Europe's summer drought is so extreme that desertification is a growing threat • Hacker News Board

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

#471

Post by newsuser » Wed, Sep 02, 2026, 5:18 AM UTC

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…

> 2. Deal with the things that are much harder to electrify.

What about wars? Unlikely anyone would completely electrify their armies anytime soon, and that blocks even starting the transition in the rest of economy. Some drones are electric, but you still need to move heavy stuff and many people in denied environments, and stationary electric grids are still more vulnerable than liquid fuels.

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

#472

Post by tsunamifury » Wed, Sep 02, 2026, 3:04 PM UTC

sfn42 wrote: post #465

tsunamifury wrote: post #447

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We are discussing aridification in europe, a specifically local event? Also one that can happen regardless of global warming and has happened severalt times in the last 5000 years. Do you not even track what conversation context you're in before going off? edit: im editing here to respond to the absurd response below. The reponder, while lecturing rabidly missed several things like the difference between aridificatio…

> missed several things like the difference between aridification and heat, local vs global, and europe not being the world. I didn't miss any of that. I have already pointed out that difference in earlier comments, like when I informed you that the little ice age was local and that the arctic is warming much faster than most other places. Europe has also warmed more than many other places. And obviously the aridific…

Calling people morons is again the wrong move. You are the problem.

In fact I believe that global warming caused this but was trying to illustrate that YOU ARE THE PROBLEM.

The proper response would have been explaining that 1540’s comparable drought by tree ring analysis lasted only 1 year and our samples yearly from church grape harvests help us understand direct correlation and magnitude change.

Compared to the recorded 11 month 1540 heat wave with corresponding small rings, early harvest and a dry Rhine river; 5 year consecutive heating acts as a vapor lock which then compounds aridification.

This is causality not correlation.

Instead you used a correlative and foolish argument of “line go up so you’re a moron”

Stop and think man. You are using the wrong facts and junk science to prove your point and you look foolish doing it.

Learn to do better.

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

#473

Post by sfn42 » Thu, Sep 03, 2026, 9:01 AM UTC

tsunamifury wrote: post #472

sfn42 wrote: post #465

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> missed several things like the difference between aridification and heat, local vs global, and europe not being the world. I didn't miss any of that. I have already pointed out that difference in earlier comments, like when I informed you that the little ice age was local and that the arctic is warming much faster than most other places. Europe has also warmed more than many other places. And obviously the aridific…

Calling people morons is again the wrong move. You are the problem. In fact I believe that global warming caused this but was trying to illustrate that YOU ARE THE PROBLEM. The proper response would have been explaining that 1540’s comparable drought by tree ring analysis lasted only 1 year and our samples yearly from church grape harvests help us understand direct correlation and magnitude change. Compared to the re…

What are you even talking about? At no point during this conversation have you brought up a 1540s drought, yet the proper response from me would have been to address this event you never mentioned?

An isolated freak event is not relevant to our current situation, this is not an isolated freak event. This is a trend that has been going on for centuries and for Europe it has severely worsened in the past decade or two. That straight line in the chart I showed isn't this year, it starts in the 17/1800s corresponding with the industrial revolution and continues to today. The point i am highlighting is that natural variance looks like what you see before the industrial revolution, whereas anthropogenic global warming looks like the straight vertical line you see after the industrial revolution. This makes it extremely clear that the burning of fossil fuels are having a severe effect on the climate, as soon as we started doing it you can see the temperature goes vertical, contrasting strongly with the lazy meandering it does before. In shorter-term charts it is less obvious how drastic this change is, which is why I think this chart is a good way to really show the severity of the situation.

Here is some more junk science for you https://climate.copernicus.eu/sites/default/files/styles/ima...

Courtesy of the Copernicus junk science organization. They do this dumb junk science thing where they measure temperatures and stuff and report their findings, total baloney. The chart shows that the warmest years on record have all been the past few years, and this year is on track to set yet a new record. But sure let's talk about some 1540s freak year instead I'm sure that's more relevant to the current situation.