this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2023
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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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The world just got its first real taste of what life is like at 1.5 degrees Celsius (wapo.st)
submitted 1 year ago by silence7@slrpnk.net to c/climate@slrpnk.net
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[–] silence7@slrpnk.net 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don't really see the optimism that you do:

Some workings of the climate system currently — the record-low Antarctic sea ice, for example — are true anomalies that scientists can’t yet currently explain. But most are just what we would expect from a world that has continued to burn fossil fuels. While some developed countries have cut back on the use of coal, oil, and gas, global emissions have only plateaued. And unless global emissions reach zero, the planet will continue to warm.

That's pretty clear about where we're at and what the choice we have is.

[–] empiricism@sustainability.masto.host 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

@silence7 @Codilingus

There are various levels of climate optimism. E.g., From most to least optimistic.

  1. Being rich & truly believing that climate change is a ridiculous belief & God will make them see the light eventually (i.e., oh happy days & rejoice the cumming of the lord!)

  2. Being rich, knowing that climate change needs dealing with, but, the clever tech guys have it sorted.

  3. Being rich, knowing that climate change will be a disaster, but, what the hell, right now I am rich.

[–] empiricism@sustainability.masto.host 2 points 1 year ago

@silence7 @Codilingus

  1. Not related to money. Being concerned about climate change, but not relatively that informed about the science (e.g., ecology). Truly believing that the industries & politicians are dealing with the problems (because they say they're)

  2. Being concerned & informed of the evidence. Understanding the general problems such as greenwashing governments & industries (AKA corruption). But, thinking that the effects of climate change will make people see sense.

  3. Doom!

[–] silence7@slrpnk.net 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Or... realizing that it's possible to limit the damage and taking action to make that happen. It's pretty clear that the article recognizes that it's possible.

[–] empiricism@sustainability.masto.host 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

@silence7

It's actually as possible as - the majority of people understanding how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (AKA not burning fossil fuels, not eating meat - NOT greenwashed) & wanting to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (in a democracy, that should do the "trick")

One person could only choose to reduce a tiny fraction of their direct or indirect greenhouse gases. Billions could choose to reduce a massive amount of greenhouse gases.

It's as "easy" as informed cooperation & will. But