Climate Change

[Irrev-Black]

Just another interesting way in which it's bad, in a climatic sense, to be Down Under.

https://eos.org/articles/global-water-l ... hemisphere

[stylofone]

Just another interesting way in which it's bad, in a climatic sense, to be Down Under.

I marvel at the inaction on climate change despite the disasters, especially this year, and I speculate that only a truly apocalyptic event will shake everyone out of their torpor. Unfortunately, if it happens in the southern hemisphere, it probably won't be enough, because from Washington, Beijing, Brussels etc. it will still seem remote. We could have a bushfire season triple the intensity of Black Summer, and half the country dying of thirst and they still wouldn't want to even mention the phasing out of fossil fuels.

[Irrev-Black]

Our only hope is that the change is fast enough to avert catastrophe

It's got to the point where I don't believe we can avert catastrophe. There are two kinds of change going on, the one you refer to where the fantastic new renewable technology is going to overwhelm the fossil fuel dinosaurs, Nokia style.

The other one is the change to the climate itself, and the growing probability that it will wipe out a large part of the earth's human population and habitat and cause a collapse in large-scale industrial society, including the
energy transition industry.

Since COVID and the frightening climate effects of 2023, I'm expecting the latter. I used to be all "rah rah rah, renewables, solar, energy transition". I still love all that technology, I just don't think it's going to work and it just ends up being a distraction, therefore part of the problem. Even the climate protesters out on the street holding up placards saying "Renewables Now" don't get it. They need new slogans, some way of selling the idea of energy austerity, a concept which is antithetical to our system of economic growth, competition, personal wealth, consumerism, prosperity. "Energy Austerity". "Live SImply". "Degrowth". "Consume Less". Something like that.

It would also be good to have a new manufacturing standard which would create products which last 100 years or more, so you buy a washing machine or whatever, and you pass it on to your children and grandchildren. I don't know of any manufacturers with that philosophy. It will have to be done by someone outside the capitalist system. Even the government won't do it because governments are now chained to capitalism and growth.

Somebody say "degrowth"?

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-04412-x

[Irrev-Black]

Poop may meet fan sooner than previously estimated.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-023-01157-x

[Irrev-Black]

And our flood-related house insurance premiums just increased by over 30%...

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-n ... ld-weather

[stylofone]

Have a look at the sea surface temperature graph for the first week of the year, compared to all the other years, including the record-breaker of 2023. It looks like another one of those scary bonkers observations, way above anything else before it.

c6039e5e69659b6d.jpeg (201.52 KiB) Viewed 935 times

https://climatereanalyzer.org/clim/sst_daily/

[pipbarber]

1.5 by 2100? James Hansen has a laugh.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... ate-change

Even the optimists think late 2020s, or the really hopefuls, 2030s. But i'm sure the next COP will definitely predict 2100 for 1.5, so no worries.

[stylofone]

1.5 by 2100? James Hansen has a laugh.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... ate-change

Even the optimists think late 2020s, or the really hopefuls, 2030s. But i'm sure the next COP will definitely predict 2100 for 1.5, so no worries.

His choice of words, specifically "a load of bullshit" is admirable.

“Passing through the 1.5C world is a significant milestone because it shows that the story being told by the United Nations, with the acquiescence of its scientific advisory body, the IPCC, is a load of bullshit,” Hansen said.

[Irrev-Black]

Magistrate labels Newcastle climate protesters as "valuable contributors to society, persons who are intelligent ... and making a real contribution to society".

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-11/ ... /103308308

[stylofone]

I love the idea of electric cars and I enjoy seeing their market share increase. But I'm posting this in the climate change thread because the article shows sales of ICE vehicles grew by 6% last year. I'd also be curious to know the fuel consumption of those extra gas guzzlers, given the trend to monster trucks and SUVs. In addition to that, all the EVs sold also have a big carbon footprint. They don't add to that footprint by burning fossil fuel, but they are still one of the biggest industrial consumer items, and we have to burn a lot of coal to make them. So they are part of the problem, albeit a smaller part. And all of this comes in the hottest year on record.

But the slow rise of EVs will be seen as good news because it makes the problem worse at a slightly slower rate. I see it as bad news because there are more ICE cars than ever and the EVs on top of it also have high emissions in their manufacturing.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal ... 5ewkr.html