Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Greenland ice sheet is close to a melting point of no return

news.agu.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

161–170 of 224 posts

Re: Greenland ice sheet is close to a melting point of no return

#161

Post by tejohnso »

crispinb wrote: post #127
kiliantics wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It doesn't seem reasonable to say we have hundreds of years to figure out a solution. We've also known about the global warming problem in great detail for well over 50 years at this point. Since then we haven't figured it out but made it worse -- most of our cumulative emissions have happened in just the last 50 years. Why do people still think we can figure this out in a matter of decades without having to drasti…

> Why do people still think ... Because people haven't come to terms with the fact that humans are not Children of God nor disembodied Cartesian rational calculators, but actually a loquacious and smartish hominid, designed by selection for small group interaction. There is nothing to suggest this species is capable of planet-level cooperation towards a communally-decided end. Add to that the fact that path-dependent…

> There is nothing to suggest this species is capable of planet-level cooperation towards a communally-decided end.

Absolutely. In fact there is plenty to suggest to me that this species is completely incapable of that level of cooperation.

Re: Greenland ice sheet is close to a melting point of no return

#162

Post by [deleted] »

snozolli wrote: post #95
imwithstoopid wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope. Get the best minds in the world together and ask for an action plan for salvaging climate within two generations...100% chance it will be some variation of "live like its 1880"

Get the best minds in the world together and ask them and they'll say you're talking out your ass. See how useless that argument is?

[deleted]

Re: Greenland ice sheet is close to a melting point of no return

#163

Post by robocat »

runesofdoom wrote: post #105

From, Yes, Minister , "Stage 1: We say nothing is going to happen. Stage 2: We say something may be about to happen, but we should do nothing about it. Stage 3: We say maybe we should do something about it, but there's nothing we can do. Stage 4: We say maybe there was something, but it's too late now."

https://youtube.com/watch?v=nSXIetP5iak

Re: Greenland ice sheet is close to a melting point of no return

#164

Post by 0xbadcafebee »

chollida1 wrote: post #118
0xbadcafebee wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I work in climate change. I changed my job in order to do so. The pace of change feels glacial (badum-bum). The same can be said of politics, and everything else that involves way too many interests fighting over a very small set of resources. You will never not feel helpless. Greta Thunberg probably felt helpless. But she turned that feeling into anger, and that anger into action. Henry Rollins said he stays angry,…

> Greta Thunberg probably felt helpless. But she turned that feeling into anger, and that anger into action. Serious question. What impact has she had? I haven't seen any changes from her actions. People knew about climate change before she came around. What changes did she create?

Serious answer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greta_Thunberg

Re: Greenland ice sheet is close to a melting point of no return

#165

Post by patrickdavey »

earthscienceman wrote: post #104
patrickdavey wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, what's your plan?

This is an interesting and open question. But I need you to be slightly more specific. In my research? For my personal life? For the global economy?

For your personal life mainly. I guess I'm most curious about whether you're planning on where you're living etc in the context of various forms of climate breakdown.

I'm also curious how many personal changes you've made (flying less, vegetarian) when it seems like we need massive government intervention to move the needle.

Thanks for replying!

Re: Greenland ice sheet is close to a melting point of no return

#166

Post by gridspy »

hypertele-Xii wrote: post #150
tzs wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Bear in mind that the atmosphere retains carbon dioxide for ~50 years It's 300-1000 years [1]. [1] https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2915/the-atmosphere-getting-a-...

Good thing plants eat carbon dioxide then, so we don't need to wait for it to break down by itself. The more CO2 in the atmosphere, the more plants grow and convert it to oxygen.

Plants only store the CO2 until they decompose a relatively short time later. The only way to end up with a net decrease in CO2 this way is to bury the plants deep. Of course that is the process that initially created coal.

Re: Greenland ice sheet is close to a melting point of no return

#168

Post by brewdad »

phpisthebest wrote: post #129
nostrademons wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We already are officially inevitably fucked. If you corner a climate scientist in private and point out the real implications of their work, they might even admit it. The problem is you can't admit that we're officially inevitably fucked in public. If you did that, funding for climate science and climate mitigation would dry up, because there's nothing we can realistically do about it. Trust in governments would evap…

>> Trust in governments would evaporate I am unclear why anyone ever trusted government or believed government would be the avenue for resolution of this problem You either understand history, or you trust government, you can not both understand history and trust government.. The second people put their trust in government was the second humanity was fucked. In the best of time Government is like fire, is a troubleso…

> The purpose for government is to provide a framework for non-violent dispute resolution, and to safe guard natural rights and property), and maybe form a national defense force. Not to provide individual safety and security.

Providing for national defense, non-violent dispute resolution, and protecting natural rights and property sounds an awful lot like "keeping us all safe". I'm not sure what else you think that could mean.

Re: Greenland ice sheet is close to a melting point of no return

#169

Post by smitty1e »

ryandrake wrote: post #11

Every time there's an article about climate change, it's always about how we're "close to the point of no return." It's felt like the Truck Almost Hitting The Pole GIF[1] for like 10 years now. Has anything actually gone past the point of no return? I'll almost be relieved when we're officially inevitably fucked... at least these "nearly there!" articles won't keep popping up. 1: https://tenor.com/view/truck-crash-te…

I watched that truck for minutes and it never hit the pole. Who was driving? Godot, or Zeno?

Re: Greenland ice sheet is close to a melting point of no return

#170

Post by thriftwy »

gridspy wrote: post #166
hypertele-Xii wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good thing plants eat carbon dioxide then, so we don't need to wait for it to break down by itself. The more CO2 in the atmosphere, the more plants grow and convert it to oxygen.

Plants only store the CO2 until they decompose a relatively short time later. The only way to end up with a net decrease in CO2 this way is to bury the plants deep. Of course that is the process that initially created coal.

We could also start treating timber so that it would last and then build houses out of it. Too bad we're not doing it enough.
Post reply on HN