How climate change is rapidly taking the planet apart and towards human extinction

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does anyone remember the thread or link to the article posted by a GAFFER some months ago about how we are heading towards extinction? and that it was the same event extinction that occurred before the dinosaurs (i think that was the event that gave way to dinosaurs) were 90+% of life on earth perished?
 
Nephtes said:
Serious question:
If the fossil fuel industry "disappears" as they say... How does the world work?
Or are we spelling the death of our current lives?

No fossil fuels mean many of the conveniences we take for granted (like plastics for cell phones and computers) disappear too...

No easy way to get across town without gasoline in the car... I guess we're walking to work?

I'm not being a climate change denier, I'm simply asking how everyone expects the population at large to react with government enforced eradication of how they've lived their lives for the entirety of my lifetime...
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It is very, very simple. We would adapt. Or at least try to.
Yes, our lives would dramatically change, but at least that means we still have a chance at having our lives.
Perhaps it is easier for me to say as I have lived half my life without cell phones and computers, so I know it can be done no problem.
In fact I would take it one step further and say all those things have done is make life more convenient, not necessarily better.

Sure, you now can know what time of day your friend took a shit and what they were eating while they did so and what political candidate they support along with their feelings on whatever pop star is the news for that 15 minutes of time.

The above example is not necessarily a good thing, and I myself would trade it in a heartbeat if it meant knowing our planet, and therefore our species, had a chance of living on.
 
thelatestmodel said:
This is why I am considering not having children.
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In my opinion, having children in our current and likely future situation is so so selfish. Having children in itself already is a selfish act in most cases, but given how awful the future might be, I don't understand how educated people can still decide to have children.
 
Gunstarheroes said:
I always want to stay informed, but fuck if i basically lock up and start wrestling with a lot of really rough shit when i read these articles. I can make small differences, but at the end of the day, it makes me feel hopeless and just like i have a time in which to look at as "my time"

I'm not good with dealing with my mortality, and i basically get panic attacks reading this. All i can do is vote for people that might change things, and hope people that can figure out something to at least lessen the blow can get the funding they need to do so.

Still, i'm gonna be freaking out for a couple hours now.
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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_death_of_the_universe
 
Gunstarheroes said:
I always want to stay informed, but fuck if i basically lock up and start wrestling with a lot of really rough shit when i read these articles. I can make small differences, but at the end of the day, it makes me feel hopeless and just like i have a time in which to look at as "my time"

I'm not good with dealing with my mortality, and i basically get panic attacks reading this. All i can do is vote for people that might change things, and hope people that can figure out something to at least lessen the blow can get the funding they need to do so.

Still, i'm gonna be freaking out for a couple hours now.
Click to expand...

Not going to lie, I lose sleep every time the radioman says "a new record was set for temperature in [insert month]". I already do everything I can. It's such a weird feeling, knowing that we're barreling towards catastrophe and no one's at the helm of this train.
 
Kthulhu said:
Or we could subsidize technology that is clean and renewable? Do you not put any thought into your posts?
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Lots of thought actually...
I don't know how old you are, but I'm old enough to remember what it looked like the last time the government subsidized renewable energy.

It was called Solyndra.
It was a fiasco and essentially taught me that you can't just throw money at a problem and hope it goes away.

I want real solutions to the problem. Not an inept government flailing blindly (while the real climate problems of China and India go unchecked)
 
It might be time to get serious about some of the "crazier" ideas like blocking sunlight with dust or well-positioned mirrors.
 
Nephtes said:
Lots of thought actually...
I don't know how old you are, but I'm old enough to remember what it looked like the last time the government subsidized renewable energy.

It was called Solyndra.
It was a fiasco and essentially taught me that you can't just throw money at a problem and hope it goes away.

I want real solutions to the problem. Not an inept government flailing blindly (while the real climate problems of China and India go unchecked)
Click to expand...

The US government currently subsidies fossil fuels.

If you think the West isn't as responsible for climate change as China and India you're dead wrong. This is the entire developed world's fault and we're the only ones who can fix it.
 
I want to die peacefully knowing the future that my kids have is better than mine. But I don't want to die ignorant. Is that a contradiction? The economics of Climate Change are depressing. My family has moved to Solar Power, electric cars and we actively support Climate Change Policies and neighbors to go for Solar panels but it puts into context just how small my one family is. I don't know what I can do after this point.
 
