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Europe's summer drought is so extreme that desertification is a growing threat

fortune.com

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Re: Europe's summer drought is so extreme that desertification is a growing threat

#151

Post by bwindels »

api wrote: post #85
markvdb wrote: post #76

AMOC collapse [0] is Europe's potential big climate challenge. Nasty business. I wonder how to help prevent that from happening. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_meridional_overturnin...

Get in a time machine. Go back to 1970. Make sure world starts phasing out all coal power by 2000, replacing with nuclear and what renewables are available then, and make sure modular scalable reactors are available for China so they use that instead of coal to power their rise. Convince everyone that late 20th century unscientific greens are full of shit and nuclear power is better than coal. (Renewables were not fu…

In Europe, we're already degrowing since 2008, even more so if you only look at the real, physical economy because we have to import our fossil energy. We won't be able to power the same lifestyle with nuclear and renewables either, the math doesn't add up. Jean-Marc Jancovici is a french engineer explaining this in great detail, see for example https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/84-jean-marc-... if you don't speak french.

Re: Europe's summer drought is so extreme that desertification is a growing threat

#152

Post by jcynix »

oytis wrote: post #89
usern20260720 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

oh, yes. Anything but stopping the extraction, trade or combustion of fossil fuels. Even if the workarounds have unforeseen consequences.

Any solution relying on collective sacrifice is unrealistic IMO. I believe in geoingineering because it's better compatible with how economy works. Either that or we discover a magic abundant non-polluting energy source, but I woldn't rely on that

Oh, yes, geoengineering, because nothing can go wrong …

Please read the classic book by Edward Tenner: Why Things Bite Back. Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences, 1996 (oldie but goldie and must read for people who think technical solutions have no unintended (and irrevocable) consequences Mike eucalyptus trees in California, or the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cane_toad in Australia, among others.

Re: Europe's summer drought is so extreme that desertification is a growing threat

#153

Post by qyron »

epolanski wrote: post #123
pluc wrote: post #79

But at least we can talk to search engines now

And eat beef every day. Who cares if a small burger pollutes more than commuting with a SUV. I mean, it's just hard to care or do something, these things should be properly taxed, but there's no chance this would be popular. But it feels we're powerless beyond minor examples we can set something everyday.

> Who cares if a small burger pollutes more than commuting with a SUV.

Can you give some references basing that?

I would like to educate myself a bit (I'm a vegetarian myself)

Re: Europe's summer drought is so extreme that desertification is a growing threat

#155

Post by consumer451 »

daedrdev wrote: post #108
markvdb wrote: post #76

AMOC collapse [0] is Europe's potential big climate challenge. Nasty business. I wonder how to help prevent that from happening. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_meridional_overturnin...

Unironically the anti nuclear luddites killed the main chance to be divert climate change that we had over unfounded fearmongering

Many of the "luddite" groups were funded, and in some cases entirely formed, by fossil fuel interests.

Re: Europe's summer drought is so extreme that desertification is a growing threat

#156

Post by jcynix »

boudin wrote: post #104
nakedrobot2 wrote: post #54

Atmospheric injections of Sulphur is going to be the only answer.

Thecnosolusionism to the rescue, let's create new problems...

As described in Edward Tenners classic book "Why Things Bite Back. Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences", 1996 (oldie but goldie)

Re: Europe's summer drought is so extreme that desertification is a growing threat

#158

Post by youngtaff »

boudin wrote: post #102
gniv wrote: post #36

The timing of this article is a bit unfortunate. It's been raining here (France) every day for the past week, sometimes heavily.

It was a good amount of rain, but most of it just went straight to rivers as soil is really dry (think if try to get a dry sponge wet again, soil behave in a similar way). It helps but if there are no new rain episodes, water tables will stay low, soil dry in depth and most of the country in a complicated situation regarding water.

We’ve engineered so that rain water goes into rivers and out to sea.

Whereas we really need to slow it down so that it permeates the ground

Re: Europe's summer drought is so extreme that desertification is a growing threat

#159

Post by youngtaff »

formvoltron wrote: post #105

How do we get Earth back to something resembling the steady state we know can work long term? 1. Electrify almost everything that can reasonably be electrified. Move quickly to EVs, and replace anything that can practically become electric with an electric version. Self driving & fleet utilization will push transportation cost per mile lower than ever before. For the power grid, data centers, and other large 24/7 con…

If we move to an electric future then the number of cargo ships should decrease

Something like 40% of all shipping is moving hydrocarbons around the globe

Re: Europe's summer drought is so extreme that desertification is a growing threat

#160

Post by pythux »

mschuster91 wrote: post #47

Just came back from a bike tour through rural Bavaria, it's insane how dusty everything is - and that despite a short but intense rain today night. The farmers around here are pretty much screwed this season, and not just the crop farmers but the cattle farmers as well, as they have to buy lots of feed now that they'd only have to buy in winter.

Compared to, e.g. France, this week’s Bavaria looked refreshingly green. Not saying it’s great but it didn’t feel too dry (maybe it depends where specifically?). I didn’t know about the farmers’ struggles, though.
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