this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2023
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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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The richest Americans account for 40 percent of U.S. climate emissions (wapo.st)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by silence7@slrpnk.net to c/climate@slrpnk.net
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The paper is here

Thanks to @KoboldCoterie@pawb.social for highlighting this bit:

Then there were “super-emitters” with extremely high overall greenhouse gas emissions, corresponding to about the top 0.1 percent of households. About 15 days of emissions from a super-emitter was equal to a lifetime of emissions for someone in the poorest 10 percent in America.

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[–] KoboldCoterie@pawb.social 43 points 1 year ago (3 children)

The richest 10 percent of U.S. households are responsible for 40 percent of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions

The important context missing from the title.

They included income tied to emissions related to the operation of a business, such as from a coal-fired power plant. But they also included income, such as from investments, that supported services or products from those industries.

I mean, yeah... people with more money will have more investments and business assets, and therefore will have a higher contribution, this probably didn't need a study to determine. The more interesting / shocking statistic, in my opinion, is:

Then there were “super-emitters” with extremely high overall greenhouse gas emissions, corresponding to about the top 0.1 percent of households. About 15 days of emissions from a super-emitter was equal to a lifetime of emissions for someone in the poorest 10 percent in America.

This is absolutely disgusting, and unconscionable.

[–] silence7@slrpnk.net 20 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It's why you see people recommending 'eat the rich as having a lower climate impact than a vegan diet.

[–] GivingEuropeASpook@lemm.ee 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They included income tied to emissions related to the operation of a business...

Reminds me of how I threw out more in one shift in fast food than my household did in a month.

[–] KoboldCoterie@pawb.social 5 points 1 year ago

Your total trash footprint is higher than someone who lives in a mega-mansion but has a full-time housekeeper. They in fact have no trash footprint, since they never take out trash. You should be ashamed.

[–] Chetzemoka@kbin.social 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Thank you for this context. It's really affects the messaging here