this post was submitted on 26 Jun 2024
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Climate - truthful information about climate, related activism and politics.

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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.

Recommended actions to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the near future:

Anti-science, inactivism, and unsupported conspiracy theories are not ok here.

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Are we still rapidly backsliding on climate issues? Then don't wonder why "no one knows about how much Biden is helping the issue." I, like I'd imagine most people, have little interest in hearing about his "wins," be they climate, economic, etc, if all they amount to is "I helped make a worsening problem worsen slower!" That's not news, that's just a reminder of how pathetic the better of two evils is. If he actually does something substantial enough to improve even one of the many giant problems the country/world currently faces, everyone will know about it because it will visibly change the communities that we live in, and directly affect our day-to-day lives. The time for incremental change was the 20th century; we've kicked the can down the road for so long it landed in "go big or go home" territory.

To be clear, I'm going to vote Biden in November because the alternatives are all so much worse, but damn, that's not something to celebrate.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago (1 children)

No, the US is not "rapidly backsliding" — it seems to be moving in the right direction, if not yet quickly enough.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Every climate scientist crunching the numbers right now is freaking out behind semi-closed doors because they're worried that if the media starts running with the story that "thanks to a series of feedback loops the climate may already be fucked beyond hope of ever returning to normal, and at this point the best we can do is try to minimize the damage but even that will require completely upending the status quo," everyone will give up on climate/environmental action entirely, so the public instead is fed an alternating diet of toned-down warnings and positive news about microscopic improvements to maintain a general sense of hope.

If that's "moving in the right direction," we deserve our demise.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The point where things stop getting worse is the point where we've fully succeeded in getting off fossil fuels, ended deforestation, and phased out use of a few industrial gases and refrigerants. That's something like the end stage of action, not the messy middle where we are now. If we succeed, we'll get there in about 25 years.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

Even if we fully stopped emitting net CO2 today, the climate will continue warming in 25 years. All the methane and CO2 we've already emitted will continue to warm the climate.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago

First, they are big wins. You can't change the world on a dime.

Second, it doesn't help when we have to start anew every sixteen years.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Voters don’t know it because mainstream media is working overtime to suppress any good news for Biden and give megaphones to conservative traitors

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

If it bleeds it leads. If it's green, does it exist?

We need a new phrase along the line if a tree falls in a forest. If it's green and no one is there to care, does it exist?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

I think it's a combination of:

  • Voters who believe climate change is a hoax so trying to claim victory here might not give returns, so it's better to do it quietly
  • Voters who believe climate change is real are going to be looking at this as not enough action given what the IPCC is saying

So this spate of legislation is tepid for both sides, so it doesn't really "make" news. As far as Fox & other right wing media, going into the detail of climate change just hurts their message because no one can look at detail and not immediately realise that there's "something to this climate change mumbo jumbo", so covering this is actually toxic for them. They are better off sticking to the top-level "it's a hoax they want to kill your babies" or whatever.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

More than just climate. Huge infrastructure acts that are helping rebuild our our states. Helping us add stuff like protected bike lanes, too. Capping prescription costs, which is huge.

Massive investments in our economy and R&D, something we have been sorely lacking.

Some queer rights and even some small but humanizing stuff, like letting bi and gay men donate blood like the rest of humanity, and making the bar safer for everyone.

In addition to all the other stuff, like stopping the pandemic, pulling the economy out of a nosedive under Trump, reversing schedule F (think Trump's version of Order 66) for federal employees who actually keep the lights on and the country going between multiple presidents, forgiving tons of student loans, and curtailing the damage from abortion being revoked where he can.

Not to mention his accomplishments on background checks for guns, pardoning federal Marijuana offenses, and slapping the dogshit out of Russia via our friends and allies. ❤️


Edit: Damn, there's actually a list of accomplishments. He's done a lot of good shit even if he's kind of a bad public speaker.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/therecord/

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 months ago (1 children)

when the anti-climate garbage is freely available and shouted everywhere and the pro-climate information is buried by corporate media or hidden behind a paywall …

[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 months ago (1 children)

There's a reason I'm pretty aggressive about sharing gift links

[–] [email protected] -1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Why don't you find a better source instead of one that paywalls. There are actually plenty.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

Because a lot of the coverage is only done by news sources that you pay for. I'm actually not sharing a LOT because it's in publications that don't gift link.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Did I miss something in this article or is there no mention of what the author says Biden is doing well?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Which should be in the article instead of just being critical of others.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

I absolutely agree.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (16 children)

I think voters know and don't care because he's supporting a genocide. Its the elephant in the room and there is just no amount of whataboutism that will overcome it. The Venn-diagram of people for whom climate (or any progressive issue really) is a priority, but also not mindlessly slaughtering a people, is basically a circle.

No good thing that Biden has ever done matters so long as he's complicity supporting the genocide of the Palestinian people.

Joe's road to winning this election is very simple. Cut off aid to Israel and put 100% of the blame on Bibi. Make him your fall guy and then about-face on this issue and pressure the Israeli government into calling snap elections.

