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> Why can't we just Every time I see someone say why don't we "just" do X to fix climate change, the thing they suggest we just do is either drastically inadeq
by DennisP 4y ago
> Why can't we just
Every time I see someone say why don't we "just" do X to fix climate change, the thing they suggest we just do is either drastically inadequate, really hard, or too slow.
We're way behind at this point. Climate scientists used to say 400 ppm was the highest level that might be safe, but we're at 420ppm and still adding 36 billion tons of CO2 every year, plus a lot of methane.
We're at serious risk of positive feedback effects taking things out of our hands entirely. Higher temperatures bring things like melting ice caps and methane release from permafrost melt, which heat up the planet more. Solar radiation management is a chance to head those things off, and buy time for the changes you're talking about.
And none of the proposed SRM solutions are irreversible. Some of them reverse automatically, shortly after you stop maintaining them.
- bismuthcrystal 4y agoHow long until the negative feedback kicks in?
- DennisP 4y agoBased on the geological record, negative feedbacks are extremely long-term. What we see several times is a small initial temperature boost caused by orbital variations, followed by massive carbon release, then eventual drawdown after millions of years due to things like rock erosion. Some people have tried to make a big deal out of higher CO2 making plants grow faster, but plant growth is limited by lots of other things like nutrient availability, disease, and drought. A lot of forests are not doing well these days.
- bismuthcrystal 4y agoInteresting. Thanks. Another question. Seawater heating up and releasing CO2 is positive feedback. Is it some kind of doomsday feedback loop?
- DennisP 4y agoI haven't seen it described in such severe terms but yeah that's another issue. I'm not sure how much it's from actually releasing CO2, or just not absorbing as much of our emissions as it used to.
- SAShithole 4y ago2 more weeks