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Scary stuff: > The study reveals northern permafrost soils are the largest reservoir of mercury on the planet, storing nearly twice as much mercury as all othe

Scary stuff: > The study reveals northern permafrost soils are the largest reservoir of mercury on the planet, storing nearly twice as much mercury as all other soils, the ocean and the atmosphere combined. And the permafrost is thawing thanks to climate change. > “There’s a significant social and human health aspect to this study,” Sebestyen said. “The consequences of this mercury being released into the environment are potentially huge because mercury has health effects on organisms and can travel up the food chain, adversely affecting native and other communities.”

thrownaway6392 9y ago
> Scary stuff: So is this: http://www.unz.com/isteve/fear-of-a-black-planet-un-boosts-its-2017-population-forecast-for-africa-in-2100-to-4468000000/ http://www.unz.com/isteve/fear-of-a-black-planet-un-boosts-i... https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2014/08/13/340091377/unicef-report-africas-population-could-hit-4-billion-by-2100 https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2014/08/13/3400913... The difference being that you can at least publicly discuss the potential hazards attending to climate change. By contrast, just mentioning the fact that Africa's population seems poised to swell to four and a half billion by 2100--even without reference to any of the obvious negative consequences--is enough to earn a harsh rebuke (or a shadowban on HN), as happened to French President Emanuel Macron when he recommended that women in Niger stop having so many children (7.5 per woman): https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jul/11/slur-africans-macron-radical-pretence-over https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jul/11/slur-a...
- selimthegrim 9y ago
  What relevance does this have to the topic at hand?
  - thrownaway6392 9y ago
    They're both (arguably) existential threats. It's just that only one of them can be (and is--constantly) publicly acknowledged, while the other, apparently, can't be. Quoting John Derbyshire on the graph from the first link: > That graph—the world’s most important graph—looms over the 21st century like a monstrous great crow. Yet we can’t talk about it. Or rather, I can, and Mark can; but no-one with much more of a profile than us, can. > Why not? Do you need to ask? That line shooting up on the graph represents Africa—black people (mostly), and a high proportion of them Muslims. The other line, the one plodding along horizontally, represents Europe—white people (mostly), and a very high proportion not Muslims. > In the state ideologies of the Western world, black people are sacred objects to whom whites must defer, Muslims only slightly less so. Nothing negative may be said about these peoples, nor even hinted.
    - _jal 9y ago
      Right. To rephrase, you want to hijack a discussion of permafrost mercury in order to whine about criticism of your views on racial demography. Thanks for playing.
    - selimthegrim 9y ago
      John "I am going to pontificate about who does and doesn't win a Fields Medal but not do math research" Derbyshire is definitely someone I look to for a reasoned hot take

thrownaway6392 9y ago

> Scary stuff: So is this: http://www.unz.com/isteve/fear-of-a-black-planet-un-boosts-its-2017-population-forecast-for-africa-in-2100-to-4468000000/ http://www.unz.com/isteve/fear-of-a-black-planet-un-boosts-i... https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2014/08/13/340091377/unicef-report-africas-population-could-hit-4-billion-by-2100 https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2014/08/13/3400913... The difference being that you can at least publicly discuss the potential hazards attending to climate change. By contrast, just mentioning the fact that Africa's population seems poised to swell to four and a half billion by 2100--even without reference to any of the obvious negative consequences--is enough to earn a harsh rebuke (or a shadowban on HN), as happened to French President Emanuel Macron when he recommended that women in Niger stop having so many children (7.5 per woman): https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jul/11/slur-africans-macron-radical-pretence-over https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jul/11/slur-a...

selimthegrim 9y ago
What relevance does this have to the topic at hand?
- thrownaway6392 9y ago
  They're both (arguably) existential threats. It's just that only one of them can be (and is--constantly) publicly acknowledged, while the other, apparently, can't be. Quoting John Derbyshire on the graph from the first link: > That graph—the world’s most important graph—looms over the 21st century like a monstrous great crow. Yet we can’t talk about it. Or rather, I can, and Mark can; but no-one with much more of a profile than us, can. > Why not? Do you need to ask? That line shooting up on the graph represents Africa—black people (mostly), and a high proportion of them Muslims. The other line, the one plodding along horizontally, represents Europe—white people (mostly), and a very high proportion not Muslims. > In the state ideologies of the Western world, black people are sacred objects to whom whites must defer, Muslims only slightly less so. Nothing negative may be said about these peoples, nor even hinted.
  - _jal 9y ago
    Right. To rephrase, you want to hijack a discussion of permafrost mercury in order to whine about criticism of your views on racial demography. Thanks for playing.
  - selimthegrim 9y ago
    John "I am going to pontificate about who does and doesn't win a Fields Medal but not do math research" Derbyshire is definitely someone I look to for a reasoned hot take