Global Warming's Terrifying New Math

oops, i was trying to use those ellipses inside the quote to indicate there's more to the article. not to throw shade on it, as its use outside of the quote box signifies

FP’d you for that. appalling

Throwing shade at trees, how could you.

what have trees ever done for me?

Antarctica just hit 65 F, its warmest temperature ever recorded

It's pretty remarkable that, since 1990, when the climate crisis became clear, federal energy R&D -- supposedly the bipartisan policy everyone agrees on -- is DOWN. That says more about US political will than all the far-off targets in the world. https://t.co/bYRaBpkP2q pic.twitter.com/2R1TYKvPtm

— David Roberts (@drvox) February 25, 2020

This was maybe the most staggering thing I learned on my Shell trip. When these companies talk about going carbon neutral, that means selling off their oil wells, probably to gangsters https://t.co/UMVKbWd793 pic.twitter.com/32HlHaTiE3

— Malcolm Harris (@BigMeanInternet) March 3, 2020

mad max: the prequel

D-

https://time.com/5598313/jo-biden-climate-change-report-card/

starting to think that in a weird way, this might be our best (only?) opportunity to get back on a decent track for emissions reductions. i assume there will be a significant emissions dip this year. we're pouring trillions back into the economy, which is another way of saying we're re-building portions of the economy. i don't think there's a good chance in the United States, politically, but at least there is some chance that the priority would be making sure that the part of the economy that is rebuilt is far greener than before.

unless global dimming turns out to be a real issue and lower emissions reduces it and then we’re even more fucked haha oh god i’m gonna lie down

McKibben, New Yorker (March 20)

One of the best chances to make some positive use of the coronavirus pandemic may be passing swiftly. As the economy craters, big corporations are in need of government assistance, and, on Capitol Hill, the sound of half a trillion dollars in relief money is bringing out the lobbyists. On Thursday afternoon, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, described the scene as a “trough” and mentioned a quote from a lobbyist in The Hill: “Everybody’s asking for something and those that aren’t asking for something only aren’t because they don’t know how.” Whitehouse added, “I fear that enviros don’t know how to ask, because, so far in this scrum, we haven’t heard much from them.”

The drop in global GHG emissions in 2020 is utterly unprecedented. (Great chart from @AxiosVisuals.) https://t.co/K02H7SVZXv pic.twitter.com/3U1clZB5FZ

— David Roberts (@drvox) May 2, 2020

Already the rainiest May in Chicago history ... for the third year in a row.

it has been insane in Wisconsin - honestly thought our basement was gonna flood. Half my yard was underwater

do not worry - god has made a covenant with the people to earth to never again destroy them with a great flood

That seems like a peculiarly narrow covenant. I'd like to know who drew up the original papers on that and how they were getting paid.

one of them had complete leverage in the negotiations, i'd guess

Omnipresent Leverage is the name of my new band

97F in arctic siberia tomorrow, and 90+ for rest of week. Thats inland, but even Chersky on the siberian arctic coast, will be 85

Incredible, and frightening: this is the northernmost 100°F reading ever reliably observed. https://t.co/O99EHKURHx

— Bob Henson (@bhensonweather) June 20, 2020

northernmost latitudes are having another incredibly hot summer. globally, it seems likely to be the hottest year ever. i was expecting covid-related declines. i have no idea whether there's a lag, or this is surprising, or what. but i wouldn't discount the still tbd factor of feedback loops, some of which may have recently passed one or more tipping points, enough to counteract recent manufacturing/energy declines (energy use is supposed to be down 6% this year according to IEA)

> i was expecting covid-related declines

there may be a decline in ghg emissions this year but that means nothing in the short or long terms, the added CO2 from the last 2 centuries remains in the atmosphere and ocean

maybe less was added this year than expected but that's probably be more emissions than in 2000 or whatever
the hole is still being dug, more slowly than last year but still faster than any year in the 20th century

yea to the extent I really get anything about this a drop in emissions now isn't really gonna effect much in the short term, but it might make a dent in the longer term

being only down 6% is pretty depressing though imo

i think greta thunberg said that this year we're all the way down to levels last seen in...... 2006

the thing that makes me a tiny bit optimistic is that we've at least been forced into a blueprint of what massive societal change + some form of decarbonization looks like. we've still got a really long way to go obviously but if we can at least make working from home a normalized and standard thing, I mean, it's something, I'll take any fucking good news whatsoever at this point

for sure

If there was to be a marginal climate effect from Covid-19, it would have been to very slightly warm the planet, due to the reduction of sulfate aerosols while China was shut down, and high altitude contrails with the reduction in air travel. Both affect albedo on short timescales, while the CO2 will be with us for thousands of years.

