Climate Emergency

ShootersHillGuru

Very disturbing data emerging regarding Antarctic sea ice or more precisely the lack of it. What’s being seen at present is so far beyond previous data sets it’s to quote a spokesperson from National Snow and Ice Data Center, “ it’s mind blowing”. Without intending to get political I’m really struggling to see quite how man made climate change is still in some quarters being denied. How close to the precipice mankind is I don’t know but I feel we’re accelerating towards it at an alarming rate of knots and now probably at a rate we’ll be unable to reverse. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66724246

swordfish

ShootersHillGuru said:

Very disturbing data emerging regarding Antarctic sea ice or more precisely the lack of it. What’s being seen at present is so far beyond previous data sets it’s to quote a spokesperson from National Snow and Ice Data Center, “ it’s mind blowing”. Without intending to get political I’m really struggling to see quite how man made climate change is still in some quarters being denied. How close to the precipice mankind is I don’t know but I feel we’re accelerating towards it at an alarming rate of knots and now probably at a rate we’ll be unable to reverse. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66724246

Yes, the rate of acceleration in the anticipated consequences of climate change is where the science is less certain, and the loss of sea ice appears to be more rapid than their model simulation outcomes.

Stig

blackpool72

I watched a programme last night highlighting all the polution and rubbish,  fishing nets and plastic etc that we as humans have put in the sea's. 
Thoroughly depressing. 
The damage that we as a species have Done and are continuing to do to our planet is heartbreaking. 

swords_alive

blackpool72 said:

I watched a programme last night highlighting all the polution and rubbish,  fishing nets and plastic etc that we as humans have put in the sea's. 
Thoroughly depressing. 
The damage that we as a species have Done and are continuing to do to our planet is heartbreaking. 

Treating nature as a dumping ground is bad news and entrenched in cultures the world over. Fly tipping is another symptom of it close to home. This is a slight tangent to climate change driven by global warming but i think the treatment of nature as a dumping ground in a common aspect.

ME14addick

The loss of more sea ice is of great concern, as once started it is difficult to reverse. It has a huge impact on wildlife as well. 

Climate Change should be at the top of the agenda for all Governments, no country is safe from the effects. Saying that we can't afford it is no excuse, if money needs to be spent now to reduce our emissions, then that is money well spent. It's no good saying that we can't afford it and we will be leaving the monetary debt for future generations, as Climate Change will mean there are no future generations.

Siv_in_Norfolk

We need radical changes to the way humans around the world live in order to survive as a species...and fast

The movie "Don't look up", while a comedy, has a lot of truth in it regarding how that message is treated 

Put bluntly: we are fucked - some don't know, some don't want to know and others just don't care. Those who do know and care and try to help are often vilified and mocked by.....

....not by YOU, right? 

Siv_in_Norfolk

This goes beyond the usual politics of left vs right I.e. how to organise the economy and society....

This is about survival of the species - the most fundamental of all issues 

ME14addick

Siv_in_Norfolk said:

This goes beyond the usual politics of left vs right I.e. how to organise the economy and society....

This is about survival of the species - the most fundamental of all issues 

It should be beyond the usual politics of left and right, but unfortunately it has become just that.

golfaddick

The problem is you are never going to get the big "poluters" on board..... China, India and to a lesser extent the US. 

The UK have dedicated to get to "net zero" by 2050 (or thereabouts) and to get the sale of diesel & petrol cars to zero by 2030. That is just not going to happen. The amount of charging points that will be needed so that   ALL car drivers can economically/speedily charge their cars in 6 years time is just not viable. 

I applaud all those trying to save the planet but when my juice carton has on it "check locally for recycling" then sadly not enough is being done by manufacturing Companies.

shirty5

Old Mother Earth is heating up like a dirty great big cake.

And if were not careful, the icing’s going to melt 

ParkinsonOut

What’s this got to do with Charlton? Should be in a different category

Ferryman

One of the most frustrating things is they've been talking about it since the 80's but have done nothing.

PrincessFiona

golfaddick said:

The problem is you are never going to get the big "poluters" on board..... China, India and to a lesser extent the US. 

The UK have dedicated to get to "net zero" by 2050 (or thereabouts) and to get the sale of diesel & petrol cars to zero by 2030. That is just not going to happen. The amount of charging points that will be needed so that   ALL car drivers can economically/speedily charge their cars in 6 years time is just not viable. 

