4 ms·

What should we do? Does anyone here know?

by saynsedit 10y ago

shanev 10y ago
Plants absorb carbon dioxide. Grow more plants.
- JoeAltmaier 10y ago
  Fun fact: the US Midwest grows corn, which produces as much oxygen (absorbs as much CO2) as the Amazon Basin. During the summer anyway. So we're growing a lot of plants already.
  - jwatte 10y ago
    Most of the oxygen we breathe comes from plankton. But we don't particularly care for or about the ocean -- we don't see it, and we can make money by ignoring its health. It's the American Way (tm)!
  - smb06 10y ago
    Clearly that is not enough because the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere are at never seen before levels: http://climate.nasa.gov/climate_resources/24/ http://climate.nasa.gov/climate_resources/24/
  - joshuahaglund 10y ago
    And most of that corn goes to feed cattle, which produce methane (worse than CO2). So, what we do with the plants matters. Do we allow them to sequester the carbon or we put their carbon right back into the atmosphere?
    - JoeAltmaier 10y ago
      Under 40% these days. In Iowa the largest buyer of corn is Pepsi. Oh! Unless by 'cattle' you meant people?
quickben 10y ago
Seems reasonable to move to a higher ground and out of the way of flash flood areas. Eat some sushi before the ocean acidification decimates the fish population. The rest, who knows.
jwatte 10y ago
Vote and argument publicly to being goal warming, and the short term costs of mitigation, into the public's mind. Choose against far supply chains. Go solar, ride public, and electric car of you have to, and consume as little materially as possible. Travel little, and prefer train over planes. It's a very small impact for one person, but if you multiply by /everyone/ it becomes large. I worried about global warming 20 years ago, but there was so much unknown, that I decided to wait. Now, we know much better, and it's actually worse that we thought before! At about 3.5 degrees warming, the global food supply chain breaks down. We're at 1 degree now, and get Louisiana floods. 3.5 is between 20 and 50 years off. But, who needs food or social stability anyway? We're all rugged individuals who will survive alone based on low taxes and Freedom (tm)! So don't worry! If it's all going to hell anyway, might as well enjoy it now, and if we're wrong after all, then that was the right choice. Screw other people, I'm getting a SUV!
anexprogrammer 10y ago
Simple - reduce greenhouse gas emissions by around 50-80%. If we achieved 100% tomorrow the earth would continue warming by another degree or two. Achieving those levels of reduction will need changes to nearly everything we do. We could start by ceasing deforestation and getting off fossil fuels as soon as humanly possible, but it wouldn't stop there. Oh, and stop electing politicians who claim climate change is a hoax.
smb06 10y ago
I found these to be helpful to think about what we can do as individuals to help fight against climate change: From Nature Conservancy: http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/urgentissues/global-warming-climate-change/help/ http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/urgentissues/global-war... From the EPA: https://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/wycd/ https://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/wycd/ From the Canadian government: http://www.climatechange.gc.ca/default.asp?lang=En&n=D27052CE-1 http://www.climatechange.gc.ca/default.asp?lang=En&n=D27052C... If you mean what we can do specifically about the melting polar ice caps? Pressurize our government to make legislation that helps reduce emissions.
mirimir 10y ago
We can either cut carbon emissions, or gamble on impacts of climate change. But given latency and positive feedbacks, restraint is unlikely. By the time that impacts are undeniable enough to motivate substantial reductions in carbon emissions, it will arguably be too late.
billfor 10y ago
Have less children.
tiredwired 10y ago
get a boat
glenra 10y ago
Celebrate the opening of northern passages to more sea traffic and the new access to new previously inaccessible resources?

What should we do? Does anyone here know?

shanev 10y ago

Plants absorb carbon dioxide. Grow more plants.

JoeAltmaier 10y ago
Fun fact: the US Midwest grows corn, which produces as much oxygen (absorbs as much CO2) as the Amazon Basin. During the summer anyway. So we're growing a lot of plants already.
- jwatte 10y ago
  Most of the oxygen we breathe comes from plankton. But we don't particularly care for or about the ocean -- we don't see it, and we can make money by ignoring its health. It's the American Way (tm)!
- smb06 10y ago
  Clearly that is not enough because the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere are at never seen before levels: http://climate.nasa.gov/climate_resources/24/ http://climate.nasa.gov/climate_resources/24/
- joshuahaglund 10y ago
  And most of that corn goes to feed cattle, which produce methane (worse than CO2). So, what we do with the plants matters. Do we allow them to sequester the carbon or we put their carbon right back into the atmosphere?
  - JoeAltmaier 10y ago
    Under 40% these days. In Iowa the largest buyer of corn is Pepsi. Oh! Unless by 'cattle' you meant people?

quickben 10y ago

Seems reasonable to move to a higher ground and out of the way of flash flood areas. Eat some sushi before the ocean acidification decimates the fish population. The rest, who knows.

jwatte 10y ago

Vote and argument publicly to being goal warming, and the short term costs of mitigation, into the public's mind. Choose against far supply chains. Go solar, ride public, and electric car of you have to, and consume as little materially as possible. Travel little, and prefer train over planes. It's a very small impact for one person, but if you multiply by /everyone/ it becomes large. I worried about global warming 20 years ago, but there was so much unknown, that I decided to wait. Now, we know much better, and it's actually worse that we thought before! At about 3.5 degrees warming, the global food supply chain breaks down. We're at 1 degree now, and get Louisiana floods. 3.5 is between 20 and 50 years off. But, who needs food or social stability anyway? We're all rugged individuals who will survive alone based on low taxes and Freedom (tm)! So don't worry! If it's all going to hell anyway, might as well enjoy it now, and if we're wrong after all, then that was the right choice. Screw other people, I'm getting a SUV!

anexprogrammer 10y ago

Simple - reduce greenhouse gas emissions by around 50-80%. If we achieved 100% tomorrow the earth would continue warming by another degree or two. Achieving those levels of reduction will need changes to nearly everything we do. We could start by ceasing deforestation and getting off fossil fuels as soon as humanly possible, but it wouldn't stop there. Oh, and stop electing politicians who claim climate change is a hoax.

smb06 10y ago

I found these to be helpful to think about what we can do as individuals to help fight against climate change: From Nature Conservancy: http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/urgentissues/global-warming-climate-change/help/ http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/urgentissues/global-war... From the EPA: https://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/wycd/ https://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/wycd/ From the Canadian government: http://www.climatechange.gc.ca/default.asp?lang=En&n=D27052CE-1 http://www.climatechange.gc.ca/default.asp?lang=En&n=D27052C... If you mean what we can do specifically about the melting polar ice caps? Pressurize our government to make legislation that helps reduce emissions.

mirimir 10y ago

We can either cut carbon emissions, or gamble on impacts of climate change. But given latency and positive feedbacks, restraint is unlikely. By the time that impacts are undeniable enough to motivate substantial reductions in carbon emissions, it will arguably be too late.

billfor 10y ago

Have less children.

tiredwired 10y ago

get a boat

glenra 10y ago

Celebrate the opening of northern passages to more sea traffic and the new access to new previously inaccessible resources?