Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

fortune.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

331–340 of 471 posts

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

#331

Post by jfengel »

tsunamifury wrote: post #266
bjourne wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm not sure if Clarkson's farm has much of a following outside of the UK. Last year they had several crops fail due to the drought over summer and honestly this year was far worse. The Clarkson who ran a popular car show and for years mocked Greta Thunberg and called her an "idiot" that deserved a "smacked bottom" for raising the alarm on global warming? Oh, noe, I feel so sorry for him. Couldn't have happened to…

Only a fool gloats about being right about the end of the world.

Why not? When the world is ending you take what joy you can, while you can.

When all you have left is having been right, there's not much else to keep you busy.

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

#332

Post by underwater »

well_ackshually wrote: post #280
fpoling wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

EV only this year became comparable in prices to gasoline cars thanks to massive efforts by Chinese companies to reduce battery prices and improve drivetrain. With that further changes can be very quick as forcing EV no longer requires reallocating money from other things.

You're overestimating the amount of people that can afford a brand new car. The transition will take 15 years at least.

If 100% of new cars were EVs then there might be feedback loops that accelerate the long tail. Like gas stations becoming leas profitable, less prolific, and more expensive.

You might also see battery prices push the price of new cars well below that of second hand ICE vehicles.

Even if the replacement window for existing vehicles doesn’t change, the environmental impact would run ahead of the adoption curve. High volume use cases like delivery and Ubers would be the first to switch to EVs.

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

#333

Post by tsunamifury »

georgemcbay wrote: post #282
tsunamifury wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only a fool gloats about being right about the end of the world.

I don't know if it is gloating so much as it is recognition that unlike most injustice that happens in the world the people most responsible for it are going to suffer at least some of the consequences along with the hoi polloi. A refreshing change of pace, even if the end result is horribly tragic for everyone.

I know this is controversial but I doubt this heat wave is entirely human made. Europe has gone through long arid periods in this past.

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

#334

Post by tsunamifury »

jfengel wrote: post #331
tsunamifury wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only a fool gloats about being right about the end of the world.

Why not? When the world is ending you take what joy you can, while you can. When all you have left is having been right, there's not much else to keep you busy.

Yea might as well do anything you want that gives you joy…

Don’t even think through what you say remotely before you say it?

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

#335

Post by andai »

dumberquestions wrote: post #136
esikich wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it often gets overlooked that effective carbon taxing would tax you right out of pretty much all modern convenience. Which would be the point, but people would fuckin revolt if it actually happened. Parent is complaining about 0.00000000001% of the damage done over the last 100 years.

A very gradual carbon tax that could've been introduced a couple of decades ago would've been more tolerable, and would've given the market and consumers more time to adapt.

Make each subsequent generation poorer and less populous.

Aren't we already doing that?

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

#336

Post by andai »

Some nice (well, awful) before/after aerial photos here:

Europe's scorched landscapes seen from space after summer heatwaves

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49312413

And a great photo gallery here:

Europe's drought reveals medieval buildings, Nazi warships, mammoth remains

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49215432

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

#337

Post by nozzlegear »

pfdietz wrote: post #145
MomsAVoxell wrote: post #4

Just took a train ride from Vienna to Budapest for a few days, and couldn’t help but notice how very, very dry everything is .. as an Australian living in Europe for a few decades now, I’ve always been intrigued by just how green everything is, literally something growing in every single crack in the pavement, or endless rolling green fields of prosperity during spring - whereas, where I’m from its year-long spinifex…

El Nino involves moving moisture around, not just reducing precipitation all over. So the opposite can also be seen in some places. The eastern US and parts of the midwest have had a very good year, an the US harvest of maize is projected to be the 2nd highest ever, slightly above 16 billion bushels. Locally (New York state), things have been so wet we're seeing premature leaf drops from maple trees due to leaf fungu…

This whole summer I've felt that things have been remarkably green and verdant where I live in the Midwest. It reminds me of my childhood, everything is just so much more green and lush this go around.

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

#338

Post by senordevnyc »

epolanski wrote: post #237
ddorian43 wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The beef is not the source of this. Ruminant meat is the best food there is for humans. (i eat daily as part of ketovore diet)

As you seem to be unaware: 1. a single cow produces 250 grams of methane per day. Methane is insanely more dangerous to the environment than CO2. A single adult cow pollutes in a day as much as a car driven for 165 miles. And that's only for emissions . 2. As a cow does not pollute just what it emits, you need to add the lifecycle: cows need to be fed. 80% of the food we humans grow goes to feed animals, not humans.…

80% of the food we humans grow goes to feed animals, not humans.

Do you have a source for this? Everything I can find shows less than half that.

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

#339

Post by calvinmorrison »

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...

perhaps they can cut a deal with China

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

#340

Post by Timon3 »

touwer wrote: post #9
MomsAVoxell wrote: post #4

Just took a train ride from Vienna to Budapest for a few days, and couldn’t help but notice how very, very dry everything is .. as an Australian living in Europe for a few decades now, I’ve always been intrigued by just how green everything is, literally something growing in every single crack in the pavement, or endless rolling green fields of prosperity during spring - whereas, where I’m from its year-long spinifex…

It's so dry, even in tne Netherlands and north of France. Amazing how quickly it goes

This is fairly off-topic, but:

> tne

broke my brain for a second. Still does, to be honest. I don't think I remember seeing this typo before!

Post reply on HN