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And the really scary thing is that anything above +8℃ has a very real chance of flipping the planet into a Venus Scenario. Recent work has shown that the Earth

And the really scary thing is that anything above +8℃ has a very real chance of flipping the planet into a Venus Scenario. Recent work has shown that the Earth sits at the very inner edge of the solar system’s habitable zone. As the sun has aged across billions of years and burned through its fuel, it has heated up and moved the zone outward. As such, the planet could have had higher greenhouse gas levels in the past with life still surviving, but it cannot have such levels now without life dying and the planet becoming a second Venus. At +8℃, equatorial cloud cover becomes impossible to generate, and the amount of oceanic heating accelerates. Methyl Hydrates begin boiling off everywhere, and it becomes too hot to live between the 60th parallels - humanity (or what’s left of it) must pack itself around the poles to survive. At some point, the amount of greenhouse gas creation exceeds the ability of life to counteract said gases, and things heat up until all life on the planet dies.

spodek 7y ago
The scariest thing to me is that people think their actions won't make a difference. I was speaking to an organization about reducing its flying. In the spring they wouldn't consider it. One 16-year-old girl, Greta Thunberg, sailing across the Atlantic put the initiative on the table. She didn't plan to influence that organization but she did. We all have that potential. I've given one TEDx talk on environmental leadership http://joshuaspodek.com/my-tedx-talk-is-online-find-your-delicious http://joshuaspodek.com/my-tedx-talk-is-online-find-your-del... with a second in a few weeks https://www.tedxwaltham.com/tedxwaltham-2019 https://www.tedxwaltham.com/tedxwaltham-2019. My podcast http://joshuaspodek.com/podcast http://joshuaspodek.com/podcast is creating role models among globally renowned people. I've become somewhat of a role model -- in my fourth year of not flying, I haven't filled a load of trash in over a year, I pick up litter every day -- and people write me to tell me they're doing it, as are their friends. These results aren't enough, and some disasters will happen, but each person's actions contribute, including yours -- mostly by leading others to contribute too.
Richard_East 7y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratospheric_aerosol_injection https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratospheric_aerosol_injectio... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_fertilization https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_fertilization

spodek 7y ago

The scariest thing to me is that people think their actions won't make a difference. I was speaking to an organization about reducing its flying. In the spring they wouldn't consider it. One 16-year-old girl, Greta Thunberg, sailing across the Atlantic put the initiative on the table. She didn't plan to influence that organization but she did. We all have that potential. I've given one TEDx talk on environmental leadership http://joshuaspodek.com/my-tedx-talk-is-online-find-your-delicious http://joshuaspodek.com/my-tedx-talk-is-online-find-your-del... with a second in a few weeks https://www.tedxwaltham.com/tedxwaltham-2019 https://www.tedxwaltham.com/tedxwaltham-2019. My podcast http://joshuaspodek.com/podcast http://joshuaspodek.com/podcast is creating role models among globally renowned people. I've become somewhat of a role model -- in my fourth year of not flying, I haven't filled a load of trash in over a year, I pick up litter every day -- and people write me to tell me they're doing it, as are their friends. These results aren't enough, and some disasters will happen, but each person's actions contribute, including yours -- mostly by leading others to contribute too.

Richard_East 7y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratospheric_aerosol_injection https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratospheric_aerosol_injectio... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_fertilization https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_fertilization