Korean researchers create heavy-metal and rare-earth-element-free solar panels

They don't say the efficiency numbers in the summary, but supposedly they are comparable to current solar panels.

forgot a dash. The researchers aren't heshers.

Meanwhile, in the Arctic:

https://i.imgur.com/e9X9u4h.png

I just realized the Arctic heat wave has been going on for a month since it hit 100° F in Siberia.

Last night I was watching Frozen Planet (cause it makes me feel cool) but had to skip through the bits with baby polar bears, with Attenborough explaining how hard it is for the mama bear to find food even in a normal Arctic summer. Sorry just trying to brighten your day!

Which GOP asshole was it that brought a snowball to congress to prove global warming was not a thing? Was that Inhofe from OK? I'm sure the fact that there are sub freezing temperatures in TX and the entire state is under a winter storm watch will only reaffirm that everything is just fine.

It was Inhofe that disproved climate change with a snowball, yes

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2021-energy-land-use-economy/

The U.S. Will Need a Lot of Land for a Zero-Carbon Economy

One thing we're definitely short on: land.

here the liberals go again, all this uncarbonous power and how are they going to land for it?!

The one thing which must never ever be mentioned in connection to reducing the greenhouse gas output of the USA economy, even in a whisper, are the concepts of wasting less energy, using less energy, consuming less of anything, making any noticeable sacrifices of any kind, or changing one's habits in any way. The very mention of any of these concepts is taboo among climate change activists, even among themselves, lest word leak out to the general public that addressing climate change might require any one of these eventualities.

Shhh. Don't tell anyone I said so.

wait, where's that from?

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/may/20/climate-disasters-caused-more-internal-displacement-than-war-in-2020

AR6 is on the way

Monday’s findings are undoubtedly grim, acknowledged lead author Claudia Tebaldi, a scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

But people should not dwell in regret for the failures of the past, Tebaldi said, or only despair over possibilities that are not yet inescapable. Instead, she urged people to focus on what can still be done, on what can still be salvaged.

After all, the hard math of science shows that a concerted push by governments and the private sector can still bend the world’s troubling trajectory. Each action to slow the pace of emissions gives society more time to adapt to changes we know are coming. Each degree of warming that humans avoid saves us from climate catastrophes that don’t have to happen.

“Things are going to change for the worse. But they can change less for the worse than they would have, if we are able to limit our footprint now,” Tebaldi said.

“Every little bit counts.”

https://www.ipcc.ch/assessment-report/ar6/

sigh

that was the most optimistic quote i could find

governments and the private sector, the cause of and solution to all of our problems

i wish one of these scientists would just come out and say we need to fucking end capitalism now or at least give some good sabotage tips because they must fucking know this isn’t fucking working

since hearing Olufemi Taiwo use the phrase climate genocide to describe the current status quo and the trajectory we seem to be on I haven’t been able to get it out of my head. it seems to be the closest thing to consensus we have in the North about what needs to be done and that is fucking terrifying. there are way too few climate scientists and activists speaking out against the border or even making the connection

For those who may just be waking up to these facts, the good news is that we’re not starting from scratch. We can build on generations of movement knowledge and practice. Here, for example, is The People’s Agreement of Cochabamba’s plan for undoing global climate injustices: pic.twitter.com/Zdvg9LXidn

— Kai Heron (@KaiHeron) August 9, 2021

The IPCC report doesn't say it can't be stopped. It says some changes can't be stopped but a fuck tonne of others can.

This is what climate denialism looks like now.https://t.co/ZopeyTsZID

— libcom.org (@libcomorg) August 9, 2021

the first part is right.

this is not what climate denialism looks like now

also fuck the new york times

I think it's good to widen the definition of climate denialism beyond cranks.

To say this is locked in now is assuring nothing will be done.

not picking on you, just an honest q/thought: what good does it do to determine who is the "denialist"? i say this as someone who has used the term "climate denier/denialist" on this thread a million times. but broaden it, narrow it - what good does it do? what good has it done?

don't mistake me for someone who is like "oh please we have to be polite we have to be nice to each other so that we can convince the dumbasses of the world to change their ways" - that was me earlier on this thread, maybe me in the future. but right now - who the fuck cares? they do not care. the deniers. they take that shit as a badge of honor

But the ppl who read and nod at the NY times might care, and I think that's the point for me. Climate denialism shouldn't just be a sole terrain of the cranks. Denialism is misinformation, it is to say that all is lost, like that headline.

Disgraceful and dangerous headline - the vast majority of humanity had no say in any of this https://t.co/RYDqvhgRHm

— Rory Scothorne (@shirkerism) August 9, 2021