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I used to not worry about climate change. Now I do [video]

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Re: I used to not worry about climate change. Now I do [video]

#521
post #207

I no longer worry. I'm extremely pessimistic about the impending climate change. I believe Sabine isn't pessimistic enough about what to anticipate. Consider the tundra methane emissions and the explosive release of methane-hydrates from the oceans, along with water vapor, a potent greenhouse gas. The disaster looming over all ecosystems (a mass extinction event) that will happen in decades and the doom-phase could l…

This might just be the same thing as apocalyptic religious predictions, I think? But environmentalism this time?

Exactly people are even using phrases like “when shit hits the fan”.

Re: I used to not worry about climate change. Now I do [video]

#522
post #454

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There won't be an extinction event. We already know that warm periods in Earth's history are the most friendly for all kinds of life. And we know that cold periods kill species and reduce biodiversity. In the most catastrophic case Earth will end up as a tropical paradise, resembling the Eocene period [0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eocene#Flora

This is naive. It's not the absolute temperature that's the problem, it's the rate of change. Temperature is going to change faster than most species can adapt, and that's why the food chain could collapse in the worst case.

That's true, but I think it's quite debatable what would actually happen. Most species wouldn't need to adapt, but just migrate. There are a lot of species which already thrive in warm / tropical climates, and those species would increase in numbers.

Re: I used to not worry about climate change. Now I do [video]

#523

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is an illusion. There is no safe place, you can’t escape the reality of global warming by moving to another place.

The earth has had some of the fastest warming ever in the last 15 thousand. During this time crop yields have increased dramatically. The trend is unmistakable, the warmer the planet, the more food we produce.

100% of people who mistake correlation for causation end up dead.

Re: I used to not worry about climate change. Now I do [video]

#524
post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This might just be the same thing as apocalyptic religious predictions, I think? But environmentalism this time?

Religious predictions never come with data to support them. That’s an important difference.

If we were looking at data we wouldn’t be

- banning plastic bags and straws - buying expensive electrical vehicles - ignoring other risks in our circle of influence - listening to public figures and scientists who gave us “point of no return” dates several times in the last 30 years

Re: I used to not worry about climate change. Now I do [video]

#525
post #454

I no longer worry. I'm extremely pessimistic about the impending climate change. I believe Sabine isn't pessimistic enough about what to anticipate. Consider the tundra methane emissions and the explosive release of methane-hydrates from the oceans, along with water vapor, a potent greenhouse gas. The disaster looming over all ecosystems (a mass extinction event) that will happen in decades and the doom-phase could l…

There won't be an extinction event. We already know that warm periods in Earth's history are the most friendly for all kinds of life. And we know that cold periods kill species and reduce biodiversity. In the most catastrophic case Earth will end up as a tropical paradise, resembling the Eocene period [0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eocene#Flora

The paleontologist Peter Ward has made a fairly compelling argument (in both academic research and the popular science book Under a Green Sky), that virtually all major extinction events are related to sudden rises in atmospheric CO2. A lot more happens when CO2 rises quickly other than it getting warmer. A major issue is it's impact on the oceans, which can become anoxic [0], causing them to emit hydrogen sulfide instead of oxygen. Such an event would be devastating to our current ecosystem.

> There won't be an extinction event.

This also ignores the fact that we are currently in the 6th largest extinction event in the history of life on this planet [1]. Elizabeth Kolbert's The Sixth Extinction is a great book on this (and the history of our understanding of species extinction as well).

So aside for being naive about the science, your comment reads a bit like claiming you don't think it will rain today while in the midst of being soaked in a massive rain storm.

0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anoxic_event

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocene_extinction

Re: I used to not worry about climate change. Now I do [video]

#526
post #398

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The IPCC 6 says "It is very unlikely that gas clathrates (mostly methane) in deeper terrestrial permafrost and subsea clathrates will lead to a detectable departure from the emissions trajectory during this century". Your pessimism may be trendy but it isn't supported by the bear available evidence.

Don't misunderstand me here. I'd rather be wrong regarding my "doomism," and I no longer worry about climate change; it doesn't make sense to worry about something that can't be changed. However, I observe that people aren't scared enough to take action. They continue to dance around the issue in political euphoria. The changes to our lifestyle are happening too slowly to be effective. The gas and oil industry is doi…

Perhaps this is fundamental attribution error:

You don’t worry because it’s inevitable. You perceive them not worrying, but they aren’t scared enough?

What if they also have the (intuitive, but not necessarily correct) sense that it’s inevitable?

Re: I used to not worry about climate change. Now I do [video]

#527
post #465

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uh... Finland could be one of the bigger victims of global warming. https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/4118630-atlant...

Just here[0] they say that that’s a myth. I don‘t know what to believe anymore. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39156692

Nowadays most valuable comodity is your attention. No matter what topic and if that is true or not.

Re: I used to not worry about climate change. Now I do [video]

#528
post #452
post #420

Earlier quoted context omitted.

61 milion people died in 2023 with and without covid. Al Gore predicted 20ft by 2016 not 10cm.

> Al Gore predicted I see no predictions by him. What I do see are examples of him selectively quoting other people and that he was in turn selectively quoted himself. This is also why you shouldn't rely on politicians for anything. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/ice-caps-melt-gore-2014/

Al Gore got Nobel prize for PowerPoint presentation.

Re: I used to not worry about climate change. Now I do [video]

#529

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The earth has had some of the fastest warming ever in the last 15 thousand. During this time crop yields have increased dramatically. The trend is unmistakable, the warmer the planet, the more food we produce.

100% of people who mistake correlation for causation end up dead.

All the climate modelling is based on correlation, so I thought that's what we were doing. Is there another approach we should be taking?

Re: I used to not worry about climate change. Now I do [video]

#530
post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we magically went netzero tomorrow, the greenhouse effect from the already accumulated emissions would still cause a significant climate change in the upcoming decades. And, of course, we won't go netzero tomorrow, there's no "just" in it due to the time and effort it would take to scale up the solutions even if the money was there, but of course the money isn't there; while technically the world could afford it i…

You are making it out to be an insurmountable challenge and reject what we are have already achieved. Cost-parity renewables being the most impressive feat. Global treaties such as Paris are a second.

China already abandoned the Paris Agreement and it's foolish to think that developing nations will prioritize long-range climate change over their own economic growth & security. This is a major issue with climate change - the entire Western world could go net-zero tomorrow and we would still end up at > +2C change from everyone else.
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