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I Study Climate Change. The Data Is Telling Us Something New.
(www.nytimes.com)
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this post was submitted on 13 Oct 2023
291 points (96.2% liked)
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As much as this news disturbs me .... the thing that disturbs me most is that most of the world will ignore it.
Humanity won't do anything about any of this until millions die and mass migrations start happening due to extreme weather events.
COVID was the perfect microcosm for climate change action. COVID killed a shit-pile of people really quickly. Humans are wired to acknowledge pressing matters (like a pandemic), while more abstract concepts, and things with delayed consequences get pushed to the wayside.
It make sense, why we are the way we are. Who cares about where your meal next week is going to come from, when you're a caveman running from a lion?
Does it make us any less dead? nope. Just the timing is in question.
Even covid was already too hypothetical and abstract and too far away in time and space for millions of people to act cautiously. Climate change is further away still... When it becomes very noticeable, it's far too late: hawaii fire level stuff before people actually realise it's fucked.
Hawaii fire level stuff is due to climate change.
the number of chuds I've met that really, really think it was some kind of space laser and not a wildfire driven by hurricane winds and crippling heat is fucking depressing. people I volunteer with who I thought were rational humans... what in the fuck
Yes. I meant many people only realise it when they are the one stuck there and can't get out.
Fun fact! Mines take climate change into consideration for all their engineering and revgetation designs
#TheEarthHasAlwaysHadClimateChange
#butNeverThisFast #itsAlsoNeverBeenThisHotSinceHumanityAppearedOnEarth
I think I should have added '/s'.
I'm no denier.
Correct, there has always been climate change ... most of the change in the past happened over a millennia ... and some of it was catastrophic with changes happening over short periods of time and it usually meant the death of millions of life forms
The current climate change period we are living in is human made most definitely .... if our descendents survive, (or whatever new species takes over ... or even if artificial intelligence takes over) tens of thousands or millions of years from now - when they look back at the geologic record, they'll wonder why there was a weird global distribution of radiation and toxic material everywhere and they will notice the fact that a large percentage of species everywhere died off at around the same time we started to develop into the technological / communications age
Climate change has happened in the past ... what most people that say this leave out is the fact that it tends to kill off many creatures that can't adjust to the changes ... and if the changes are dramatic enough, it tends to cause a mass die off of creatures on the planet ... and what many of these proponents tend to conveniently leave out is that WE may be one of those species that will die out because we won't be able to survive these changes. We're technologically smart and we are creative ... but this isn't Hollywood, we won't pull off a last minute super hero, Hail Mary, super smart group of people get to save the day at the last possible moment ... if things fall apart, it will happen slowly over decades until we all fall apart, society fails and we all just slowly fade away because there is nothing liveable left to save ourselves.
I'm less optimistic than you, I think we will continue to increase fossil fuel usage, even though millions are dying and being displaced.
As long as the income stream isnt threatened either by unrest, mass deaths, or hardware malfunctioning, expect business as usual.
That's the kind of logic I expect to see in the coming decades.
People will argue the details, debate the topics, defend finances and the economy .... all while the world falls apart and people die, are actively dying or will live shorter lives.
Humanity will fade into obscurity as we all fight with one another.
Hell yeah.
Thats for sure. Many finance analysts predict 3 digit oil prices.
Investments will ramp up once demand puts pressure on the price.
And fossil fuel industry will be the most profitable one again.
WE CANT EXPECT OUR SYSTEM TO CHANGE WITHOUT CHANGING THE SYSTEM.
What will we need all those fossil fuels for? Surely, at some point in the early 2030's, as capex for PV/wind turbines/heat pumps/batteries decreases and opex remains low, most people will have realized that fossil fuels are personally costing them money. The only business remaining may be plastics rather than electricity and heat. Granted, it's entirely possible fossil fuel companies successfully double down on plastics (which is what many are planning already).
I mean, thanks to citizens united and "lobbying", oil companies control the US, and therefore the world. So no, I don't expect to see much change.
We won't do anything even then.
Well, not anything that'd help, at any rate. The worse things get, the more people will vote for conservatives and populists who will sell them easy solutions, which will likely consist of mass violence and rolling back environmental regulations because they inconvenience their voters. The only thing that will actually help will be the inevitable collapse of industrial society at this scale, but to get there hundreds of millions if not billions will die pointless deaths, especially if nuclear weapons are involved in the collapse.
At this point I want collapse to hurry up so that the old fuck boomers have to deal with it.
It's already basically too late and once millions die it will be super mega too late no take backsies.
Dude I'm way passed it. I'm hoping to collect on my new beach front property and live large.