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This post reminds me very much of the climate scientist on Newsroom. "We're all going to die; nothing is going to help." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM0uZ

This post reminds me very much of the climate scientist on Newsroom. "We're all going to die; nothing is going to help." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM0uZ9mfOUI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM0uZ9mfOUI

robomartin 5y ago
Not sure if you are agreeing with my portrayal of just how crazy things have gotten or making fun of my post. I'll take the first interpretation (you agree) and add this based on watching that very funny video. I have spent a lot of time studying the subject from various angles as well as creating simple models to try to get a sense of proportion. I feel this is important. By "sense of proportion" I mean the idea of having enough of an understanding of the situation to be able to discern between real and fantasy. Simple example: Anyone who drives a car has a sense of proportion with regards to how fast you can stop. In other words, nobody thinks they can hit the brakes and stop a car from 60 mph in 10 feet. This allows you to quickly make decisions while driving. One of the first questions I had when looking at atmospheric CO2 concentration was: Where are the limits? Do we just explode at 500 ppm? Do we die instantly at 1000 ppm? What's that sense of proportion? So, as I would expect any inquisitive engineer would do, I went out and purchased a few CO2 meters and set out to measure CO2 in various environments. What I discovered was truly eye opening. CO2 levels were measured in a range between 650 and 1400 ppm. Right now, as I write this, the CO2 level in my home office is 856 ppm. In the kitchen, 823 ppm. Outside (and it's raining) 623 ppm. I have taken measurements in the car, both on neighborhood roads and on the highway. The numbers range from about 1000 ppm to 1400 ppm. I have also taken measurement in neighbor's homes and found similar ranges. The same was the case taking measurements at the office. What does this say? Well, at the very least it says that we don't spontaneously die at CO2 concentrations as high as 1400 ppm. Healthy? Not likely...yet not the dire "we are all going to die in 12 years" scenario politicians like to paint. There's a further realization here. We have billions of people around the world living their entire lives in 600 to 1400 ppm environments. Every single person in a car on the highway driving to and from work is spending hours-per-day at a range likely around 1000 to 1400 ppm, if not more. Every single person working in an office environment is likely spending hours-per-day at somewhere around 800 ppm. I don't even want to imagine what levels must have been like decades or a century ago in older buildings without modern ventilation systems. The same is the case in less developed nations, where building standards might not provide for the healthiest of conditions. Clearly the "we are going to die" narrative is completely false. All it takes to understand this is using a CO2 meter around where you live and work. This puts the 400 to 450 ppm values into valuable perspective and provides what I have referred to as a sense of proportion. At a planetary scale, there isn't anything we can do on a human time scale to force a reduction of atmospheric CO2 concentration. It is nothing less than hubris to think that solar panels, wind energy and electric cars are going to even make a dent. If you look at the data it isn't difficult to understand a simple reality: Even if the entire North American continent (Canada, US and Mexico) evaporated from the planet tomorrow. Poof. Gone. Captain Kirk beams everything into space. Not only would atmospheric CO2 not decrease, it would continue to rise as if nothing happened. That's the nature of planetary-scale problems. People think they are saving the planet by buying an electric car when, in reality, they are doing absolutely nothing at all. In fact, they could be causing a larger problem (remains to be seen).

robomartin 5y ago

Not sure if you are agreeing with my portrayal of just how crazy things have gotten or making fun of my post. I'll take the first interpretation (you agree) and add this based on watching that very funny video. I have spent a lot of time studying the subject from various angles as well as creating simple models to try to get a sense of proportion. I feel this is important. By "sense of proportion" I mean the idea of having enough of an understanding of the situation to be able to discern between real and fantasy. Simple example: Anyone who drives a car has a sense of proportion with regards to how fast you can stop. In other words, nobody thinks they can hit the brakes and stop a car from 60 mph in 10 feet. This allows you to quickly make decisions while driving. One of the first questions I had when looking at atmospheric CO2 concentration was: Where are the limits? Do we just explode at 500 ppm? Do we die instantly at 1000 ppm? What's that sense of proportion? So, as I would expect any inquisitive engineer would do, I went out and purchased a few CO2 meters and set out to measure CO2 in various environments. What I discovered was truly eye opening. CO2 levels were measured in a range between 650 and 1400 ppm. Right now, as I write this, the CO2 level in my home office is 856 ppm. In the kitchen, 823 ppm. Outside (and it's raining) 623 ppm. I have taken measurements in the car, both on neighborhood roads and on the highway. The numbers range from about 1000 ppm to 1400 ppm. I have also taken measurement in neighbor's homes and found similar ranges. The same was the case taking measurements at the office. What does this say? Well, at the very least it says that we don't spontaneously die at CO2 concentrations as high as 1400 ppm. Healthy? Not likely...yet not the dire "we are all going to die in 12 years" scenario politicians like to paint. There's a further realization here. We have billions of people around the world living their entire lives in 600 to 1400 ppm environments. Every single person in a car on the highway driving to and from work is spending hours-per-day at a range likely around 1000 to 1400 ppm, if not more. Every single person working in an office environment is likely spending hours-per-day at somewhere around 800 ppm. I don't even want to imagine what levels must have been like decades or a century ago in older buildings without modern ventilation systems. The same is the case in less developed nations, where building standards might not provide for the healthiest of conditions. Clearly the "we are going to die" narrative is completely false. All it takes to understand this is using a CO2 meter around where you live and work. This puts the 400 to 450 ppm values into valuable perspective and provides what I have referred to as a sense of proportion. At a planetary scale, there isn't anything we can do on a human time scale to force a reduction of atmospheric CO2 concentration. It is nothing less than hubris to think that solar panels, wind energy and electric cars are going to even make a dent. If you look at the data it isn't difficult to understand a simple reality: Even if the entire North American continent (Canada, US and Mexico) evaporated from the planet tomorrow. Poof. Gone. Captain Kirk beams everything into space. Not only would atmospheric CO2 not decrease, it would continue to rise as if nothing happened. That's the nature of planetary-scale problems. People think they are saving the planet by buying an electric car when, in reality, they are doing absolutely nothing at all. In fact, they could be causing a larger problem (remains to be seen).