Branduil said:
It might be time to get serious about some of the "crazier" ideas like blocking sunlight with dust or well-positioned mirrors.
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Well that's just a whole other can of worms (I do think we may end up going that way for better or worse)

orthodoxy1095 said:
Isn't there any optimism with geo-engineering research?
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Geoengineering falls into two broad categories. Carbon Capture and Storage which is generally good but isn't expanding at the rate it needs to.

Or we have Solar Radiation Management but I could write an essay on the issues related to that (and have). Basically it doesn't stop all the problems, may make some more issues and creates a tonne of potential political/moral issues.
 
Neoleo2143 said:
I want to die peacefully knowing the future that my kids have is better than mine. But I don't want to die ignorant. Is that a contradiction? The economics of Climate Change are depressing. My family has moved to Solar Power, electric cars and we actively support Climate Change Policies and neighbors to go for Solar panels but it puts into context just how small my one family is. I don't know what I can do after this point.
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Vote for politicians and pray humanity isnt as stupid as working in IT has led me to believe.
 
God Dayumm said:
It is pointless to live in unemployment and poor. The economy is more important than climate change and any real solution has to account for that. In fact, they usually do, taxing and reinvesting money in new technologies helps the environment and helps the economy

Social justice is more important than climate change unless you believe we should take care of the environment just so white straight people can continue to enjoy themselves

Sustainability has 3 pillars from which everyone benefits. Saving the planet never has to come at the expense of human life, equality and progress. Otherwise that solution is neither sustainable nor humane

3pillars.png
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It's the privileged - which, form a world-wide perspective, American minorites and LGBT communities are part of - that will be able to continue to party while the planet is dying and enjoy it while it lasts, you know.

There are arguments to be made for prioritising social issues over the environment, but making out that the latter has anything to do with reinforcing white heterosexual privilege is as ridiculous as it's dishonest.

How much social justice do you think there will be for Bangladeshians in 50 years if American minorities rage out at every little perceived injustice while living lifestyles that result in the highest CO2 emissions per capita in the world?

You have to be able to juggle important issues simultaneously. Gay rights and the discriminatory violence of the police force are certainly very important parts of one of your pillars and it's good that they are visible in the public and political debate. But it can't be at the cost of the monumental environmental/resources catastophe we're about to face. It's a travesty that these massive issues keeps getting dismissed from the debate for any number of bullshit reasons.
 
Gunstarheroes said:
I always want to stay informed, but fuck if i basically lock up and start wrestling with a lot of really rough shit when i read these articles. I can make small differences, but at the end of the day, it makes me feel hopeless and just like i have a time in which to look at as "my time"

I'm not good with dealing with my mortality, and i basically get panic attacks reading this. All i can do is vote for people that might change things, and hope people that can figure out something to at least lessen the blow can get the funding they need to do so.

Still, i'm gonna be freaking out for a couple hours now.
Click to expand...
There was this article about the gloom many climate scientists feel.

It had a great Norse proverb shared by the scientist though:

The unwise man is awake all night, worries over and again. When morning rises he is restless still.
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Getting yourself into a restless, uncomfortable tizzy won't help you or anyone else. So try to work through it if you can.
 
I'm curious as to how the upcoming mini ice age (based on sunspot activity or, in this case, lack thereof) a ton of scientists are predicting to begin in about 2020 is going to affect this. I worry that the colder temperatures will make people think everything is fine and then, decades down the road, the mini ice age ends and the pendulum swings way too far back to the other side.
 
God Dayumm said:
Sustainability has 3 pillars from which everyone benefits. Saving the planet never has to come at the expense of human life, equality and progress. Otherwise that solution is neither sustainable nor humane
Click to expand...

Zhutchka said:
But it can't be at the cost of the monumental environmental/resources catastophe we're about to face. It's a travesty that these massive issues keeps getting dismissed from the debate for any number of bullshit reasons.
Click to expand...

It's not a zero-sum game. We can both fight against the oppression of minority groups and concurrently try to battle the overwhelming threat of climate change.
 
Kthulhu said:
The US government currently subsidies fossil fuels.

If you think the West isn't as responsible for climate change as China and India you're dead wrong. This is the entire developed world's fault and we're the only ones who can fix it.
Click to expand...

Oil is so stupid cheap right now, there's no reason for subsidies...

I'm not saying we don't have a part in the West over climate change. I'm merely saying that we've done more and improved our energy standards ALREADY to a degree China and India probably will never agree to match.

It's one world, and we can't solve this by putting solar cells on our roofs and electric cars in our garages if China and India do nothing... It won't matter anyway.

So again... What do you do about 2 societies that have already told us to fuck off over climate change?

