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Antarctic sea-ice at 'mind-blowing' low alarms experts

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Antarctic sea-ice at 'mind-blowing' low alarms experts

#4

Post by throw_pm23 »

solardev wrote: post #2

At some point, we should probably stop calling it climate change and just start calling it climate abandonment. We're all so desensitized now that the more stories come out, the less people care... =/

There is a slight danger though. Suppose there is a baseline climate change, Earth is getting gradually warmer on average.

Then there is some yearly variation, say, this year above average by 3 degrees, 5 years later below average by 3 degrees.

If you call the yearly variation climate change, then five years later your opponents will say "you see, it was a hoax".

It is a bit like presidents taking credit for the stock market going up. Then when it inevitably goes down, it makes them look bad.

Re: Antarctic sea-ice at 'mind-blowing' low alarms experts

#8

Post by PradeetPatel »

solardev wrote: post #2

At some point, we should probably stop calling it climate change and just start calling it climate abandonment. We're all so desensitized now that the more stories come out, the less people care... =/

That is not true, I think most people care dearly and are doing everything to slow down climate change, this includes participating in recycling and watching our own carbon footprints.

Ultimately its up to us to convince the policymakers and senior leadership in corporations to make the correct decision.

Re: Antarctic sea-ice at 'mind-blowing' low alarms experts

#9

Post by montalbano »

mg wrote: post #5

Could we breed trees which capture more CO2? We increased crop yields multifold already: https://ourworldindata.org/crop-yields So maybe we can do the same to carbon yield? Are trees the plants which capture most CO2 per hectare?

Lots of people have been working on this for a long time. But it's a very hard problem.

See for example

+ https://www.salk.edu/harnessing-plants-initiative/

+ https://www.slcu.cam.ac.uk/news/wood-modification-boosts-bio...

+ https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/genetically-engineered-tre...

+ https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/16/science/genetically-modif...

> Are trees the plants which capture most CO2 per hectare?

I'm struggling to find exact numbers per hectare, and it's only one of several important metrics (e.g. speed of capture, longevity, ecosystem effects).

From my readings I believe a combined strategy of species-diverse reforestation and algae breeding (perhaps GM, though I don't know enough) would be optimal.

Edit: as noted by others below, wetlands preservation and extension would also be great.

Re: Antarctic sea-ice at 'mind-blowing' low alarms experts

#10

Post by edhelas »

mg wrote: post #5

Could we breed trees which capture more CO2? We increased crop yields multifold already: https://ourworldindata.org/crop-yields So maybe we can do the same to carbon yield? Are trees the plants which capture most CO2 per hectare?

STOP thinking that planting trees will solve the problem.

We need to plan _forests_ not trees. Trees are not tools to fix our CO2 problem, we need to restore ecosystems and think how we can regrow forests and not monocultures of a "super CO2 capture tree".

When we will start to understand that one problem != one solution, especially when it comes to things as intricate and complex than ecosystems we will start to understand the root of our issues properly.

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