Climate scientists: It’s basically too late to stop warming

[marmar]

from Grist:



If you like cool weather and not having to club your neighbors as you battle for scarce resources, now’s the time to move to Canada, because the story of the 21st century is almost written, reports Reuters. Global warming is close to being irreversible, and in some cases that ship has already sailed.

Scientists have been saying for a while that we have until between 2015 and 2020 to start radically reducing our carbon emissions, and what do you know: That deadline’s almost past! Crazy how these things sneak up on you while you’re squabbling about whether global warming is a religion. Also, our science got better in the meantime, so now we know that no matter what we do, we can say adios to the planet’s ice caps.

For ice sheets — huge refrigerators that slow down the warming of the planet — the tipping point has probably already been passed, Steffen said. The West Antarctic ice sheet has shrunk over the last decade and the Greenland ice sheet has lost around 200 cubic km (48 cubic miles) a year since the 1990s.

Here’s what happens next: Natural climate feedbacks will take over and, on top of our prodigious human-caused carbon emissions, send us over an irreversible tipping point. By 2100, the planet will be hotter than it’s been since the time of the dinosaurs, and everyone who lives in red states will pretty much get the apocalypse they’ve been hoping for. The subtropics will expand northward, the bottom half of the U.S. will turn into an inhospitable desert, and everyone who lives there will be drinking recycled pee and struggling to salvage something from an economy wrecked by the destruction of agriculture, industry, and electrical power production. ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://grist.org/list/climate-scientists-its-basically-too-late-to-stop-warming/

[Uncle Joe]

1. It makes no difference whether it's too late or not, the attempt must be made.

Thanks for the thread, marmar.

[redqueen]

3. Yep, we have to make every effort

for whatever it's worth.

[Uncle Joe]

4. Yep, I believe it will be worth much more than if we just give up.

Last edited Tue Mar 27, 2012, 04:58 PM - Edit history (1)

Giving up would insure that Earth becomes more like Venus, in which case no one will survive, not even the Canadians.

Earth has roughly the same amount of carbon as Venus but our carbon is buried and with Venus it's in the atmosphere.

I also believe some of those people (not necessarily the author in this case) were on the denial side yesterday and this is just their latest change of tactics to stall or fight against weaning ourselves away from fossil fuels.

Furthermore our technological advancement isn't fixed and what may seem improbable today will be far more likely to be brought to fruition a few decades from now.

We may not be able to stop global warming climate change from occurring but we may able to reduce or alleviate its' most extreme effects, which could make a world of difference.

[DLevine]

2. Scary stuff. And so many people with their heads in the sand. n/t

[raouldukelives]

5. We can invest our way out of this!

Increase stock holdings now! Max out that 401k! All hail the invisible hand!

[saras]

6. Followed the links to the SciAm article - the comments are depressingly dumb

There's a reason for my sig line, and the comments there exemplify it really well.

It's one thing to not know the science, and to understand that you have to put together a provisional view from competing scientific positions and a changing database.

It's quite another to not even know that you don't know the science, and to think that someone's soundbite opinion is its intellectual equal.

[gratuitous]

7. And . . . welcome to the next phase

"Sure we wasted all that time arguing over the obvious, but now it's too late to do anything, so don't even try. Better luck with the next planet." I hear the same argument every time I object to the course our country is taking. "Oh, it's not as bad as all that." Followed by, "Okay, it's pretty bad. Why didn't you say something sooner." And then the coup de grace, "Well, it's too late to do anything about it now."

It's getting fucking depressing, and I've about run out of patience with the first two phases. I'm going to keep working and advocating for simpler, less wasteful lifestyles. I'm going to keep reminding people what the Constitution says about torture, summary executions, and due process, and that those concepts are binding on everyone. I'm going to keep working for a country and a government the serves all its citizens, and not just the ones who can buy access to the levers of power. So the people inclined to tell me that it's not all that bad or wonder why I didn't say something sooner are invited to just belt up.

[KurtNYC]

8. Where are the models showing what regions of the world will be most habitable in 15 years?

I have to think they exist but can't seem to find any online. 'Canada' seems like a simplistic idea and may not be correct. The Chinese logged their journeys in the 1400s and they reported that northern Canada was a navigable passage between the Pacific and Atlantic and this will soon be true again. So other conditions they reported may be recur but I would rather go with a modern model.

[Marr]

9. You can bet this will be the new line from the oil companies soon.

1. There's no climate change.
2. Okay, there's climate change, but it isn't caused by man.
3. Okay, so it was and we knew it, but it's too late to do anything about it. Suckers.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

10. meanwhile, people keep pumping out babies...Human Population is the critical factor

it doesn't matter how careful we try to be about our carbon footprint.....there is just no making up for the sheer numbers of us, each individual demanding their share of resources.

and, maybe some people are scrupulous in everything, but the fact is, most people are only minimally "green".

Not to mention all the industries that serve the insatiable needs of our ever expanding numbers.



"Plants and animals die to make room for your little bundles of joy"

[raccoon]

13. People in the first world overconsuming is the other half of the critical factor. nt

[opihimoimoi]

11. Cheer up me Laddies....20 12 is the year of Change...from Neg To Pos....tis the answer.

Think Positive

[truebrit71]

12. Well, yeah, and stuff....never mind this "by the end of the century" stuff....

...we are fucked NOW....we cannot "roll it back", we can only lessen the impact...Experts have said that the Arctic could be ice-free during the summer by 2030 or so...I am betting that it will be ice-free in the summer THIS decade...

We are past the tipping point, and even as REAL climate change becomes more and more apparent our politicians STILL won't do enough to stop it...

The planet will heal...but only after the human infestation has been taken care of...and at the rate that we're warming, that will be sooner rather than later..

[raccoon]

14. "The ice caps are melting, the whole world is drowning." Tiny Tim used to sing this cheery little

song.

[MadHound]

15. D'uh,

It has always been in the cards for us to suffer the full impact of global climate change. We really should have started going on a crash program back in the '70's when this issue first was discovered, but instead we ignored it hoping it would go away. Worse, once we did acknowledge it, we left the solution in the hands of politicians and corporations, and neither group is known for their long term thinking skills.

At this point it is probably time for people to start thinking for themselves. Figure out how to collect water, grow food, etc. etc. Because the government isn't going to come to the rescue and corporations are going to suck this planet dry.

[NickB79]

16. Makes me think those people on "Doomsday Preppers" are right

A stockpile of guns and ammo, non-GM/non-hybrid vegetable seeds, an orchard, a water source, a flock of chickens, a woodlot for fuel, all sound like smart moves at this point in time.

[mainer]

17. Northern farmlands will be more valuable

I'm thinking that up here in Maine, we're sitting in the future catbird's seat. At least we can grow our own food while those down south will be sweltering in the new Sahara desert.

[dixiegrrrrl]

18. Well, on the bright side...

the horrible humidity problem down here will be solved!

[BlueIris]

19. Awful. nt