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Multisatellite data depicts a record-breaking methane leak from a well blowout

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Re: Multisatellite data depicts a record-breaking methane leak from a well blowout

#41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Short of China and India voluntarily holding themselves to the same standards as Western Europe and the US for free, we are not going to avoid catastrophic global warming. The good news is, while we may not be able to prevent climate change, we are not powerless against it. The Dutch know how to win the fight against sea level rise. Middle Eastern architecture knows how to keep people cool even with >50°C air tempera…

> Short of China and India voluntarily holding themselves to the same standards as Western Europe and the US China and India emit significantly less CO2 per capita than Western Europe and the US [0] - and that's ignoring the fact they do all of our manufacturing. [0] https://www.worldometers.info/co2-emissions/co2-emissions-pe...

> and that's ignoring the fact they do all of our manufacturing.

Any estimate of how much that constitutes? Like if US and EU had to produce themselves all the stuff they now get from China, how would their CO2 emissions change?

Re: Multisatellite data depicts a record-breaking methane leak from a well blowout

#42
post #4

We’re not going to make it are we?

Short of China and India voluntarily holding themselves to the same standards as Western Europe and the US for free, we are not going to avoid catastrophic global warming. The good news is, while we may not be able to prevent climate change, we are not powerless against it. The Dutch know how to win the fight against sea level rise. Middle Eastern architecture knows how to keep people cool even with >50°C air tempera…

Rising sea levels, temperature change, and extreme weather are not the only problems. There is also crop failure, ocean acidification, and ecosystem collapse, the latter which is the most worrying to me, as it implies both our food and our oxygen will be impacted. Furthermore, high CO2 levels in the atmosphere have measurable impact on cognitive abilities, so we will all be dumber with the changes, making it even harder to solve the problem. A negative feedback loop it seems.

Re: Multisatellite data depicts a record-breaking methane leak from a well blowout

#43
post #15
post #4

We’re not going to make it are we?

We'll be fine. We'll have to make adjustments, but we'll be fine. So will the planet, and so will the vast majority of animals.

If you are a meth addict, you don't say "I'll be fine" to deal with the problem. You've got to make changes, or else you are fucked.

Re: Multisatellite data depicts a record-breaking methane leak from a well blowout

#44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Short of China and India voluntarily holding themselves to the same standards as Western Europe and the US for free, we are not going to avoid catastrophic global warming. The good news is, while we may not be able to prevent climate change, we are not powerless against it. The Dutch know how to win the fight against sea level rise. Middle Eastern architecture knows how to keep people cool even with >50°C air tempera…

> Short of China and India voluntarily holding themselves to the same standards as Western Europe and the US China and India emit significantly less CO2 per capita than Western Europe and the US [0] - and that's ignoring the fact they do all of our manufacturing. [0] https://www.worldometers.info/co2-emissions/co2-emissions-pe...

They collectively still emit substantially more than the US and Western Europe, and much more importantly, GHG emissions have been declining in the US and Western Europe for over two decades. In that same time period, they have done nothing but grow rapidly in China and India. All the information we have so far suggests that India will continue to grow rapidly in this regard even after China plateaus on carbon emissions.

We can play semantic games with per-capita consumption, but the fact of the matter remains that even if the entirety of the planet, except China and India, went 100% carbon neutral overnight, it would still be impossible to avoid hitting catastrophic climate change thresholds due to GHG emissions from those two countries alone.

They are both countries home to a rapidly rising broad middle class, and that middle class is going to want to enjoy the spoils of materialistic consumerism (the true root cause of human-induced climate change) just as much as our grandparents did, our parents did, and we do.

Re: Multisatellite data depicts a record-breaking methane leak from a well blowout

#45
post #3
post #2

Ouch! They’re estimating 131 kt of methane! That’s equivalent to approx 3.93 Megatons of CO2 (in terms of its global warming impact over a century) or roughly equivalent to that of a small country like Iceland or Malta annually.

3.93 megatons of CO2 is roughly equivalent to: • About 149,714 short-haul flights, or • About 37,429 long-haul flights.

So a couple of days' worth?

Re: Multisatellite data depicts a record-breaking methane leak from a well blowout

#46
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

3.93 megatons of CO2 is roughly equivalent to: • About 149,714 short-haul flights, or • About 37,429 long-haul flights.

so what I am hearing is that short-haul flights are ~24% as far as long-haul flights. Weird use of segmented flight lengths as a comparator

Short haul flights use proportionally more fuel per mile flown because taking off is very fuel intensive. That said, no idea what average value the GP comment is basing their numbers off of.

Re: Multisatellite data depicts a record-breaking methane leak from a well blowout

#47
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not even close. https://jonathanfranzen.com/what-if-we-stopped-pretending/

The article was written in 2019 before a number of extraordinarily significant events with major climate policy impacts: - a noticeable and rapid dip in emissions has proven to be viable due to COVID lockdowns - Russia’s invasion of Ukraine forced Europe and the US to accelerate plans to diversify energy generation away from natural gas - China’s insanely rapid growth in green energy production domestically It seems…

2023 is 37.4, which is a fair increase on 2019. More importantly the chart that matters is total CO2 in atmosphere. You can't even see 2020 on here. That was a one off 5% decrease.

Imagine if you had $1,000,0000 in your bank account and were spending $100,000 per year, except one year you spent $95,000. That's 2020.

This methane news is on top of CO2 as it has its own added impact. Proper optimism that we can do it first requires taking stock of where we actually are. So far we haven't actually displaced any carbon energy and we are at the all time highest levels of both annually emissions and also CO2 in the atmosphere.

Chart of total CO2 concentration over time: https://gml.noaa.gov/ccgg/trends/

Re: Multisatellite data depicts a record-breaking methane leak from a well blowout

#48
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is that misleading? That doesn't sound like "artificial skew" to me.

Irresponsibly growing your population doesn’t allow you more emissions, that’s crap!

Not sure if your answer is intended to be serious or sarcastic. But there is a justifiable argument for it -- you have new humans to take care of, who have needs, and the same moral claim as anyone else in the world nto address those needs using fossil fuels.

On the other hand, there's no reason to think that an increase in the number of countries is a valid excuse to increase emissions.

Re: Multisatellite data depicts a record-breaking methane leak from a well blowout

#49
If you want to get really scared about methane leaks, sinkholes are forming across the tundra as global warming melts the permafrost, creating gigantic methane bubbles as the previously frozen organic material now rots. Those bubbles explode once big enough, creating massive pockmarks which fill in with water.

The amount of methane they leak is estimated to be gigantic, but without full coverage we'll never know.

Re: Multisatellite data depicts a record-breaking methane leak from a well blowout

#50
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

3.93 megatons of CO2 is roughly equivalent to: • About 149,714 short-haul flights, or • About 37,429 long-haul flights.

so what I am hearing is that short-haul flights are ~24% as far as long-haul flights. Weird use of segmented flight lengths as a comparator

Take off, climb and circles before landng time use considerably more fuel than that of cruising time, so that needs to be considered. Also, as short haul fights generally don't climb as high, they lose the benefits of high altitude cruising.
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