I applaud all those trying to save the planet but when my juice carton has on it "check locally for recycling" then sadly not enough is being done by manufacturing Companies.

The problem is if the main polluters don't make significant changes then the effect of the changes by the minions has minimal effect.

Why don't the Just Sop Oil lot lobby those that can make a significant differences rather than (virtually pointless) protests that adversely affect people going about their every day business and in many cases cause more pollution. They could be so much more effective - makes you wonder how genuine they actually are as they seem to be counter-productive

The Red Robin

ShootersHillGuru said:

Very disturbing data emerging regarding Antarctic sea ice or more precisely the lack of it. What’s being seen at present is so far beyond previous data sets it’s to quote a spokesperson from National Snow and Ice Data Center, “ it’s mind blowing”. Without intending to get political I’m really struggling to see quite how man made climate change is still in some quarters being denied. How close to the precipice mankind is I don’t know but I feel we’re accelerating towards it at an alarming rate of knots and now probably at a rate we’ll be unable to reverse. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66724246

Alarming. Terrifying. And nothing political about scientific fact and a very real threat to the planet. Thanks for sharing. 

ShootersHillGuru

golfaddick said:

The problem is you are never going to get the big "poluters" on board..... China, India and to a lesser extent the US. 

The UK have dedicated to get to "net zero" by 2050 (or thereabouts) and to get the sale of diesel & petrol cars to zero by 2030. That is just not going to happen. The amount of charging points that will be needed so that   ALL car drivers can economically/speedily charge their cars in 6 years time is just not viable. 

I applaud all those trying to save the planet but when my juice carton has on it "check locally for recycling" then sadly not enough is being done by manufacturing Companies.

These “net zero” targets are to me at least, and I have to say I’m certainly no expert are virtually irrelevant. Looking at what’s happening around the world on every continent over just the last five years, the natural weather associated disasters seems to be accelerating year on year. Records like ocean temperatures and consecutive days of heat and now this startling revelation about Antarctic ice plus probably dozens more broken records. I have no doubt although I hope I’m wrong that all of these recent records will be broken again within a few years never mind before 2050. By then I hate to imagine what will have happened. It really is terrifying and it seems that mankind is just content to walk forward into this hellfire future with minimal concern. 

JamesSeed

Governments need together and agree to radical policies very soon, or it will be too late. Emission targets are fine, but so often we are told that we don’t need to act because carbon capture will solve many of the problems we face. It won’t, or at least it seems highly unlikely. 

And there’s too much whataboutery going on. ‘Why should we act when India does this or China does that’. Well, because it’s the right thing to do. We should set an example. 

We also need governments to be prepared to be unpopular, but with our four or five year electoral cycle it seems unlikely to happen. Waiting for enough people to act voluntarily will not work. Governments need to impose sh1t on us that we don’t like, or we’re fecked. Ignore the libertarians and free marketeers. 

Alwaysneil

Green algae looks promising for carbon capture. Can be grown in salt water, sucks up carbon dioxide, decreased carbon dioxide moves lower atmosphere back to more stable lower temperatures (and upper atmosphere back to more stable higher temperatures).

Just need to work out what to do with the stuff after growing half an ocean of it now. 

Dazzler21

Alwaysneil said:

Green algae looks promising for carbon capture. Can be grown in salt water, sucks up carbon dioxide, decreased carbon dioxide moves lower atmosphere back to more stable lower temperatures (and upper atmosphere back to more stable higher temperatures).

Just need to work out what to do with the stuff after growing half an ocean of it now. 

What do you do if green algae growth gets out of hand and causes other issues... 

Alwaysneil

Probably grow it like this:

https://massivesci.com/articles/iwi-algae-protein-nannochloropsis-food-essential-amino-acids/

Chizz

Dazzler21 said:

Alwaysneil said:

Green algae looks promising for carbon capture. Can be grown in salt water, sucks up carbon dioxide, decreased carbon dioxide moves lower atmosphere back to more stable lower temperatures (and upper atmosphere back to more stable higher temperatures).

Just need to work out what to do with the stuff after growing half an ocean of it now. 

What do you do if green algae growth gets out of hand and causes other issues... 

