Earth Is on the Brink of Breaching a 7th of Nine 'Planetary Boundaries'

Post by exe34 » Fri, Sep 27, 2024, 5:05 PM UTC

FrustratedMonky wrote: post #42

RandomThoughts3 wrote: post #3

The Planetary Boundaries framework is so bad, I don’t understand why it’s so popular. Most of the "boundaries" are directly correlated. Most of them are fairly arbitrary. It’s such an awful tool to discuss the actual very serious issue it underlines. I wish it would just disappear. Just to be clear, there is nothing magical about most of these boundaries. The situation is not in any way suddenly worse today than yest…

"correlated" isn't an evil term, it doesn't mean there can't be useful observations in different domains. To nit pick, since "correlation isn't causation" is often an internet meme to discredit any science.

Post by Aachen » Fri, Sep 27, 2024, 5:06 PM UTC

ghastmaster wrote: post #46

> Earth’s oceans absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, providing a valuable carbon sink as humans burn fossil fuels. But this process also makes the oceans more acidic, which can disturb the formation of shells and coral skeletons and affect fish life cycles, per the report. Atmospheric CO2 levels are at historic lows.[1] Bivalves have shells and evolved during the Cambrian Explosion. The Cambrian explosion took…

Post by exe34 » Fri, Sep 27, 2024, 5:07 PM UTC

bongodongobob wrote: post #41

abeppu wrote: post #37

> “The overall diagnostic is that the patient, Planet Earth, is in critical condition,” says Johan Rockström The planet as a patient is a problematic metaphor. What does this mean? A human patient in critical condition is at risk of dying. But the planet is not going to "die", though many species will. We need better ways of talking clearly (not with hyperbole) about the current situation and the stakes. Even with se…

Why does this argument always come up? We all know the planet won't die. Humans might though. That's why we're concerned. This is always presented as some "ackshully" very smart argument. Yeah, it's a big fuckin rock, of course it won't die. That's not the concern.

Post by micromacrofoot » Fri, Sep 27, 2024, 5:09 PM UTC

cwillu wrote: post #15

micromacrofoot wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

that's not really walking it back... recovery is much more difficult than not causing the problem in the first place, and because it can be reversed doesn't mean it will be

Like I said, it's english prose and the applicability of “walking it back” is subject to debate. I'm not arguing the point, just pulling out the obvious triggering line and explaining where I think the sentiment is coming from.

Post by Aachen » Fri, Sep 27, 2024, 5:10 PM UTC

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #20

withinboredom wrote: post #5

I’ve kind of accepted we are screwed. Whether I am alive when shit hits the fan or not is another question. But seeing that people are trying to build satellite mirrors to put MORE solar energy into the planet without even thinking about it for more than a few minutes, I would say we are more screwed than we realize. The first law of stupidity applies.

The modern era of humans roughly coincides with Earth's coldest period over the last 485M years: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adk3705 Even some of the worst predictions for where temperatures are headed before we get close to Net Zero emissions don't put us above historical averages. To be clear, if the worst predictions come to light, that will be bad for people. But the planet will be fine. I doubt s…