Global warming has accelerated significantly • Hacker News Board

Re: Global warming has accelerated significantly

#511

Post by ragall » Fri, Mar 06, 2026, 5:31 PM UTC

mountainriver wrote: post #306

jokoon wrote: post #147

Nothing will change until developed rich countries are starting to hurt. And I don't think it's going to hurt enough in 10 or 20 years. The pain will come slowly, people won't see it. It's like going back to the middle age so slowly, that the population don't realize or feel it. And honestly, wars and trump are making climate concerns so difficult to think about.

We are already seeing it in Colorado. Record low snowfall, record heat, record winds; which are a very bad set of conditions for fires. The power company is now preemptively shutting off our power. Which is really fun in the winter. I’m honestly not sure about the future of my hometown Boulder. The odds of it fully burning to the ground seem to increase significantly every year.

It will take a few fires like the one in LA, but eventually even the USians will learn it's not a good idea to build cities out of wooden houses.

Re: Global warming has accelerated significantly

#512

Post by squibonpig » Fri, Mar 06, 2026, 5:31 PM UTC

bko wrote: post #436

gzread wrote: post #417

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China is some years behind our industrial development then undevelopment, and is building an entire USA of solar panels every year or whatever - can we expect them to quickly reduce emissions soon?

I thought the world and civilization would collapse because of carbon emissions. It's either serious or it's not. If it's serious then it doesn't really matter right? It's like you're on a boat that sprung a leak and everyone grabs a bucket. But a few people choose to not help because it's not fair for whatever reason.

Are you a climate change doesn't matter guy or a china is the climate change causer guy? You can't do both at once.

Re: Global warming has accelerated significantly

#513

Post by therealdrag0 » Fri, Mar 06, 2026, 5:32 PM UTC

cetinsert wrote: post #278

throwway120385 wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The jetstream which prevents the polar vortex from migrating south is getting weaker.

Sure.

You don’t think weather is explainable, or?

Re: Global warming has accelerated significantly

#514

Post by PowerElectronix » Fri, Mar 06, 2026, 5:33 PM UTC

And yet the minimum extension of artic ice ever recorded was in 2014.

I think there are more effects to account for when extrapolating measured temperatures, mostly made on the ground with cataclismic effects. After all, all the carbon being emitted nowadays was in the biosphere back in the days. Why couldn't it return back to it without the earth becoming inhabitable?

Re: Global warming has accelerated significantly

#515

Post by zargon » Fri, Mar 06, 2026, 5:34 PM UTC

wing-_-nuts wrote: post #494

philipwhiuk wrote: post #462

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I’m of the opinion that direct air capture is the primary escape hatch we have for not hitting 3 or even 4C warming in the next 100-200 years Why is it always never 'burn less fossil fuels'. Anything but the oil company bottom line huh?

We could cease burning all fossil fuels tomorrow and we'd still have to resort to geoengineering. Read the IPCC projections. All of the ones that keep us below 3c require 'negative emissions'. That's code for DAC, a technology that we've only ever deployed to small pilot projects, deployed more widely, more quickly, than we've deployed any technology ever. TLDR: We're gonna have to use sulfate injection until we can…

Yes. And if we don't also stop burning fossil fuels then we'll never even break even.

Re: Global warming has accelerated significantly

#516

Post by abustamam » Fri, Mar 06, 2026, 5:34 PM UTC

jokoon wrote: post #147

Nothing will change until developed rich countries are starting to hurt. And I don't think it's going to hurt enough in 10 or 20 years. The pain will come slowly, people won't see it. It's like going back to the middle age so slowly, that the population don't realize or feel it. And honestly, wars and trump are making climate concerns so difficult to think about.

> The pain will come slowly, people won't see it.

I'd argue that many lower and middle class folks already feel the effects of GW, even if they may not be able to articulate it. The flip side is that developed rich countries will hurt because of this but the people in power won't care because it probably only (visibly) affects the lower class, and they can always take their jets and rockets to countries (and eventually planets!) that haven't been fucked.