Who also manufacture the device or components to the device you're using to respond to me...
 
orthodoxy1095 said:
Isn't there any optimism with geo-engineering research?
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The problem with geo-engineering is how would you know exactly what you're doing is not exacerbating the problem? You don't, it seems more faith based than science.

Also, it can backfire big time. Why cut fossil fuel emissions when we have geo-engineering, which might wind up doing nothing in the end.

There are too many uncertainties that comes with geo-engineering in my opinion.
 
Plinko said:
I'm curious as to how the upcoming mini ice age (based on sunspot activity or, in this case, lack thereof) a ton of scientists are predicting to begin in about 2020 is going to affect this. I worry that the colder temperatures will make people think everything is fine and then, decades down the road, the mini ice age ends and the pendulum swings way too far back to the other side.
Click to expand...

The general hope/fear is that it may (if it happens) offset temperature rises for a couple decades but then when it stops all hell would break loose if we didn't use that time well.
 
Hopefully we'll peak at below +2°C but feedback loops are scary.

John Dunbar said:
is this true even for that giant asteroid that crashed in mexico?
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It's right there, in the previous sentence:

scientific report published last year revealed that in the near-term, Earth’s climate will change 10 times faster than at any other moment in the last 65 million years
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So no.
 
Kind of freaking out right now between this and the recent Trump poll numbers. I think climate change is the #1 issue right now, and I wish it got more attention. But I can see why the economy and foreign policy are more important to most people.
I want to believe that we can transition to using a lot more renewable energy in the next couple decades, but I just don't know if things can change quickly enough.
 
sasliquid said:
The general hope/fear is that it may (if it happens) offset temperature rises for a couple decades but then when it stops all hell would break loose if we didn't use that time well.
Click to expand...

This at least seems like it could buy us some time, so that's good...I mean, I know I have a very limited understanding of this issue and perhaps some naïve optimism, but there are very smart people who are aware of this problem now. Perhaps if given enough time, some solutions can be discovered.
 
sasliquid said:
The general hope/fear is that it may (if it happens) offset temperature rises for a couple decades but then when it stops all hell would break loose if we didn't use that time well.
Click to expand...

Are the odds good on it occurring? It may just buy us some time to do something.
 
Is there a graphic like this with more recent (those are - 2001) projections?
Global_Warming_Predictions.png


I guess it's also time to start developing my weather machine...
 
You can't fix this. This is still theory and people with certain interests will dispute it. You can't force every country, he'll even one country to make changes to prevent this. Within a country, you will not find the unity needed to make the changes needed to happen. And last, the effects of this will not destroy the earth within our lifetimes so people will push off any change as long as possible
 
Nephtes said:
Oil is so stupid cheap right now, there's no reason for subsidies...

I'm not saying we don't have a part in the West over climate change. I'm merely saying that we've done more and improved our energy standards ALREADY to a degree China and India probably will never agree to match.

It's one world, and we can't solve this by putting solar cells on our roofs and electric cars in our garages if China and India do nothing... It won't matter anyway.

So again... What do you do about 2 societies that have already told us to fuck off over climate change?

Who also manufacture the device or components to the device you're using to respond to me...
Click to expand...

Ahem

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-pres...nnouncement-climate-change-and-clean-energy-c

Edit: My phone was made in South Korea. Although I don't see how that's relevant.
 
Ac30 said:
Are the odds good on it occurring? It may just buy us some time to do something.
Click to expand...

Sorry, dunno. I specialise predominantly on anthropogenic climate change and communications of said issues and only at a Masters level (hopefully at Phd in the future)
 
Slowly but surely, we're meeting our end. To me, it's just a matter of luck. If we manage to hit a great scientific revolution in the next 20 years, we may be able to geo-re-engineer back all of this shit. If not, we're done. Because honestly, even if we stopped emitting cold turkey today, we'd still be going beyond the limit of sustainability. All phytoplancton dead, most of vegetable life impossible, and pretty much global wars for resources. And that IF, we managed to stop emissions. If we didn't, we'd probably enter a feedback runaway effect, turning this planet into venus in a matter of a hundred years or so.

Funny shit.
 
Future said:
You can't fix this. This is still theory and people with certain interests will dispute it. You can't force every country, he'll even one country to make changes to prevent this. Within a country, you will not find the unity needed to make the changes needed to happen. And last, the effects of this will not destroy the earth within our lifetimes so people will push off any change as long as possible
Click to expand...

It won't destroy the earth while boomers are still alive. That's true.
 
