4 ms·

Plants like CO2.

by readflaggedcomm 5y ago

Plants like CO2.

f6v 5y ago
Life on earth is definitely not in danger, it’s seen worse.
- d110af5ccf 5y ago
  Both political stability and the lifestyles to which we are accustomed, however, are.
  - tda 5y ago
    And the reclining political stability will make it even harder to do long term investments with no immediate pay-off. Which will probably reinforce this climate crisis.
    - d110af5ccf 5y ago
      Unfortunately it would seem we're in for a wild ride either way. Unless I've completely misunderstood the projections anything we're seeing right now is small compared to the rate of change expected in ~15 years. And (again assuming I've understood) the system has a lot of inertia so there's no way to completely prevent the changes at this point.
      - fancy_hammer 5y ago
        What happens in 15 years?
        TomVDB 5y ago
        The rate of temperature change increases. Siberia thaws and releases massive amount of methane. The Gulf Stream slows down and throws a critical regulator of temperature in the Western world into disarray. (According to news reporting earlier this week, the first signs of it slowing down are starting to appear.) Positive feedback loops are powerful things.
        f6v 5y ago
        Either everything changes, or stays the same. That's why radical climate measures are a tough sell.
        d110af5ccf 5y ago
        It's quite clear that things won't be staying the same. What precisely happens, however, seems to be up in the air. I'm not a climate scientist, but some things to consider: There was recent research showing that the Greenland ice sheet is probably not as stable as previously thought. (https://theconversation.com/ancient-leaves-preserved-under-a-mile-of-greenlands-ice-and-lost-in-a-freezer-for-years-hold-lessons-about-climate-change-157105 https://theconversation.com/ancient-leaves-preserved-under-a...) (https://www.pnas.org/content/118/13/e2021442118 https://www.pnas.org/content/118/13/e2021442118) The long term stable ("permanent", hah) wind currents that cross the ocean (ie the trade winds) have significant effects on local sea levels (ie the coast line that they pass near). If those change things will get "interesting" in many places. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_winds https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_winds) For example: (https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2018-amtrak-sea-level/ https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2018-amtrak-sea-level/)
- craftinator 5y ago
  I wonder if this is what the dinosaurs were thinking as the fireball in the sky got bigger and bigger. Let's ask them!
  - hoseja 5y ago
    They seem fine, some are chirping outside my window right now.
  - d110af5ccf 5y ago
    To be clear, climate change is very likely to present us humans enjoying our comfy lifestyles with extreme (from our perspective) difficulties. It is not, however, even remotely comparable to a large meteor impact.
  - f6v 5y ago
    Carbon-based DNA-replicating life didn’t go anywhere though, if that’s of any comfort.
  - chess_buster 5y ago
    Birds are dinosaurs.
mellavora 5y ago
Up to a point. But .. "when plants take in an excess of CO2, their chemical makeup changes in a way that that’s harmful to the humans and animals that depend on them for nutrition: higher concentrations of CO2, increases the synthesis of carbohydrates like sugars and starches, and decrease the concentrations of proteins and nutrients like zinc, iron, and B-vitamins. “ https://globalhealth.washington.edu/news/2019/04/23/high-co2-levels-will-wreck-plants-nutritional-value-so-don-t-plan-surviving https://globalhealth.washington.edu/news/2019/04/23/high-co2... https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/abfcfa https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/abfcfa https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2018.00924/full https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2018.00924...

Plants like CO2.

f6v 5y ago

Life on earth is definitely not in danger, it’s seen worse.

d110af5ccf 5y ago
Both political stability and the lifestyles to which we are accustomed, however, are.
- tda 5y ago
  And the reclining political stability will make it even harder to do long term investments with no immediate pay-off. Which will probably reinforce this climate crisis.
  - d110af5ccf 5y ago
    Unfortunately it would seem we're in for a wild ride either way. Unless I've completely misunderstood the projections anything we're seeing right now is small compared to the rate of change expected in ~15 years. And (again assuming I've understood) the system has a lot of inertia so there's no way to completely prevent the changes at this point.
    - fancy_hammer 5y ago
      What happens in 15 years?
      - TomVDB 5y ago
        The rate of temperature change increases. Siberia thaws and releases massive amount of methane. The Gulf Stream slows down and throws a critical regulator of temperature in the Western world into disarray. (According to news reporting earlier this week, the first signs of it slowing down are starting to appear.) Positive feedback loops are powerful things.
      - f6v 5y ago
        Either everything changes, or stays the same. That's why radical climate measures are a tough sell.
        d110af5ccf 5y ago
        It's quite clear that things won't be staying the same. What precisely happens, however, seems to be up in the air. I'm not a climate scientist, but some things to consider: There was recent research showing that the Greenland ice sheet is probably not as stable as previously thought. (https://theconversation.com/ancient-leaves-preserved-under-a-mile-of-greenlands-ice-and-lost-in-a-freezer-for-years-hold-lessons-about-climate-change-157105 https://theconversation.com/ancient-leaves-preserved-under-a...) (https://www.pnas.org/content/118/13/e2021442118 https://www.pnas.org/content/118/13/e2021442118) The long term stable ("permanent", hah) wind currents that cross the ocean (ie the trade winds) have significant effects on local sea levels (ie the coast line that they pass near). If those change things will get "interesting" in many places. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_winds https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_winds) For example: (https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2018-amtrak-sea-level/ https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2018-amtrak-sea-level/)
craftinator 5y ago
I wonder if this is what the dinosaurs were thinking as the fireball in the sky got bigger and bigger. Let's ask them!
- hoseja 5y ago
  They seem fine, some are chirping outside my window right now.
- d110af5ccf 5y ago
  To be clear, climate change is very likely to present us humans enjoying our comfy lifestyles with extreme (from our perspective) difficulties. It is not, however, even remotely comparable to a large meteor impact.
- f6v 5y ago
  Carbon-based DNA-replicating life didn’t go anywhere though, if that’s of any comfort.
- chess_buster 5y ago
  Birds are dinosaurs.

mellavora 5y ago

Up to a point. But .. "when plants take in an excess of CO2, their chemical makeup changes in a way that that’s harmful to the humans and animals that depend on them for nutrition: higher concentrations of CO2, increases the synthesis of carbohydrates like sugars and starches, and decrease the concentrations of proteins and nutrients like zinc, iron, and B-vitamins. “ https://globalhealth.washington.edu/news/2019/04/23/high-co2-levels-will-wreck-plants-nutritional-value-so-don-t-plan-surviving https://globalhealth.washington.edu/news/2019/04/23/high-co2... https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/abfcfa https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/abfcfa https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2018.00924/full https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2018.00924...