Global Warming's Terrifying New Math

Weblemics

Netbate

spewwwing

ha!

yeah, but do any of these have the same easy ring as internet-argue?

hahaha, sorry

webate, coming soon from the marketing geniuses who gave you webinars

I forgot an old favorite prefix. I like the ring of:

cybersquabble

Webating webholes.

http://usscouts.org/advance/Images/Cubscout/webelos.gif

e-bate

omg webelos

i maxed out at webelos

me too!

Even if we were to completely cease all greenhouse gas emissions, the draft report adds, warming would continue for 'many centuries.

Now, go fuck off all you deniers.

so? what's our course of action here

status quo is going just fine

"The volcano that erupted over in Northern Europe actually poured more CO2 into the air in that single act of nature than all of humans have in something like the past 100 years." -- Mike Huckabee

All the more reason to curb our emissions then, Mike.

Average volcanic emissions: 200 million tonnes
2011 emissions from fossil fuels burning and cement production: 34.7 billion tonnes

Huckabee is only off by 17000 fold.

i'm sure he'll immediately issue a corrected statement

I think he just forgot to add "on any single day"

It's either cynical or ignorant but it's no less satanic.

2011 emissions from fossil fuels burning and cement production: 34.7 billion tonnes

It is interesting that the Romans produced superior concrete, some of which has withstood 2000 years of salt water attrition, without releasing industrial amounts of CO2.

http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2013/06/04/roman-concrete/

tbf they produced much less concrete than we do today.

Yes I know, but it is still a cleaner production method. Probably not clean enough to stave off an extinction event considering concrete production is 7% of the problem. But still interesting nonetheless.

Roman concrete unfortunately isn't much of an apples-to-apples comparison - totally different characteristics, most importantly that it isn't reinforced and therefore can't do the things we use concrete to do. And reinforcing steel is a huge part of concrete's carbon and embedded energy issues, though I don't know if the statistics we're discussing have already factored that out. But production methods could certainly get better.... China's fueled its building boom by dredging pond-beds for sand for concrete, which has been environmentally disastrous in tons of ways. I'd imagine it releases tons of CO2.

Volcanos also emit lots of SO2 when they erupt, but I don't think Huck is advocating geo-engineering (nor am I).

Assuming or blaming the Chinese for releasing tons (or megatons!) of C02 isn't going to get them to change their ways. It barely works for anyone else.

Trying to find one reason to have more hope than cynicism.

Not blaming, sorry! Was trying to find areas/ways that production COULD hypothetically get less carbon-intensive as a return to opus caementicum seems less than feasible.

nah, not trying to criticize.

Just noting that it doesn't matter who the polluter is because no one really wants to stop at a level that would matter.

i just assume it's gonna be geo engineering, as it seems politically feasible to spray more shit into the atmosphere, but impossible to prevent us from burning that sweet, sweet coal, oil, and gas.

30% of the Bay area's air pollution is coming from Asia.

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/88/i46/8846news3.html

impossible to prevent us from burning that sweet, sweet coal, oil, and gas.

Well, not quite impossible...

It's impossible unless we wipe ourselves out in some quick, neat way in the next couple of years, IMO.

a consummation devoutly to be wish'd

I was thinking of fossil fuels running out.

i just assume it's gonna be geo engineering, as it seems politically feasible to spray more shit into the atmosphere

i'm seriously anxious that some private fucker/country's just going to start doing this, and we'll all have to live with the horrible consequences that CAN be predicted, let alone the inevitable horrible side-effects we DIDN'T expect

if real life is anything like Highlander II: The Quickening, I don't think it's going to go well

James, so choad dumped iron off the coast of Canada/Washington earlier this year or late last.

Some "geoengineering" makes a lot of sense. Just painting rooftops and pavement white will go a long way to making urban heat islands more livable later this century.

As for the iron seeding, its just recreating the sort of thing that happens all the time when Saharan dust blows over the Atlantic.

Lots more questionable geoengineering (like adding sulfur compounds to aviation fuel, to be used only above the tropopause) will be widespread. We won't have a choice in the matter by then.

Knew that wd be Sanpaku from the first sentence.

http://www.weather.com/news/climate/2047-coldest-years-may-be-warmer-hottest-past-20131009

I don't know what's worse, the sheer irreversibility of this global change or the fact that the best case scenario for addressing it is just slowing it down by thirty years if we pull out all the stops- it makes you feel so helpless/hopeless, like a car skidding on ice and no matter how crank the wheel, you're drifting towards the cliff

We still have to pull out all the stops - our babies are in the back of the car, and so are the penguins.

the helpless feeling brought upon by the reality of the ~30 year lag will make geoengineering more and more attractive as we start to sink into this. conveniently for those in power, the geoengineering approach is much more aligned with our plutocracy than the alternative (conservation, living within one's means)

I think the worst thing about it may be that we have to get through brain problems / systemic dead ends that have stalled taking reasonable action for decades and show negligible signs of abating.

I've been listening to Alan Weisman's Countdown on my dogwalks. Seems we'll get through this with the help of a big dieoff. Thank heavens its been sunny.

We'll need to hope that happens in the developed nations and regions where most of the carbon emissions are coming from, yes?

Whoever recommended The Earth After Us, thank you! Loving it.