Too late to save the climate?

[Brenda]

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2023
https://arctic-news.blogspot.com/

Whether anything can be done by humans to arrest or reverse global warming and its consequences for the habitability of planet Earth remains an open question, for which neither climate science nor the ignorant hordes of politicians and economists, oblivious to the basic laws of physics, have the answer. However, it is likely that over the next centuries or longer the flow of cold water from the melting of the Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets will lead to a transient slowdown of the rate of warming before the large ice sheets are exhausted.

~~within the above paragraph is a link to NOAA that I can't seem to embed so I'll link it here:

https://www.climate.gov/news-features/climate-qa/can-we-slow-or-even-reverse-global-warming#:~:text=While%20we%20cannot%20stop%20global

Can we slow or even reverse global warming?

BY DAVID HERRING AND REBECCA LINDSEY
PUBLISHED OCTOBER 12, 2022

Climate Q&A
Yes. While we cannot stop global warming overnight, we can slow the rate and limit the amount of global warming by reducing human emissions of heat-trapping gases and soot (“black carbon”).

If all human emissions of heat-trapping gases were to stop today, Earth’s temperature would continue to rise for a few decades as ocean currents bring excess heat stored in the deep ocean back to the surface. Once this excess heat radiated out to space, Earth’s temperature would stabilize. Experts think the additional warming from this “hidden” heat are unlikely to exceed 0.9° Fahrenheit (0.5°Celsius). With no further human influence, natural processes would begin to slowly remove the excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and global temperatures would gradually begin to decline.

Having ignored climate science, dismissed climate scientists and repeatedly confected untruths, while global heating accelerates with deleterious consequences, Homo “sapiens” finds itself on track toward carbon poisoning of the atmosphere, the lungs of the inhabitable Earth, acidification of the hydrosphere and coating of the land with carbon and plastics.

I'm almost shocked on a daily basis by how few people take this seriously. It really feels like I'm living in a Twilight Zone episode where I'm the one who is hallucinating something awful and the real world is doing just fine. Nope. The masses are in complete denial of this climate disaster because, well, because of a few things: it hasn't hit them yet physically or economically but that window is narrowing, the mass media ignores it, the freaking weather channel downplays it and of course as we all know the billionaire powers that be who run countries as well as corporations don't want people to know the truth.

With no further human influence, natural processes would begin to slowly remove the excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and global temperatures would gradually begin to decline. ~~ Yep with no humans around doing horrible shit other life will move on.

[2naSalit]

1. Probably...

But even IF there was something we, as an entire species, could do to save ourselves, we won't do it.

[Brenda]

2. Probably because of one of two things:

1. There is a flaw in human dna that allows psychos to gain all power and ruin everything
or
2. Something or someone other than human is making this situation happen, like alien terraforming.

I know I'll get mocked, but it fits the bill.

[SarahD]

4. You might be closer than you know

Some genetics researchers propose that the DNA simply uses us to win, to out-compete other DNA. The idea is that we have little free will and are driven to do all sorts of questionable things by our genetic coding.

[SarahD]

3. I'm not worried

After a while, the intolerable climate, rising water, crop failures, etc. will kill most of us. Once relieved of this destructive species, the planet will recover.

[Think. Again.]

5. Thank you for posting this...

It seems to me that the main driver of our continued CO2 production and release is the crazy amount of excess wealth being generated for a handful of fossil fuel shareholders.

They are refusing to shut off that gushing pipeline of money, even though it's more than they could ever use, and they are using a lot of that money to stop efforts to transition away from fossil fuels.

I don't believe it's humanity in general that is unwilling to do the right thing, the majority DO want to stop climate chaos.

But unfortunately, the same wealth that is made from fossil fuels is also being used to keep that wealth pipeline flowing.

[Brenda]

6. Yes, I didn't mean to imply "all humans."

By psychos with bad DNA, I'm referring to all those billionaires and those in power who have the ability to control the rest of us (regardless of their political party or toothless efforts or distracting actions) who clearly will. not. stop.

It really is evil if you think about it. They KNOW what is happening. They KNOW they are going to cause millions of deaths in the near future and untold devastation to the natural world, all other life on Earth and probably collapse of civilization as we know it. But their greedy needs won't change. In fact I often see the tactic of blaming "all humans" who use a computer or smart phone or drive a car as being responsible for this situation. As if the USA isn't fucking built for cars almost exclusively. The whole system is designed so the masses have no real choice and they KNOW that but they enjoy passing the blame onto us, trying to make us feel guilty for their psychotic ways.

What's hard to comprehend for me, is that while they have a lack of true empathy and compassion and, well, humanity, many if not most have kids and grandkids. So I guess they don't care about their lives either. And who wants to live on an island with the rest of the world on fire and the water rising?

As usual you nailed it T.A.

Despite this post, happy holidays!

[Think. Again.]

7. You're spot on....

...I agree with everything you've said.

Thanks again for posting this.

Happy Holidays to you too!

[NickB79]

8. The last time we had this much GHG in the atmosphere, seas were 50' higher

And trees grew in Antarctica and the Arctic (14 million years ago)

Paleoclimate evidence shows this will happen again. There's a lag time between carbon emissions and temperature increases, the same way you don't instantly hit 60 mph when you stomp the gas pedal. The atmosphere is still shifting gears, the rpm's still climbing.

Even if all human carbon emissions stopped tomorrow (they won't), the positive feedbacks from burning forests and thawing permafrost would keep GHG levels rising for the remainder of the 21st century. Just one example: we've likely passed the tipping point that keeps the Amazon wet enough to survive. If we have, it means most of the Amazon will dry up, die and burn into grasslands by 2100, venting billions of tons of carbon. Now look at what happened in Canada's forests last summer, or Siberian forests in previous years.

Left to it's own devices, it would take Nature 100,000 yr or more to sequester enough carbon to return us to preindustrial levels, based on paleoclimate data from previous carbon spikes like the PETM.

Only a few decades of additional warming locked in is utter magical thinking.

[Delphinus]

9. Magical thinking

That is humanity's bane, isn't it?