And they'll spin it to blame it on immigrants somehow.

Re: Global warming has accelerated significantly

#517

Post by dcchambers » Fri, Mar 06, 2026, 5:35 PM UTC

There's literally nothing that can be done about it. The people with actual ability to make a change don't care.

We're going to have to figure out how to adapt to it. Expect many of the things you love now (seafood, coffee, etc) to be gone within your lifetime.

Re: Global warming has accelerated significantly

#518

Post by krd8ssb » Fri, Mar 06, 2026, 5:35 PM UTC

bko wrote: post #409

jokoon wrote: post #147

Nothing will change until developed rich countries are starting to hurt. And I don't think it's going to hurt enough in 10 or 20 years. The pain will come slowly, people won't see it. It's like going back to the middle age so slowly, that the population don't realize or feel it. And honestly, wars and trump are making climate concerns so difficult to think about.

> Nothing will change until developed rich countries are starting to hurt. Ironic OECD countries actually REDUCED their emissions based on a peak in 2007 and continue to do so. Not reduced as a percentage of GDP or adjusted for population growth, but reduced in absolute levels. It's all China, but I guess it's cool to blame things on developed countries. There are literally 100k deaths in Europe that can be prevented…

To add to this, no matter what countries do, we can make our local environments nicer to live in by reducing pollution but across the globe, solar activity has exponentially more, and the ultimate impact. With the magnetic field weakening, it's going to continue going in this direction as it has throughout history.

I'm not saying we shouldn't do what we can to make our local environment better and protect and Preserve what we have. We absolutely should. I'm just stating that this is not the first time the Earth has heated or cooled and nothing that we do will ultimately stop it from this cycle from continuing.

Re: Global warming has accelerated significantly

#519

Post by crystal_revenge » Fri, Mar 06, 2026, 5:36 PM UTC

jokoon wrote: post #147

Nothing will change until developed rich countries are starting to hurt. And I don't think it's going to hurt enough in 10 or 20 years. The pain will come slowly, people won't see it. It's like going back to the middle age so slowly, that the population don't realize or feel it. And honestly, wars and trump are making climate concerns so difficult to think about.

> And honestly, wars and trump are making climate concerns so difficult to think about.

These are all related. All of them are connected to humans pushing the planetary resource limits from various directions. We're attacking Iran now in part because climate change has dramatically increased the water stress conditions making the population more susceptible to political collapse. It's also happening because it puts energy stress on our geopolitical adversaries (same with Venezuela). Trump emerged in the first place because declining American prosperity (despite GPD numbers) drove a large portion of the population to nihilism.

Re: Global warming has accelerated significantly

#520

Post by newsoftheday » Fri, Mar 06, 2026, 5:36 PM UTC

asib wrote: post #176

jokoon wrote: post #147

Nothing will change until developed rich countries are starting to hurt. And I don't think it's going to hurt enough in 10 or 20 years. The pain will come slowly, people won't see it. It's like going back to the middle age so slowly, that the population don't realize or feel it. And honestly, wars and trump are making climate concerns so difficult to think about.

Developed rich countries are hurting. See the wildfires across North America, massive amounts of flooding across Europe, etc. Nothing will change until many of the global electorate stop burying their heads in the sand. These people don't change their minds until things affect them specifically. Then they change their mind, and all their former fellows tell them they're brainwashed. This doesn't change until nearly e…

> See the wildfires across North America

I asked Gemini, "How long have wildfires across North America happened and are they truly any worse now?"

"Wildfires have occurred across North America for millions of years, predating humans entirely." It also had some very detailed information backing that up.

I then asked, "Were any of those fires in the past 20 years started by arsonists?"

"Yes, arson is a significant factor in North American wildfires, though it is often overshadowed by accidental human causes (like downed power lines or unattended campfires) and natural causes like lightning."