Obligatory Climate Change Thread or Are We Fucked?

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Can we stop global warming before it is too late?

Yes, optimistic that we can
2
20%
No, pessimistic that we can't
6
60%
The universe is indifferent to our suffering, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
1
10%
yolo, sounds like a grandchildren kind of problem lol!
1
10%
 
Total votes: 10

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Shell accused of strategy risking catastrophic climate change
"Royal Dutch Shell has been accused of pursuing a strategy that would lead to potentially catastrophic climate change after an internal document acknowledged a global temperature rise of 4C, twice the level considered safe for the planet.

A paper used for guiding future business planning at the Anglo-Dutch multinational assumes that carbon dioxide emissions will fail to limit temperature increases to 2C, the internationally agreed threshold to prevent widespread flooding, famine and desertification.

Instead, the New Lens Scenarios document refers to a forecast by the independent International Energy Agency (IEA) that points to a temperature rise of up to 4C in the short term, rising later to 6C."

With 4 to 6 C of warming, I'm not sure how civilization would persist. That would be about the same amount the lead to the Permian mass extinction, which extinguished 95% of all life on Earth.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/ ... ate-change

inb4 Cooper:

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Who knew our end will come thanks to Shell.

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Yeah we're fucked.

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dealwithit wrote:
And I thought it couldn't get worse than evolution.

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It's not like people hadn't looked into this issue decades ago and tried to warn us or anything. Now it's probably too late to prevent the worst kinds of natural disasters from occurring but hey at least we got to buy and waste a lot of unnecessary stuff whilst expoiting the planet's resources at a record pace just so a few guys could make a lot of money. What future generations?

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We'll adapt and become super mutants

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Batfan175 wrote:It's not like people hadn't looked into this issue decades ago and tried to warn us or anything.
Wait... wasn't it all a huge conspiracy?

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Why is this thread dead tho
It's more relevant than ever

Some recent news:
United States Spend Ten Times More On Fossil Fuel Subsidies Than Education
Despite nations worldwide committing to a reduction in carbon emissions and implementing renewable energy through the Paris Agreement, the IMF’s findings expose how fossil fuels continue to receive huge amounts of taxpayer funding. The report explains that fossil fuels account for 85% of all global subsidies and that they remain largely attached to domestic policy. Had nations reduced subsidies in a way to create efficient fossil fuel pricing in 2015, the International Monetary Fund believes that it “would have lowered global carbon emissions by 28 percent and fossil fuel air pollution deaths by 46 percent, and increased government revenue by 3.8 percent of GDP.”
Study shows that Trump’s new “Affordable Clean Energy” rule will lead to more CO2 emissions, not fewer
According to the study’s authors, that’s the result of a “rebound phenomenon”: Thanks to the efficiency improvements anticipated by the ACE plan, coal plants will operate more frequently, and for longer periods of time. That, in turn, will lead to increased CO2 emissions by 2050 compared to what would happen if there were no rule in place at all.
Scientists amazed as Canadian permafrost thaws 70 years early
“What we saw was amazing,” Vladimir E. Romanovsky, a professor of geophysics at the university, told Reuters by telephone. “It’s an indication that the climate is now warmer than at any time in the last 5,000 or more years.”
Ice-Free Arctic Summers Could Happen on Early Side of Predictions
The climate model used in the new study predicts an ice-free Arctic summer sometime between 2030 and 2050, if greenhouse gases continue to rise.
By accounting for a long-term warming phase in the tropical Pacific, the new research shows an ice-free Arctic is more likely to occur on the earlier side of that window, closer to 2030 than 2050.
Heat to smash records every year across vast swathes of Earth
Using 22 climate models, Scott Power and François Delage at the Australian Bureau of Meteorology in Melbourne analysed the rate at which monthly temperatures are likely to reach unprecedented levels over the course of the twenty-first century. They found that if emissions continue to rise rapidly, around 58% of Earth’s surface will experience record temperatures every year.
The global transition to clean energy, explained in 12 charts
Before we get started, a few background facts.

First, we’re still moving in the wrong direction. Global carbon emissions aren’t falling fast enough. In fact, they aren’t falling at all; they were up 1.7 percent in 2018.

Second, we’re still pushing in the wrong direction. Globally, subsidies to fossil fuels were up 11 percent between 2016 and 2017, reaching $300 billion a year.

And third, the effort to clean up is flagging. Total investment in renewable energy (not including hydropower) was $288.9 billion in 2018 — less than fossil fuel subsidies and an 11 percent decrease from 2017.

This is all bad news. The public seems to have the impression that while things are bad, they are finally accelerating toward something better. It’s not true. Collectively, we haven’t even succeeded in reversing direction yet. Despite all the progress described below, we’re still struggling to get ahold of the emergency brake.
Human Civilization Isn't Prepared to Survive Climate Change
And the costs are high indeed. The research Spratt and Dunlop have compiled makes the case that in its most extreme, climate change is "a path to the end of human civilization and modern society as we know it." Understanding just how high the stakes really are, Spratt argues, is absolutely necessary if we're going to take the issue seriously and try to avoid the worst possible outcomes.
We Have Five Years To Save Ourselves From Climate Change, Harvard Scientist Says
People have the misapprehension that we can recover from this state just by reducing carbon emissions, Anderson said in an appearance at the University of Chicago. Recovery is all but impossible, he argued, without a World War II-style transformation of industry—an acceleration of the effort to halt carbon pollution and remove it from the atmosphere, and a new effort to reflect sunlight away from the earth's poles.

This has do be done, Anderson added, within the next five years.
Planet is entering ‘new climate regime’ with ‘extraordinary’ heat waves intensified by global warming, study says
The study’s modeling analysis, conducted by researchers in Switzerland and the United Kingdom, found heat events like last summer’s do “not occur in historical simulations” and “were unprecedented prior to 2010.”

As the climate warms, the study projects that the area affected by heat waves like last summer’s will increase 16 percent for every 1.8 degrees (1 Celsius) of warming.
Chennai water crisis: City's reservoirs run dry
Residents have had to stand in line for hours to get water from government tanks, and restaurants have closed due to the lack of water.

"Only rain can save Chennai from this situation," an official told BBC Tamil.

The city, which, according to the 2011 census, is India's sixth largest, has been in the grip of a severe water shortage for weeks now.
Day Zero in India Looming For Millions
But in India, “Day Zero” has already arrived for over 100 million people, thanks to excessive groundwater pumping, an inefficient and wasteful water supply system and years of deficient rains. “Day Zero” is expected to arrive for millions more in India by 2020, when groundwater supplies are predicted to run out for 100 million people in the northern half of India.
More than 500 arrested after protests and clashes as India water crisis worsens
At least 550 people were arrested Wednesday in the city of Coimbatore for protesting with empty water containers in front of the municipal government's headquarters, accusing officials of negligence and mismanagement. Meanwhile, four reservoirs that supply Chennai, the state capital and India's sixth largest city, have run nearly dry.

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RIFA wrote:
November 9th, 2015, 9:34 pm
Batfan175 wrote:It's not like people hadn't looked into this issue decades ago and tried to warn us or anything.
Wait... wasn't it all a huge conspiracy?

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