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The risk of a hothouse Earth trajectory

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Re: The risk of a hothouse Earth trajectory

#2

Post by blueflow »

Its not a "risk".

Water vapor (clouds) is a stonger greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. We already got measurably higher temperatures, so we also have higher water evaporation, and from the last 5 years it looks like it happens every year.

So the runaway is already happening, until something stops it near hothouse conditions or hopefully earlier than that.

Re: The risk of a hothouse Earth trajectory

#3

Post by karmakurtisaani »

blueflow wrote: post #2

Its not a "risk". Water vapor (clouds) is a stonger greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. We already got measurably higher temperatures, so we also have higher water evaporation, and from the last 5 years it looks like it happens every year. So the runaway is already happening, until something stops it near hothouse conditions or hopefully earlier than that.

And that's just one of the many positive feedback loops.

Re: The risk of a hothouse Earth trajectory

#4

Post by vaylian »

This is one of the key sentences:

> Policymakers and the public, however, remain largely unaware of the risks posed by such a practically irreversible transition

Most people still underestimate what it means for the earth system to change from the current stable state into another state, which might need many years to become stable again. And that new stable state might be a lot less favourable for us humans.

Re: The risk of a hothouse Earth trajectory

#5

Post by bayindirh »

vaylian wrote: post #4

This is one of the key sentences: > Policymakers and the public, however, remain largely unaware of the risks posed by such a practically irreversible transition Most people still underestimate what it means for the earth system to change from the current stable state into another state, which might need many years to become stable again. And that new stable state might be a lot less favourable for us humans.

I think most people bet that they'd be dead until that transition happens, so the problem won't be theirs to address.

Re: The risk of a hothouse Earth trajectory

#6

Post by JoshTriplett »

vaylian wrote: post #4

This is one of the key sentences: > Policymakers and the public, however, remain largely unaware of the risks posed by such a practically irreversible transition Most people still underestimate what it means for the earth system to change from the current stable state into another state, which might need many years to become stable again. And that new stable state might be a lot less favourable for us humans.

It's not that policymakers are unaware. It's that some of them are allergic to true things that they find inconvenient, and have made false premises a pillar of their platform. Calling that "unaware" is giving them too much credit and understanding.

Re: The risk of a hothouse Earth trajectory

#7

Post by aperrien »

Are there any attempts to start geo-engineering to fix this? I'm assuming there will be no attempt to stop dumping carbon into the atmosphere, can we at least do something to take it back out? Can we use solar or renewables to possibly do that at scale?
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