this post was submitted on 08 Sep 2024
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Discussion of climate, how it is changing, activism around that, the politics, and the energy systems change we need in order to stabilize things.

As a starting point, the burning of fossil fuels, and to a lesser extent deforestation and release of methane are responsible for the warming in recent decades: Graph of temperature as observed with significant warming, and simulated without added greenhouse gases and other anthropogentic changes, which shows no significant warming

How much each change to the atmosphere has warmed the world: IPCC AR6 Figure 2 - Thee bar charts: first chart: how much each gas has warmed the world.  About 1C of total warming.  Second chart:  about 1.5C of total warming from well-mixed greenhouse gases, offset by 0.4C of cooling from aerosols and negligible influence from changes to solar output, volcanoes, and internal variability.  Third chart: about 1.25C of warming from CO2, 0.5C from methane, and a bunch more in small quantities from other gases.  About 0.5C of cooling with large error bars from SO2.

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I imagine there are many US people living in places with 100+ degree days for months in a row -- Places which seldom got above 90 a half-century ago ... who do not understand that driving a car with AC to a home with AC is making matters worse.

The situation is urgent, yet we keep hearing 2060 2050 2040 2030 deadlines as if a fix could somehow be delivered by then . BUT: If we got to zero -tomorrow- , it'd stay as it already is for centuries. Every day without HUGE changes NOW it's getting worse.

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[–] [email protected] 68 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Instead, they attribute the most blame to businesses and governments of wealthy countries.

They are not. fucking. wrong.

Don't misunderstand me, do what you can yourself, because every little bit helps, and absolutely boycott them if you can...

but never forget "your personal carbon footprint" was a BP invention.

Until the big polluters are held to account, nothing you or I could do, even combined, will move the needle.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 2 months ago

Yep. Pieces like this, while containing a kernel of truth about the imbalance of living conditions and the carbon footprints thereof, are actually more or less just sneaky pieces to get citizens angry at each other, and that’s a lot easier to pull off successfully if you point the finger across a national border.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago (3 children)

It’s a chicken and the egg problem. Most those companies would run out of buisness if the large majority of consumers made green choices.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

those consumers often can't make choices due to being coerced by their economic circumstances

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Very true. As someone on 8k a year, I can very much relate.

However, people making enough money too have no excuse.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

Yeah... That's not going to work, because it turns out people will in fact pay a premium for green choices

Which sounds great, except it's a lot cheaper to lie and misdirect than to be green

And you have to be real, companies will do anything before producing less. Like plastics - the companies making them won't make less plastic just because we stop using straws - they'll pivot. They'll make them cheaper, ship them further, or cut back the straws to make more disposable cups - the only way they're cutting back on plastic is if the same processes and machinery can make a biodegradable version, if the government forces them, or if they shut down in whole or in part

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

Kill the snake first, deal with the hatchlings later.