Epsilon-delta said:
The problem with geo-engineering is how would you know exactly what you're doing is not exacerbating the problem? You don't, it seems more faith based than science.

Also, it can backfire big time. Why cut fossil fuel emissions when we have geo-engineering, which might wind up doing nothing in the end.

There are too many uncertainties that comes with geo-engineering in my opinion.
Click to expand...
Since emissions have a lag in impacting us, don't we still need to figure out some of the science behind geo-engineering anyways? Wouldn't we still have an issue even if we drastically cut emissions tomorrow?
 
sasliquid said:
Sorry, dunno. I specialise predominantly on anthropogenic climate change and communications of said issues and only at a Masters level (hopefully at Phd in the future)
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No worries, you've been very helpful. Good luck with that PhD!

Let's hope that ice age happens, then :(
 
DirtyLarry said:
It is very, very simple. We would adapt. Or at least try to.
Yes, our lives would dramatically change, but at least that means we still have a chance at having our lives.
Perhaps it is easier for me to say as I have lived half my life without cell phones and computers, so I know it can be done no problem.
In fact I would take it one step further and say all those things have done is make life more convenient, not necessarily better.

Sure, you now can know what time of day your friend took a shit and what they were eating while they did so and what political candidate they support along with their feelings on whatever pop star is the news for that 15 minutes of time.

The above example is not necessarily a good thing, and I myself would trade it in a heartbeat if it meant knowing our planet, and therefore our species, had a chance of living on.
Click to expand...

The arrogance and hubris in the post is pretty amusing.

5C would turn most of the equatorial rain forests and central plains bread baskets into Deserts rivaling the Sahara. 5C is a global extinction event. The last time one struck humanity was not here, crops were not here, livestock were not here, nor were game animals humans were built to eat. Literally we would lose everything our species grew to utilize.

Species do no adapt. That is not how evolution works.


Lucky species have subsets of the population that are already adapted to what comes, and they survive to pass on their genes.
 
Malreyn said:
It'll be too late to do anything at that point when governments decide to do anything to fight climate change seriously...rather, governments will be more focused on fighting wars for depleting resources like livable/fertile land and water, etc.
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This is right on the money. We know how countries go to war over oil already. The wars of the future will be for the new scarce resource, livable land and potable water. We'll also see mass emigration and immigration out of the countries that become effectively uninhabitable.

Of course, it won't be the end of life on Earth though. We've had periods of history (pre-human) where the climate was vastly different to what we have now.

Jurassic Climate
The Jurassic period is known for a climate characterized by rain-forest-like conditions. Peat bogs that later formed into massive coal deposits existed throughout many parts of the Earth, forming under dense forests. Most of the land is believed to have been productive for plant and animal growth and diversity. Sea levels rose and created warm, shallow-coast environments conducive to coral reef development. The Triassic warmth continued into the Jurassic, but the increased humidity levels due to flooded landmasses, as well as increased carbon dioxide levels from the lush vegetation and lack of polar ice, created a "greenhouse" climate. Even the polar regions had a temperate climate.
http://classroom.synonym.com/climate-jurassic-era-4932.html
 
I hate feeling so powerless in this crisis, and I'm at the point where I'm not sure what more I can personally do to combat it.
 
Future said:
You can't fix this. This is still theory and people with certain interests will dispute it. You can't force every country, he'll even one country to make changes to prevent this. Within a country, you will not find the unity needed to make the changes needed to happen. And last, the effects of this will not destroy the earth within our lifetimes so people will push off any change as long as possible
Click to expand...

What about developing nanites that kill off people who hold the wrong opinion on global warming? This is still a fixable problem.
 
Future said:
You can't fix this. This is still theory and people with certain interests will dispute it. You can't force every country, he'll even one country to make changes to prevent this. Within a country, you will not find the unity needed to make the changes needed to happen. And last, the effects of this will not destroy the earth within our lifetimes so people will push off any change as long as possible
Click to expand...
Sorry, but negative climate change effects are everyday life for quite a lot of people already. Not quite extinction-of-human-kind level negative, but lives are getting much harder due to climate change related (& other human caused) issues. It's not just a theory anymore. You can see signs of climate change everywhere. Droughts getting a little worse somewhere & making stuff like farming & agriculture more problematic, extreme weather conditions increasing in other regions, pests & other harmful invasive species moving northward/to regions where they previously couldn't due to colder and/or longer winters (or other reasons) killing off all would-be-spreaders before they get the chance to set up house and so on and so on.
 
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