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I fear an Armageddon. We are changing the climate faster than we understand what's happening, and we're starting to get weirder and weirder weather patterns. We
by Taek 11y ago
I fear an Armageddon. We are changing the climate faster than we understand what's happening, and we're starting to get weirder and weirder weather patterns. We're threatening our food supply.
We've destroyed most of the ocean's fish, and we're heavily dependent on livestock and crops for food. If we disrupt the weather too much, we're not going to be able to make food. People are going to starve, and not by the millions but by the hundreds of millions. Certainly enough strife to cause war between the countries that are actually trying to do something and the countries that are continuing to ramp their CO2 output.
We don't know when we cross the line from 'severe' to 'dire', but we've got enough destructive technology that if it becomes a global problem, we may end up blowing ourselves up trying to resolve the conflict.
I was recently in Africa, and I was shown the rate at which the country (Cote d'Iviore) was growing. Families with as many as 10 kids. But all I could see was deforestation. Miles and miles of deforestation, something like 30 minutes of driving through an urban area that had all been vegetation in 2011.
This season's weather was weird, and it has made me very afraid of what's coming in the next 5 years. We're destroying our planet's methods of regulation, and at the same time we are increasing the rate at which we're introducing adversarial agents. It's going to be a disaster, because everyone reading this critically knows that the people in power aren't going to do anything about it until people in their own country are dying by the millions as a result.
If you care about surviving the next 20 years, this should be your biggest concern. We depend on a stable climate. Without that, we will not have food. Be afraid.
- codecamper 11y agoIf you were shocked to see 1 million crossing into Europe in 2015, imagine what it will be like in the near future when tens of millions face drought & famine. The general problem is that most of the world lacks the scientific understanding to know how big & bad of a problem this may turn out to be. Google & zuckerberg could just black out certain zip codes every so often. go to google.com & get a message about the impending doom & what the person can do about it. To me, people should not be able to pick & choose technology. If you enjoy using a cell phone & sending email then you should accept what scientists are saying. No more doubting. If software is eating the world, it should hurry up & start directing the herd.
- pdonis 11y ago> If you enjoy using a cell phone & sending email then you should accept what scientists are saying. This is not a valid argument. The science that underlies the workings of your cell phone and email is more accurate by many orders of magnitude than climate science. "Science" is not all one thing, and climate science does not get to claim the same accuracy as, say, electrodynamics just because it has "science" in its name.
- brbsix 11y agoIt sounds like you're advocating for totalitarianism. What scientists in what disciplines are the designated authorities? What does "no more doubting" or "you should accept what scientists are saying" even mean? Suppose some scientists say "global warming is an imminent existential threat". Should I be forced to implement their policy proposals as well, or do I just have to nod my head in agreeance to their every decree? What is the threshold upon which scientists must be "accepted" (and presumably obeyed)? Who decides this? This is the stuff of nightmares.
- iamcurious 11y agoI do not doubt that the climate is changing nor I doubt that humans play a large factor in that. Yet I cannot gather the will to be afraid. It is true that we haven't faced this challenge from a prevention standpoint, at least not beyond small mitigations, but when has humanity embraced prevention from the start? We usually leave that as a lesson for the second time... Climate change will stress our civilization and we will deal with that stress, becoming more capable and sophisticated in the process. Well that, or we will die. But that has been the deal since the start. Lets stay awake people, there will be lots of adapting to do!
- schiffern 11y ago>we will deal with that stress, becoming more capable and sophisticated in the process. Well that, or we will die You missed one. It is also possible that we become less capable and less sophisticated (e.g. the dark ages).
- pharrington 11y agoAssuming no major attempt to stop or reverse climate change happens until the major crises start (Im an American), huge swathes of infrastructure will be destroyed or rendered unusable. To say we've grown used to that infrastructure is a adorably naive understatement; like I'm sitting here eating a genetically engineered animal grown a thousand miles away that was only born so it could be killed, while arguing with hundreds of people simultaneously by mashing my finger into a sheet of sapphire and having light waves beamed into space and back. Modern human is so weird that we're essentially a different species compared to what we were/will be without the current global infrastructure. I'm afraid societies dont have or wont quickly be able to develop the knowledge needed to survive the new planet we're making.
- iamcurious 11y agoWe can build new infrastructure. Europe managed to do that fine after WWIII.
- pharrington 11y ago