Turn it into Sustainable Aviation Fuel

ShootersHillGuru

Chizz said:

Dazzler21 said:

Alwaysneil said:

Green algae looks promising for carbon capture. Can be grown in salt water, sucks up carbon dioxide, decreased carbon dioxide moves lower atmosphere back to more stable lower temperatures (and upper atmosphere back to more stable higher temperatures).

Just need to work out what to do with the stuff after growing half an ocean of it now. 

What do you do if green algae growth gets out of hand and causes other issues... 

Turn it into Sustainable Aviation Fuel

Or burgers

swordfish

shirty5 said:

Old Mother Earth is heating up like a dirty great big cake.

And if were not careful, the icing’s going to melt 

Didn't realise Dave Angel posted on here. I particularly enjoyed when we saw "Shirl" burning those tyres in the lake district on national trust property. Marvellous. 😉

sam3110

Too many factors mean it's too far gone now. For us to reverse global warming we'd need to cull half the world's population, by next week, and completely ban all fossil fuels and resource mining/extraction immediately and forever. 

We'd also have to stop anyone farming or consuming animal products, and replant all the trees we've cut down in the past 70 years, and that probably still won't be enough to stop what's happened 

arny23394

Siv_in_Norfolk

sam3110 said:

Too many factors mean it's too far gone now. For us to reverse global warming we'd need to cull half the world's population, by next week, and completely ban all fossil fuels and resource mining/extraction immediately and forever. 

We'd also have to stop anyone farming or consuming animal products, and replant all the trees we've cut down in the past 70 years, and that probably still won't be enough to stop what's happened 

Not necessary to cull half the world's population. It's how we live, not how many of us there are, that is the problem 

clb74

Siv_in_Norfolk said:

sam3110 said:

Too many factors mean it's too far gone now. For us to reverse global warming we'd need to cull half the world's population, by next week, and completely ban all fossil fuels and resource mining/extraction immediately and forever. 

We'd also have to stop anyone farming or consuming animal products, and replant all the trees we've cut down in the past 70 years, and that probably still won't be enough to stop what's happened 

Not necessary to cull half the world's population. It's how we live, not how many of us there are, that is the problem 

And what percentage of the world's population are prepared to drastically change the way they live?

Siv_in_Norfolk

Are you going to give them a choice: change or be culled?

ShootersHillGuru

I think a population cull is going to happen naturally. Eventually I would think that large parts of the planet currently populated are going to become uninhabitable. Crops will fail and sea levels will rise eliminating many large coastal cities. They’ll be mass migrations and no doubt civil unrest. How much of that is certain and how much just probable I have no idea but I’m guessing it’s the former.

Stig

ShootersHillGuru said:

I think a population cull is going to happen naturally. Eventually I would think that large parts of the planet currently populated are going to become uninhabitable. Crops will fail and sea levels will rise eliminating many large coastal cities. They’ll be mass migrations and no doubt civil unrest. How much of that is certain and how much just probable I have no idea but I’m guessing it’s the former.

Sadly, I think you're right. Perhaps even more sadly, those who have done the least to contribute to climate change will be worst affected and will have the least ability to protect themselves. The Sahara Desert has expanded by 10% in the last hundred years (I'm sure other deserts will have too). As climate change accelerates, so will desertification. It's not inconceivable that practically the whole of North Africa will become uninhabitable; the periodic famines that afflict that region now, becoming permanent and ongoing. Should current trends continue I think we'll see a massive increase in the numbers of people desperately trying to head to Europe to avoid the heat. In response, I'd expect the West to shut up shop and measures to keep out 'economic migrants' to become far more determined and potentially brutal. People will argue that we can't accept any more immigrants because we can't look after our own, and the saddest thing of all is that they will be right. I expect that crop failures to drive food inflation that will make anything caused by covid, Brexit or Putin's war to look like chicken feed. That will lead millions in the west into starvation situations. Sorry for the horrible scenario. I obviously hope that I am completely wrong, but with our current levels of apathy and inaction I can't see any other ending.

kentaddick

Yeah it's really bad isn't it? BRB gonna complain on the ULEZ thread about not being able to drive my 4x4 around london.

Interestingly enough there's evidence to suggest that if we accelerate our net zero carbon goals then it could add a significant amount of GDP vs maintaining our course. There's basically no excuse for getting to net zero as quickly as possible