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There is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming (2024)

science.nasa.gov

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Re: There is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming (2024)

#251

Post by justin66 »

mvdtnz wrote: post #243
justin66 wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People who know anything about the replication crisis are a single-digit percentage of the population. Doesn't help explain the public's attitudes.

People just lived through a crisis in which public health officials were telling them to avoid a deadly virus by using glory holes[0]. Skepticism of institutions is at an all time high for good reason. [0] https://metro.co.uk/2020/07/23/health-officials-recommend-gl...

Thanks for that reminder of some cultural differences (!) between us and our friends across the pond. Hopefully it goes without saying, that rather colorful example is a few steps removed from the replication crisis, although the point about governing institutions spending their credibility in poor ways is taken.

Re: There is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming (2024)

#252

Post by smitty1e »

larkost wrote: post #171
alt227 wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your analogy doesnt work, becaue the earth has been warmer than it is now several times in the past. so the increased temperature is within the range of normal temperatures. The problem is not that the earth is warming, it is that it is warming at an artificially increased rate.

The rate of warming is a problem (i.e.: it determines what generations of humans are going to see this), but the major problem is the warming itself, or rather the change. We (humanity) have gotten comfortable with the way things are, and a change in that is going to mean that things are going to change for us, and we don't like change. Most of our biggest cities are all close to the coast and will be subject to mass…

> and we don't like change

Oh, hogwash. It's not the change as such; rather, lack of control of the change, that causes the blowback.

Thus, the overarching question is: "Who drives the bus?"

Re: There is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming (2024)

#253

Post by tzs »

almosthere wrote: post #233
tzs wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China is massively building solar, wind, hydro, and nuclear, and also has by far the largest network of UHV transmission lines (and are building many more) so that they can get electricity from the regions with the most solar and wind to the more northern heavy industrial areas. They are also the leader in producing and exporting solar and wind equipment, and in driving the prices down, to make it easier for other co…

Here you go: https://www.statista.com/statistics/270499/co2-emissions-in-...

Here you go:

https://www.worldometers.info/co2-emissions/co2-emissions-pe...

Re: There is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming (2024)

#256

Post by panarchy »

tim333 wrote: post #244

>There is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming at an unprecedented rate. I agree it's warming but unequivocally at an unprecedented rate is iffy. For the article they cherry picked a stable period but if you look at the full temperature history as shown here https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2014/05/05/can-make-b... there has been loads of instability and heating and cooling. Also while CO2 levels are up f…

https://thecottonwoodpost.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/emi...

https://thecottonwoodpost.net/2019/12/10/modern-climate-chan...

Re: There is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming (2024)

#257

Post by bryanlarsen »

nradov wrote: post #122
pdonis wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> many of the changes we are talking about don't even really cost us anything This is the part that seems to vary widely based on which warming alarmist you're talking to. Many of them are not saying there are things we could do that "don't even really cost us anything" that would deal with the problem--they're saying we need to devote a significant fraction of global GDP to CO2 mitigation. Things that "don't really…

Among the large set of people who think we should take steps to reduce anthropogenic global warming there are at least two subsets who seem to oppose nuclear power. One is sort of pseudo-religious and believes that any disruption of the natural environment is a "sin" against Mother Nature. The other claims that nuclear power is too expensive and that we can solve the base load power problem more cheaply with battery…

It's not a base load problem, it's an intermittency problem. Which you solve with dispatchable generation. Which nuclear is particularly ill suited for.

> in the time available.

Which also eliminates nuclear as an option; Ontario is building new nuclear power that is projected to become available in the late 2040's. After the inevitable delays that'll be the 2050's. Way too late.

The solution is simple & cheap, though nobody wants to admit it. Use paid-for existing zero-carbon generation first (aka existing nuclear, hydro, etc), then add solar & wind to cover ~60% of needs, then add batteries to cover ~95% of needs, and then use natgas peakers to cover the last ~5%.

Environmentalists don't like it because it's not 100% carbon free. Anti-environmentalists don't like it because it's 95% solar/wind/batteries.

Economists and pragmatists should love it because it's the cheapest.

Re: There is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming (2024)

#258

Post by roryirvine »

TiredOfLife wrote: post #255
roryirvine wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where "recent history" means "last three years"?

No. Last 45 years.

December 2025 was the 5th warmest December since records began in 1850, with an anomaly of +1.05°C above the C20th baseline : https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/monthly-report/g...

January 2026 was the 5th warmest January since records began in 1850, with an anomaly of +1.12°C above the C20th baseline: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/global-climate-202601

The anomaly for the first two weeks of February 2026 was greater still, at +1.69°C. Perhaps the last few days have been incredibly cold, but until then we were on course for it to be the third warmest February in recorded history.

Re: There is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming (2024)

#259

Post by bryanlarsen »

triceratops wrote: post #227
legitster wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Building a lot more nuclear power plants is the key thing that doesn't really seem to be happening right now I mean, this is the clear and obvious one. Nuclear theoretically should be much, much cheaper than it is if it were not for the regulatory costs thrust upon it. It also harrows out people who are legitimately concerned from "moralist concern junkies". You'd think climate change being a global existential cri…

> Nuclear theoretically should be much, much cheaper than it is if it were not for the regulatory costs thrust upon it Solar and wind theoretically would also be much, much cheaper if not for the regulatory costs. [1] Everything is regulated and all regulations have costs. I'm not morally opposed to nuclear energy. Is there a comprehensive study on which specific safety regulations are unnecessary and the LCOE if the…

You can do a thought experiment. A nuclear plant and a coal generator are very similar. They heat water to turn turbines to generate electricity. So best case scenario a nuclear plant costs the same as a coal plant, and has negligible operating costs in comparison.

A coal plant costs $5B/GW to build, vs the > $20B/GW a nuclear plant costs.

Those massive turbines are really expensive.

OTOH solar + batteries is well under $1B / GW.

Re: There is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming (2024)

#260

Post by hiccuphippo »

maxerickson wrote: post #126
hiccuphippo wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, all of humanity has lived in the period between two glacial eras, I don't expect us to go beyond that. This should be clear even to people who choose to ignore the facts about climate change.

We are currently in an ice age.

Thanks. I confused period and era. What I meant is we are in the interglacial period between two glacial periods.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interglacial

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