun, AI and authoritarianism are more serious. Especially AI - not being the dominate species anymore will be dangerous. But 10°C more? That just requires AC and migration.

[deleted]

Re: Canadian permafrost thaws 70 years earlier than predicted

#106

Post by lexpar »

akvadrako wrote: post #94
Fede_V wrote: post #27

Global warming is the single scariest existential threat our species has ever faced, and we aren't doing nearly enough to tackle it. Our future descendants will heap scorn and curses on our generation, and we deserve every bit of it. Every politician that refuses to do what is necessary or finds it convenient to play stupid language games about 'settled science' is doing incalculable harm. As citizens, I encourage ev…

Global warming is not an existential threat if you consider the studies that look at existential threats in general. It's not even in the top 10. Of the top of my head, asteroids, bio weapons, disease, the Sun, AI and authoritarianism are more serious. Especially AI - not being the dominate species anymore will be dangerous. But 10°C more? That just requires AC and migration.

I really hope you'll change your mind, specifically about that last sentence. Probably billions of the world's poorest people are likely to see their environment become unlivable. That's not a problem a little AC and migration will easily solve.

Just look how poorly rich countries are reacting to the current levels of migration from less rich countries.

Re: Canadian permafrost thaws 70 years earlier than predicted

#107

Post by Fede_V »

sunshinelackof wrote: post #64
Fede_V wrote: post #27

Global warming is the single scariest existential threat our species has ever faced, and we aren't doing nearly enough to tackle it. Our future descendants will heap scorn and curses on our generation, and we deserve every bit of it. Every politician that refuses to do what is necessary or finds it convenient to play stupid language games about 'settled science' is doing incalculable harm. As citizens, I encourage ev…

> voting exclusively on how credible a politician is on tackling global warming This is really the only important thing that we can do. Except maybe not flying in an airplane, there is little the average person can do in their daily life to inhibit climate change. Whether due to preventive policies or due to resource shortages our lives will change in the near future. Expecting individuals to shame themselves when th…

I agree with this.

To the extent that we have lots of influential people browsing this forum, make it clear that unless to any politician that unless they aggressively tackle global warming, they won't get any donations/votes no matter how good they are in other areas / how much influence they have over the business you are running.

Re: Canadian permafrost thaws 70 years earlier than predicted

#108

Post by NeedMoreTea »

SCHiM wrote: post #83
NeedMoreTea wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The typically socialised decommissioning costs, far in excess of estimates, of nuclear usually seem to more than cancel out any cost competitiveness. I was quite pro-nuclear in the 80s and 90s...

Well, if you agree with the comment you're replying to you'd logically still have to be pro nuclear now. Because the costs of our fossil fuel energy production seem like they'll be the death of our civilization.

I've never advocated sticking with fossil though. Nuclear could have bought us lots of extra time to deal with the rest - if all the coal generation had got replaced by nuclear say in the 90s - but that bird flew ages ago.

Personally, for most of the 21st century I've seen wind, solar, tidal and (pumped) hydro as increasingly more suited - far faster to bring onstream, and without quite the same scale of NIMBY delays of nuclear. A network of micro generators seems more suited to the adoption of community heat and power which also seems an essential part of reaching zero emission - as seen today in Ireland's emissions plan.

Re: Canadian permafrost thaws 70 years earlier than predicted

#109

Post by csours »

Reedx wrote: post #95
Fede_V wrote: post #27

Global warming is the single scariest existential threat our species has ever faced, and we aren't doing nearly enough to tackle it. Our future descendants will heap scorn and curses on our generation, and we deserve every bit of it. Every politician that refuses to do what is necessary or finds it convenient to play stupid language games about 'settled science' is doing incalculable harm. As citizens, I encourage ev…

They'll probably do a collective face slap that we failed to invest in Nuclear technology (see the difference in Gen IV vs old tech: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_IV_reactor ). We had a solution for clean energy, but let fear override reason.

I'm not doubting you, this is just an honest repetition of what I've heard before.

I thought that nuclear was also a GHG contributor because of the fossil fuels used in mining and refining it. Is this not the case? Like there is some cradle to grave GHG coefficient for different sources of power...

Re: Canadian permafrost thaws 70 years earlier than predicted

#110

Post by nothrabannosir »

Fede_V wrote: post #27

Global warming is the single scariest existential threat our species has ever faced, and we aren't doing nearly enough to tackle it. Our future descendants will heap scorn and curses on our generation, and we deserve every bit of it. Every politician that refuses to do what is necessary or finds it convenient to play stupid language games about 'settled science' is doing incalculable harm. As citizens, I encourage ev…

A carbon tax, with pay-out for carbon sequestration, will put the very machine that currently drives us towards extinction straight in reverse.

Here are the most impactful things you can do as an individual in a democracy:

1. Convince as many people as you can of voting for anyone who supports carbon tax.

2. Vote for anyone who supports a carbon tax.

3. There is no 3.

We need to internalise this negative externality into the very fabric of every transaction we make. By the time you can see a product you have no idea how much carbon was produced to make it.

Don't just walk back from the abyss. Drive back in the same car that got us here.

(by all means of course reduce your footprint, but don't forget nr 1 & 2. they must be front and centre.)

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