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>You'd think that if we reduced our carbon emissions, the ice would stop melting. People think of climate change like a river. You reduce emissions, you reduce
by graeme 4y ago
>You'd think that if we reduced our carbon emissions, the ice would stop melting.
People think of climate change like a river. You reduce emissions, you reduce the size of the emissions, you reduce the size of the problem.
But it's more like a bathtub. Emissions are the water filling the tub, but the real problem is the water level already in the tub. If you reduce emissions, you reduce the size of the flow into the tub. But....water is still flowing in and the water is still rising.
If we had zero emissions it would take earth systems much much longer than 50 years to bring things back down to where they were.
- peteradio 4y agoFilling a bath tub requires active control, are you saying humans need to actively control the climate of the entire earth?
- graeme 4y agoSuppose a tub was best at two inches of water, got worse for every inch, and overflowed at four feet. And you had turned on the tap and there is now three feet of water. You propose: 1. Reducing the rate of the tap 2. Turning off the tap 3. Turning off the tap and removing water until it gets back to two inches Most people think of climate change prevention as #1. #3 is what actually gets you back to ideal. But if you get back to that level and then leave the tap off, things are fine and no active management is required.
- bradgessler 4y agoI don’t understand the bathtub analogy, but I will say it should be a goal of humanity to control the climate of the entire earth. The alternative is we don’t and are forever at the whim of what Earth and the solar system decides to throw at us. I’ve found this argument to be appealing to people on both sides of the climate change debate.
- fennecfoxy 4y agoI agree tbh, a modern focus is one of conservation; what better way to guarantee the ongoing proliferation of various species other than being able to control the environment they live in. Controlling the climate (and by that of course we mean very carefully holding it at what it should be) benefits all life on the planet.