4 ms·
+8c means the end of life on Earth as we know it. Maybe rich San Francisco VCs can live in underground bunkers with labor slaves fed on soylent tending to their
by GuiA 7y ago
+8c means the end of life on Earth as we know it. Maybe rich San Francisco VCs can live in underground bunkers with labor slaves fed on soylent tending to their hydroponically grown crops, but 99.9% of Earth’s population will be (quite literally) toast.
“Only” +4 is already going to be a very, very rough situation rife with positive feedback loops that may well make +5, then +6, etc inevitable.
http://globalwarming.berrens.nl/globalwarming.htm http://globalwarming.berrens.nl/globalwarming.htm
- ddxxdd 7y agoOn the other hand, if the economy grows at 3% per year, then humanity will be 12 times richer by 2100 than if the economy slows down to 2% growth due to heavy government interference. Compounding interest and economic growth has been the primary driving force for lifting people out of poverty, and increased wealth can be used to build seawalls, sequester carbon, and implement climate control on a large scale. There is still plenty of debate to be had about whether the economic growth from acclimation outweighs the potential climate benefits from mitigation.
- grive 7y agoThis is asinine, there is no "other hand" here. At +8C, most of humanity is dead. You can be "12 times richer", it won't save you or anyone else. > and increased wealth can be used to build seawalls, sequester carbon, and implement climate control on a large scale. This is fantasy. The elites having captured that much wealth will never give it up for free. Populations will have to take it from their dead hands, which is very costly. Rest assured: if the status quo is not moved, there will be violent uprising from people feeling the heat (figuratively: it will be water wars and famines). The economies will tank then, with or without mitigation in place.
- pbreit 7y agoWouldn't civilization move further towards colder climates before the end? Is the feedback loop to get hotter or colder?
- imtringued 7y agoWe can try to live in the now very hot Antarctica but modern society will be a shadow of its former self.
- perfunctory 7y agoDepends how fast it happens. And it looks like it's happening very fast in geological terms. You can't move the whole New York north overnight.