Earth may be headed into a mini Ice Age within a decade • Hacker News Board

Re: Earth may be headed into a mini Ice Age within a decade

#31

Post by fleitz » Tue, Jun 14, 2011, 7:07 PM UTC

scarmig wrote: post #11

ctdonath wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed, considering that the much-feared "global warming" constitutes an increase of one degree per _century_.

"World temperatures could rise by between 1.1 and 6.4 °C (2.0 and 11.5 °F) during the 21st century" IPCC So, "one degree per century" is accurate if (a) you clarify you mean Celsius, not Farenheit and (b) you're saying the minimum increase, while also noting the maximum increase could be six times as high.

I know and not only that but the oceans could rise 6 whole inches. That's like half a foot.

Re: Earth may be headed into a mini Ice Age within a decade

#32

Post by run4yourlives » Tue, Jun 14, 2011, 7:09 PM UTC

hugh3 wrote: post #10

This is exactly why I think the debate should be less about "how can we as humans stop affecting Earth's natual climate" and "how can we as humans gain control over Earth's natural climate". Climate change happens with us or without us. If we're going to protect our huge investments in climate-dependent infrastructure (i.e. cities) then we're gonna want (say) giant space mirrors to compensate for any zany things that…

It's probably easier to just colonize other planets than it is to go farting around with something as delicate as Earth's climate.

Re: Earth may be headed into a mini Ice Age within a decade

#33

Post by daimyoyo » Tue, Jun 14, 2011, 7:10 PM UTC

I seriously doubt that after 175 years of industrial CO₂ that suddenly we're going to see this drastic change out of nowhere. It's much more likely to occur gradually over time. That said, I welcome the ice age. I'm in Vegas and it'd make the climate here perfect.

Re: Earth may be headed into a mini Ice Age within a decade

#34

Post by genki » Tue, Jun 14, 2011, 7:10 PM UTC

"This could overturn decades of received wisdom on such things as CO2 emissions, and lead to radical shifts in government policy worldwide." - What exactly is the article implying? Are they somehow saying that CO2 emissions aren't a bad thing? Or that we should increase them so we can prevent the 'mini ice age' by increasing our negative effect on the climate?

Seems to be an extremely uninformed and misleading bit of 'reporting'...

Re: Earth may be headed into a mini Ice Age within a decade

#35

Post by nathanb » Tue, Jun 14, 2011, 7:10 PM UTC

run4yourlives wrote: post #32

hugh3 wrote: post #10

This is exactly why I think the debate should be less about "how can we as humans stop affecting Earth's natual climate" and "how can we as humans gain control over Earth's natural climate". Climate change happens with us or without us. If we're going to protect our huge investments in climate-dependent infrastructure (i.e. cities) then we're gonna want (say) giant space mirrors to compensate for any zany things that…

It's probably easier to just colonize other planets than it is to go farting around with something as delicate as Earth's climate.

Wouldn't this then require us to "fart around" with the climate of the planets we colonize to make them more like Earth's?

Re: Earth may be headed into a mini Ice Age within a decade

#36

Post by curious_man » Tue, Jun 14, 2011, 7:12 PM UTC

natmaster wrote: post #21

hugh3 wrote: post #10

This is exactly why I think the debate should be less about "how can we as humans stop affecting Earth's natual climate" and "how can we as humans gain control over Earth's natural climate". Climate change happens with us or without us. If we're going to protect our huge investments in climate-dependent infrastructure (i.e. cities) then we're gonna want (say) giant space mirrors to compensate for any zany things that…

For instance Canada may want the earth warmer, whereas Indian would want it cooler. (Since it benefits their respective latitudes.)

Well, I think this would be the simplest: the temperature at any given latitude will be the average of the last n years. Period. But maybe I'm too naive.

Re: Earth may be headed into a mini Ice Age within a decade

#37

Post by benihana » Tue, Jun 14, 2011, 7:13 PM UTC

nathanb wrote: post #35

run4yourlives wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's probably easier to just colonize other planets than it is to go farting around with something as delicate as Earth's climate.

Wouldn't this then require us to "fart around" with the climate of the planets we colonize to make them more like Earth's?

Yes. But when Haliburton claims a planet, I don't really care if they fart around with its climate, because I'll never be allowed to go there anyway.

Re: Earth may be headed into a mini Ice Age within a decade

#38

Post by jhamburger » Tue, Jun 14, 2011, 7:16 PM UTC

AndyKelley wrote: post #20

hugh3 wrote: post #10

This is exactly why I think the debate should be less about "how can we as humans stop affecting Earth's natual climate" and "how can we as humans gain control over Earth's natural climate". Climate change happens with us or without us. If we're going to protect our huge investments in climate-dependent infrastructure (i.e. cities) then we're gonna want (say) giant space mirrors to compensate for any zany things that…

"The political problem of who gets to control the Earth's thermostat is, of course, a tricky one." Understatement of the year. Can you imagine?

Might test the BRIC alliances. Russia and Brazil probably won't agree on this one.

Re: Earth may be headed into a mini Ice Age within a decade

#39

Post by lftl » Tue, Jun 14, 2011, 7:16 PM UTC

run4yourlives wrote: post #32

hugh3 wrote: post #10

This is exactly why I think the debate should be less about "how can we as humans stop affecting Earth's natual climate" and "how can we as humans gain control over Earth's natural climate". Climate change happens with us or without us. If we're going to protect our huge investments in climate-dependent infrastructure (i.e. cities) then we're gonna want (say) giant space mirrors to compensate for any zany things that…

It's probably easier to just colonize other planets than it is to go farting around with something as delicate as Earth's climate.

It's obviously easier to "fart around with" the Earth's climate considering we're doing it now to some extent.

Assuming you meant the much higher bar of improving the Earth's climate (sidestepping the obvious question of what we mean by improve), I'm still not convinced colonizing another planet is easier. There's a number of theoretical plans for reducing CO2, or decreasing surface temperature by reflecting some of the sun's light. These plans are much less sci-fi fanciful than building a viable colony (especially if you mean largely self-supporting) on other planets.

Re: Earth may be headed into a mini Ice Age within a decade

#40

Post by ry0ohki » Tue, Jun 14, 2011, 7:16 PM UTC

genki wrote: post #34

"This could overturn decades of received wisdom on such things as CO2 emissions, and lead to radical shifts in government policy worldwide." - What exactly is the article implying? Are they somehow saying that CO2 emissions aren't a bad thing? Or that we should increase them so we can prevent the 'mini ice age' by increasing our negative effect on the climate? Seems to be an extremely uninformed and misleading bit of…

I guess that's kind of what it is saying? An Ice Age would be about as bad for civilization as we know it as the ice caps melting (just in different ways), in a time of global cooling, I suppose increased CO2 would keep the Earth warmer then the last ice age.