Boom. 5 days later and Biden will be polling at 55% and he can actually take advantage all of the "great things" he's done, which currently stand irrelevant because of the 9000 lb gorilla in the room which is a functionally pro-genocide stance. A worthless pier; air drops; sternly worded letters: they are irrelevant when the President has the tools to have stopped this from day 0 and he continually refuses to use them. This war is hurting the Israeli and Jewish people. Jews are less safe globally then ever before explicitly because of how Israel has engaged in this conflict.

The question at this point is who does the president work for? Does he work for the American people or the Israeli government?

[–] [email protected] -3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Palestine can't live forever if the middle east is too hot and dry to support human life. If what this article says about Biden's climate wins is true, then he will have done more for Palestine than any previous POTUS. Which is still next to fuck all, but I would consider it a bigger deal than his participation in the current genocide. We are talking about genocide of one human ethnicity versus genocide of all human ethnicities including the first one. There's no contest. And yeah, it would be very easy for Biden to genocide zero ethnicities, but I'm not Biden so I don't get to make that choice. I only get to choose Biden or Trump.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (2 children)

What you just communicated, is one of the most psychologically damaged things I've ever seen communicated on social media.

We are talking about genocide of one human ethnicity versus genocide of all human ethnicities including the first one

What in the chicken fried fuck are you talking about.

it would be very easy for Biden to genocide zero ethnicities, but I’m not Biden so I don’t get to make that choice. I only get to choose Biden or Trump.

You are just pro-genocide dude. You are parroting what the Nazis parroted in their genocide of the Jews. That its good for them. That its better this way. You've lost your god damned mind and need to seek real professional help.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Yup, people who argue that Biden shouldn't be criticised for his genocide because "Trump is worse" are just doing genocide denial.

Even if you take the stance that he has to beat Trump to prevent an even worse climate disaster, his genocide might stop him beating Trump. He is choosing genocide and supporting fascism overseas rather than beating fascism at home.

People go on about how much we need to beat Trump but I'm pretty convinced that Biden and the DNC don't really want to beat Trump.

That's also why threatening to not vote Biden is useless - he won't care. Vote for him and force him to spend another 4 years disappointing and radicalising his own base against the US empire.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

People go on about how much we need to beat Trump but I’m pretty convinced that Biden and the DNC don’t really want to beat Trump.

If beating Trump was the priority, you don't run Biden as a candidate.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

It's so obviously true but libs can't accept it so they just come with the downvotes.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

Oh I don't worry about these narcissistic, scared, desperate haters.

They've relegated themselves to the dustbin of history with the fact that their world view is unable to accurately predict future states of the world.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Are you saying I have a mental illness because I disagree with you on politics?

[–] [email protected] -2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

There is a line where something ceases to be a difference in politics and becomes a person advocating for and justifying the eradication of a people.

That's you.

Your on the other side of that line.

Its no longer a difference of politics but a question of if you regard other humans as humans or not. and your on the wrong side of that answer. And like with the "paradox of tolerance", if you aren't willing to accept the humanity of other people being inherently valuable, no one should be obligated to treat yours as much. In other words, if you can't accept the humanity of another people and this genocide is "justified" to you, no one is obligated to respect you as a human, because you've betrayed that social contract.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 4 months ago

I didn't accept the genocide of Palestinians. In fact, I'm trying to stop the West Bank from being bombed as well. And you're not.

Also you didn't answer my question. Are you saying I have a mental illness?

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Probaly as one right dont fix 12 wrongs. And people dont want to hear about it, as if you look closely its like pissing in the ocean (It does not add much)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

We cannot allow perfect to be the enemy of good. Governments move slowly, especially the US, so moving the needle a little bit this year will let us move it a little more next year. Gradually, funding environmental progress becomes more and more normal, and greater and greater actions to deal with climate change become acceptable. All great accomplishments started with a proverbial "pissing in the ocean" if you look back far enough in their development.

Let's also be clear that the only alternative to Biden that exists, for the 2024 US election, under the current US voting system, would be far worse than Biden in every environmental category. It's important to push back on the bad, but it's even more important to promote the good work done by his administration, no matter how small of a good we think it is in the moment. If all we do is gripe about the bad, we're helping every wealthy oligarch that wants us to think of governments as impotent and useless while they burn the planet to the ground.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

I totally agree, this is just my thoughts on why. I vibe on the sunny side of the pond, but we are terrified to what donald can do to foreign policies- we are not yet prepared to handle our security our selves

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

If Biden so good at environment, then why come ocean so hot?

QED Checkmate nerds we all gon die

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Basically: the US isn't the only country in the world, the things he's doing are going to cut emissions in the long run, but only making a modest difference as yet, and CO2 accumulates over time

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

This is bad news...

For Biden.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

Sure he's got climate wins, but some of the wins are questionable, like giant hydrogen hubs. Hydrogen sounds great on the surface, but the more you dig into it, the more issues crop up. Some of these hubs will end up producing hydrogen by burning fossil fuels, and that isn't a win at all. And speaking of not winning, we are producing more oil and natural gas than ever before. That's why we aren't excited about his "Climate Wins", they are offset if not overcome by losses.

Having said that, regarding the Climate, pollution, and everything related, Trump is the worst choice. He's already promised Carte Blanche to oil execs if they donate to his campaign. (Not in those words of course, simpler, more incoherent ones.)

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago

There are a lot of Russian and Chinese bots filling people feeds with anti-Biden content and pro-Trump content

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