5 ms·
Atmospheric CO2 has increased by a third just since I've been alive. It's difficult to overstate just how quickly we are destroying the planet. I spend a lot
by beachy 3y ago
Atmospheric CO2 has increased by a third just since I've been alive.
It's difficult to overstate just how quickly we are destroying the planet.
I spend a lot of time snorkeling and I tell my kids to really take in what they see because it probably won't be there when they're parents themselves.
- brutusborn 3y agoI think it’s good to encourage appreciation, but no need to exaggerate risks. IPCC predicts existential risks to marine ecosystems at temperatures much higher than today. Your child will probably be able to go snorkelling just fine as an adult. My local coral reefs have returned to health after a major bleeching event that was predicted to be the beginning of the end. Sometimes our catastrophic predictions are wrong, or exaggerated. https://www.aims.gov.au/reef-monitoring/gbr-condition-summary-2020-2021 https://www.aims.gov.au/reef-monitoring/gbr-condition-summar...
- yongjik 3y agoCollapsing marine ecosystems are not theoretical risks, they have been happening around the world for decades (if not more). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overfishing#Examples_and_evidence_for_overfishing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overfishing#Examples_and_evide... Or did you mean "Don't worry, the impact of oxygen level change is exaggerated, because we'll make sure those fish are gone one way or other!"?
- brutusborn 3y agoYes, some fisheries are collapsing in places where they are not properly regulated. Meanwhile whale numbers are increasing, polar bear numbers are increasing and in my local fishery the fish population is increasing! Don’t take my comment as saying there are no problems, I’m merely pointing out that telling children “this probably won’t exist when you are an adult” isn’t particularly honest and I don’t think it’s very useful.
- myshpa 3y ago> polar bear numbers are increasing Hope they'll flourish when we'll have ice free arctic summer in/before 2030.
- brutusborn 3y agoWhich papers predict that? That’s a new one for me. Around 2010 I remember reading a prediction of ice free arctic by 2020. It used to go hand in hand with the polar bear panic.
- myshpa 3y agohttps://edition.cnn.com/2023/06/06/world/arctic-sea-ice-free-climate-change/index.html https://edition.cnn.com/2023/06/06/world/arctic-sea-ice-free... And with this year's temperatures it might be even sooner.
- brutusborn 3y agoThanks for the link. It’s interesting how CNN doesn’t report that 2030 is the bottom of their confidence interval. They might be correct, but I don’t have much faith. They have essentially done a temp-ice area regression to fit a model to 50 years of data. Thus they rely on the accuracy of the temp predictions of the IPCC models which I also don’t have much faith in. I lost a lot of confidence in them this year, under-predicting warming so significantly. Most climate scientists imply that this error is simply them underestimating anthropogenic warming rather than it being an indication that their models are not particularly accurate. From the climate science community I have heard some suggestions the volcanic eruption last year was to blame for the extra warming, as well as changes to sulphite pollution policies. I believe the earth is warming, but that much of it is probably due to existing natural trends and that adaptation will not be particularly hard. When models can predict El Niño with precision or changes in large scale circulation then I think I will be convinced.
- myshpa 3y ago
- crazygringo 3y agoGood lord. I thought you were exaggerating but indeed, up by a third since 1958: https://www.co2levels.org/ https://www.co2levels.org/ I consider myself pretty aware of climate change but I suddenly realize I've never actually looked at the direct numbers. That's scary.