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I worry that this is the beginning of something more troubling in terms of the climate crisis. We've been lucky so far that most of the carbon budget has been s
by TSiege 4y ago
I worry that this is the beginning of something more troubling in terms of the climate crisis. We've been lucky so far that most of the carbon budget has been spent by human activities, lucky that is because we can change that
However, this is the start of a worrying global trend. We're currently seeing the West Coast ecosystems shift into something new, maybe grasslands maybe deserts. The Amazon Rainforest is next. Currently it's started emitting more CO2 than it takes in. We've been warned by scientists that if no land use policies change we can expect it flip from being a rain forest to a savannah. What that means in concrete terms are megafires and mass species die off for most of the amazon.
What's next? Cold and rainy England is expected to have the climate of Spain by 2050. Nothing native in England can adapt to that. So much of the world is going through rapid climate shifts that are devastating ecosystems. We're on the verge of flipping to a hot house earth and we're doing less than the bare minimum to stop it
- akiselev 4y ago> What's next? Cold and rainy England is expected to have the climate of Spain by 2050. Nothing native in England can adapt to that. So much of the world is going through rapid climate shifts that are devastating ecosystems. We're on the verge of flipping to a hot house earth and we're doing less than the bare minimum to stop it Alternatively, the Gulf Stream could collapse leading to a massive drop in temperatures over Europe, which would collapse their agriculture faster than the current warming trends.
- TSiege 4y agoYes that's possible, but it's unclear to me how long that trend would last. The artic will be ice free in a decade or so. I've never been able to square that with the cold descending over Europe. Quite frankly, I don't hold much confidence in that theory given the heat we've seen over Canada and Siberia
- antisthenes 4y ago> However, this is the start of a worrying global trend. We're currently seeing the West Coast ecosystems shift into something new, maybe grasslands maybe deserts. The Amazon Rainforest is next. The scary part is that it's not "either or" or "this first, this next". It's going to be happening at the same time. Greenland glacier melts, Siberian wildfires and methane ejections, North American West desertification, Indian peninsula becoming too hot in parts, etc. etc. etc. Sure, some parts might become more habitable, but overall, there will be far less hospitable areas to live.
- TSiege 4y agoYeah, this is exactly what I was thinking
- treeman79 4y agoCalifornia wild fires are due to failed government. Germany has tons of forests and doesn’t have these problems. Had my house burn down due to wild fire. So I am a little passionate about it.
- cameldrv 4y agoIronically much of the problem in California is that California essentially adopted German forest management practices, which don't work in California, because Germany has a very different climate. Germany is much wetter, and so when a tree falls in the forest, in Germany it rots. In much of California, it just sits there until it catches fire. What this means is that in Germany, suppressing every fire is a good strategy, because eventually the energy embedded in the dead wood is consumed by bacteria. In California, it can only be consumed by fire (or potentially mechanical removal). Constant suppression only serves to make the fires much worse when they inevitably do happen.
- TSiege 4y agoI'm sorry you lost your home. I can only imagine that being devastating. It's unfair how the crisis shakes out As others have said, California is an ecosystem used to fires. It's integral to their function. Repressed burning by following a European style of land management has led to this issue becoming exacerbated and combined with the shifting climate, what we're calling the mega drought, leading to mega fires.
- omginternets 4y agoGermany’s forests are cold and wet.