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There is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming (2024)

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

#41
post #8
post #6

Everyone who can hear this has already heard it. Those who continue to pretend it is not happening are either deliberately deceptive so they can continue to make money from fossil fuels or unable to change their minds when faced by evidence due to identity politics.

My impression is that almost no one denies the warming itself, just the link to greenhouse gasses. That link is unfortunately much harder to prove than rising temperatures by itself. The proof is there nonetheless, but it's easier to cast doubt on it, and that's what certain groups have been doing.

A friend of mine says he was convinced by https://xkcd.com/1732/

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

#43

Very exciting to live in an apocalyptical era. I'm looking forward to discover which one of the several global threats to humanity will put us down first.

I think the smart money is still on nuclear war, but the competition is getting fierce these days.

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

#45
Even the crotchetiest and most out-of-touch people I know basically accept that the Earth is warming now. They just either disagree on the cause or proportion.

Some people just naturally resist hyperbole or sensationalist rhetoric, and I find it very helpful to reframe the argument from doom and gloom and fire and brimstone to something more realistic and grounded:

"The longer we put off doing something, the harder and more expensive it will be in the future. In a Pascal's Wager sort of way, many of the changes we are talking about don't even really cost us anything, and the potential that C02 is not a real culprit is more than made up by danger that it is. Making changes now is the prudent and financially sound decision."

In a large part, this is what the brief ESG trend on the stock market was briefly about before it got co-opted by a dozen different competing messages.

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

#46

we don't need evidence Earth is warming, because it's happened before humanity, and it will happen after we're gone. We need evidence that we're poisoning ourselves and the planet. Global warming's only accomplishment is giving the poisoners a pass when it was debunked. Private jets and climate change, choose one.

They predicted a warming planet based on human activity as long ago as the 50s

We’ve known about the mechanisms of CO2 leading to atmospheric warming since the 19th century.

We know humans are adding CO2 to the atmosphere.

We observe higher CO2 and warmer temps

The evidence isn’t that complicated.

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

#48
post #22
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My impression is that almost no one denies the warming itself, just the link to greenhouse gasses. That link is unfortunately much harder to prove than rising temperatures by itself. The proof is there nonetheless, but it's easier to cast doubt on it, and that's what certain groups have been doing.

But POTUS 5 months ago: "If you look back years ago in the 1920s and the 1930s, they said global cooling will kill the world. We have to do something. Then they said global warming will kill the world, but then it started getting cooler. So now they just call it climate change because that way they can't miss. Climate change because if it goes higher or lower, whatever the hell happens, there's climate change. It's t…

> "that have cost their country's fortunes and given those same countries no chance for success."

This is a weird statement coming from Trump. I wouldn't think his base would care for improving the lives and economies of other countries, specially undeveloped countries.

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

#49
Reposting a previous comment...

What is generally not understood is that our current icehouse phase is rare.

'A "greenhouse Earth" is a period during which no continental glaciers exist anywhere on the planet... Earth has been in a greenhouse state for about 85% of its history.

'Earth is now in an icehouse state, and ice sheets are present in both poles simultaneously... Earth's current icehouse state is known as the Quaternary Ice Age and began approximately 2.58 million years ago.'

Modern humans have existed for 60k years, all of which have been in this current icehouse.

To cast a different shade on the meaning, this climate period is rare, easily disturbed, and difficult to restore even with vastly more powerful technology. The more common greenhouse state is unlikely to lead to a Venus runaway, but it will be hostile to us.

We might very well require the rare climate, and perish in the common.

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

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

#50

So what are we going to do about China?

Nothing? China is solving the problem on their own. They already make substantially less carbon per person that most of the west. If we want to be like China it's a simple proposition: be OK with Manhattan project level investments in power transmission from places that have lots of renewables to places that need renewables.
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