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A 3°C world has no safe place

economist.com

41–50 of 291 posts

Re: A 3°C world has no safe place

#41
post #3

Canada and northern part of the US will be fine (north of the mason dixon line). Places like Albany, NY, or Minesota, or most of Canada, appart from the occasional crazy swings, are going to be more lovely places to live, with slightly milder winters. The southern part is toast, both from water level rises, and lack of fresh water. In this country, the ones that are going to be the most affected by global warming, se…

Climate change is more than just how mild the winters will become. It is also different weather patterns like heavy rainstorms and the resulting floods.

Cologne Germany is about 50 degrees north and the surrounding areas were hit hard. Zhengzhou China is about 34 degrees north and was also hit hard by flooding. That further south than the Mason Dixon line... more like the latitude of Raleigh, North Carolina.

So sure, lovely to live if you guard against constant potential storms and floods, omni-present ground water, the possibility of several days in a row of 100+ F temps, etc.

Re: A 3°C world has no safe place

#42
post #3

Canada and northern part of the US will be fine (north of the mason dixon line). Places like Albany, NY, or Minesota, or most of Canada, appart from the occasional crazy swings, are going to be more lovely places to live, with slightly milder winters. The southern part is toast, both from water level rises, and lack of fresh water. In this country, the ones that are going to be the most affected by global warming, se…

Lack of fresh water in the US is a solvable issue. We have oceans all around us and the US has the know-how to ship fresh, desalinated water from the coast to middle america.

Re: A 3°C world has no safe place

#43

What are they talking about? In the US this will mean more rain in many regions and longer growing seasons. A lot of plants will quickly adapt. Historically, our planet for most of its history was warmer. It’s all going to be fine, while we will need to adjust the world will continue on. Note: I’m not saying it won’t be hard, but this will be a gradual change and will actually assist some places, while others get mor…

With "more rain" also comes more floods and hurricanes.

Also, gradual changes are definitely not guaranteed. Weather and chaos theory have a lot in common; Small perturbations can cause massively different outcomes. Adding 3°C to the entire planet is not a small perturbation.

Re: A 3°C world has no safe place

#44

I'm sitting in my air conditioned room, in the USA. Doing computer stuff, naturally. I look at what I can do about this. I can turn up the temp in my room, and the house. Meager difference. I can use less water - I already am, with getting showers every other day on average. I can eat less meat - which I do with purchase of the beef CSA. I'm big into the repair movement, and repair household equipment and electronics…

> I look at what I'm actually doing, and I'm at my limit.

Smaller house, solar panels, don't drive, don't eat meat, and don't have kids. And don't vote for politicians who are busy spreading nonsense.

> I've given up hope that this will be solved.

Oh, me too. Now it is about managing your personal guilt, which you realize at some level, judging from your comments. For me, I am likely past my lifetime CO2 budget, due to just 5 years of transatlantic flights for work (plus 15 years of driving in the US). I can't undo the damage that I have done, and now I have both eyes open staring into the abyss.

I guess you gotta find low-impact ways of enjoying life. I can recommend slacklining.

Re: A 3°C world has no safe place

#45

I'm sitting in my air conditioned room, in the USA. Doing computer stuff, naturally. I look at what I can do about this. I can turn up the temp in my room, and the house. Meager difference. I can use less water - I already am, with getting showers every other day on average. I can eat less meat - which I do with purchase of the beef CSA. I'm big into the repair movement, and repair household equipment and electronics…

> These global climate change issues are the sum of all the work in this world, but the bulk of it is emitted by companies who do the cheapest thing.

Who you are giving money to.

Do you own a car?? Then you are destroying the planet.

Re: A 3°C world has no safe place

#46

I'm sitting in my air conditioned room, in the USA. Doing computer stuff, naturally. I look at what I can do about this. I can turn up the temp in my room, and the house. Meager difference. I can use less water - I already am, with getting showers every other day on average. I can eat less meat - which I do with purchase of the beef CSA. I'm big into the repair movement, and repair household equipment and electronics…

You could live in 200 square feet. You could bathe with one bucket of room temperature water. You could use no air conditioning whatsoever. You could eat only vegetarian food. Etc etc.

You won’t, (and I won’t either) but if it comes down to human survival, forces will find a way to make you do it.

Re: A 3°C world has no safe place

#47

What are they talking about? In the US this will mean more rain in many regions and longer growing seasons. A lot of plants will quickly adapt. Historically, our planet for most of its history was warmer. It’s all going to be fine, while we will need to adjust the world will continue on. Note: I’m not saying it won’t be hard, but this will be a gradual change and will actually assist some places, while others get mor…

That is profoundly myopic. Sure, the "planet will adapt" or whatever. But how well do you think it's gonna go when a bunch of nuclear weapon armed nations decide that the land they live on is no longer hospitable?

Re: A 3°C world has no safe place

#48

I'm sitting in my air conditioned room, in the USA. Doing computer stuff, naturally. I look at what I can do about this. I can turn up the temp in my room, and the house. Meager difference. I can use less water - I already am, with getting showers every other day on average. I can eat less meat - which I do with purchase of the beef CSA. I'm big into the repair movement, and repair household equipment and electronics…

Its like a little kid making a mess of his room. He or she will never prevent the mess. But the mess will always be fixed. I have good faith that the human species will fix it. One day the entire biosphere will be controlled.

I think this is overly optimistic. While I think I agree, you make it sound like there will be no consequences. I think things will get much worse before the human race decides to do something about it.

Re: A 3°C world has no safe place

#49
American here. I took a bunch of earth science classes in college in 1999. I realized then, I would just plan ahead and aim for an urbanist lifestyle, because our country would have to change. I focused on transit alternatives as my primary advocacy, because it was the most obvious low-hanging fruit and paired with the public health.

I never imagined this would happen, but as the years went on, I grew less astonished and more cynical.

I honestly don't know how to deal with the level nihilism and genuine bitterness I feel toward my fellow man regarding climate change. This was never a political divide. The american culture was full of anti-scientific absurdity on the the right, and complete symbolism without substance on the left.

We don't even have serious bicycle or transit prioritization in our major urban areas. We don't have any concern for reducing our meat consumption. We don't have any concern for alternatives to airlines. We're to the point where only geoengineering can help, which is honestly nuts. I just, I mean, I know where I'm planning on settling down literally based on real estate in relation to climate change. It's surreal.

Re: A 3°C world has no safe place

#50
post #44

I'm sitting in my air conditioned room, in the USA. Doing computer stuff, naturally. I look at what I can do about this. I can turn up the temp in my room, and the house. Meager difference. I can use less water - I already am, with getting showers every other day on average. I can eat less meat - which I do with purchase of the beef CSA. I'm big into the repair movement, and repair household equipment and electronics…

> I look at what I'm actually doing, and I'm at my limit. Smaller house, solar panels, don't drive, don't eat meat, and don't have kids. And don't vote for politicians who are busy spreading nonsense. > I've given up hope that this will be solved. Oh, me too. Now it is about managing your personal guilt, which you realize at some level, judging from your comments. For me, I am likely past my lifetime CO2 budget, due…

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