Climate change: just how f***ed are we?

[obsessedwithsleep]

Obviously it's on my mind at the moment and it seems that nothing of any significance is being done. Like we're just watching those juggernaut come down the road and not even trying to the move the car.

Anyway, as the title says: how awful will the future be? What is the most likely degree rise by 2100? What does this actually mean in reality?

Would love to hear people's thoughts and wisdom.

The concept of "net zero" is flawed, so there's nothing wrong with questioning it. Most net zero policies are greenwash.

@Suzi888
War where? In the very places with the resources?

A prolonged period without rain is no good for agriculture.

Yes this I'm sick of the emphasis on personal responsibility it just creates a shit load of extra work for no good reason at all.
Me (and a million other people) never buying bottled water and taking a bike to work means fuck all in the grand scheme of things.

The fact that some people think they can stop the ever-present climate shifts? Yeah, amusing.

Did none of you go to school? This civilisation has been through a lot in terms of weather... But then we like a good natter on the weather topic , so we shall crack on I suppose!

Seriously hope you're a troll, but in case you're actually this deluded: the planet has limited resources in terms of freshwater and agricultural land, not to mention areas with climates suitable for agriculture. The planet cannot physically support 10 billion people, which is where we're headed. Read the book Ten Billon - it's an easy read by a very educated guy, and it's terrifying. Quit bashing on about racism, get your head out of the sand, and look at the world around you. Honestly!

There is not much we can do until China and America wake up.

Planet cannot support European lifestyle.

implicitly causing billions to die is not a solution.

but the thing is where we are heading is an extinction event. There will be no survivors. Current life styles will tip the planet to be uninhabitable. And while the concentration of CO2 is the most urgent problem, our oceans are dying. It is a lot easier to curb our consumption than hoping we will be the last man standing.

Who do you think will be producing food for the UK if the rest of the world is dying out while we simply purchase air-con units and carry on? Come to think of it, who is producing the air-con units and importing them?

Global famine, war and displacement of billions of people is going to have an effect on us even as a wealthy, temperate island. We don’t exist in a vacuum.

Got up today to the news of Kylie Jenner using her private jet for a 3 minute trip. Honestly feel like all my efforts are worth nothing.

The “rest of the world” won’t be “dying out.” The land masses in Canada and Russia once under permafrost will once again be able to support agriculture for temperate crops. And heat resistant crops such as rice, chickpeas, and wheat will continue to be grown in the warmer areas of the globe.

The planet can support a modern European lifestyle. Billions are not going to die as population is on course to stabilise by the end of the century through lower birth rates. We are not heading to an extinction event per the climate scientists. It’s the activists spreading the message using fear as their tool who are over-egging things to try and get action but by being doomists are instead causing paralysis. The only consumption we need to curb is pollutant causing consumption- that of fossil fuels and their derivatives (certain plastics)- which we have been transitioning away from since the 1960s.

A change in temperature of a few degrees isn’t going to wipe out life or civilisation. When the little Ice Age happened and things got significantly colder humanity and the planet adapted. We can do so again. Sea levels have risen and fallen many times before, cities have been abandoned and rebuilt. It’s not the end of the world.

Discovereads

It's happening so quickly though, runaway climate change, the feedback etc

A wee while ago, I started a thread on here about where abroad I should retire.
I no longer think that will be happening.
People will be coming to the UK for their hols to escape the extreme heat.

Actually in sone of the previous climate stress times the human population got very low

It's all very well saying the human race may not go extinct - I'd quite like for me and my children to not go extinct young either

The messages are trying to ensure people keep hope as that's the only way action will happen but the worst case is utterly horrific

What’s amusing is you thinking, against all scientific consensus, that we didn’t have a hand in this process on the first place. It’s a convenient stance of course because it absolves any responsibility on our part.

Sea levels have risen and fallen many times before, cities have been abandoned and rebuilt. It’s not the end of the world.

It was for those people.

It’s honestly not been that quick:

Global warming= +1C in 150yrs
Little Ice Age= -1C in 50yrs
Last Ice Age= -6C in 6months to 10yrs (depends on scientist)

No it wasn’t. It’s only natural disasters like Tsunamis that killed lots of people. A simple sea level rise of 2cm per year wouldn’t kill a tortoise.

And the climate crisis increases the risk of “natural” disasters like tsunamis and extreme weather events that kill people. Pretending that the issue is 2cm rise a year and not everything that causes that 2cm and goes along with it is the weirdest head-in-the-sand climate denial I’ve seen.

But then, climate threads on here always end up dissolving into a debate on the existence of the crisis, as if it is up for debate. I suppose that’s your intention. Weird hill to die on.

Whilst plastic bags were not a common feature they were starting to talk about the impact of burning so much coal in the late 1800s. So your granny might have had a cow, but somehere else all those coal fueled industrial processes were making people realise there was a problem coming.

@Discovereads
A change in temperature of a few degrees isn’t going to wipe out life or civilisation. When the little Ice Age happened and things got significantly colder humanity and the planet adapted. We can do so again. Sea levels have risen and fallen many times before, cities have been abandoned and rebuilt. It’s not the end of the world

Tiny world population, v short life spans, lived a very simple life compared to now.

Its hard to believe that people still spout this climate change denial stuff.

The world cannot support 10 billion with a western life style, food, housing transport, travel.. all very energy hungry and so far, with no real alternatives to fossil fuels, we will continue to emit green house gasses - for whatever reason, we've decided to go for EV instead of Hydrogen & cheaper energy instead of better insulated housing.

Cop26 was to try and limit global warming to 1.5'C so far we have seen just 1'C of temp increase and are currently heading for 4'C of temp rise, if we get that, then we are in for terrible times.

@QueenCamilla The freezing of Rivers etc were short term events, climate quickly went back to long term trends.
I'm 59, i ve seen ice on the River Tamar, Devon/Cornwall border, we will always get climate anomalies.

But we have a choice, believe the almost 100% of scientists who say climate change is real, long term and will have dramatic effects on our lives OR believe Mike/Camilla on FB/MN who say it's all "Bollox"

I’m not denying climate change at all- show me where I’ve said there is no such thing as climate change? I haven’t. I am denying climate doomism which is the false narrative that the current climate change is going to cause the end of civilisation, extinction of humanity, is an “existential threat” blah blah blah.

Yes in the Ice Age when temperatures dropped by 6C in 6mos to 10yrs…far more drastic than an increase of 1.5C in 150yrs, there were fewer people and guess what the only technology they had was fire and sewing animal skins into clothes. You seriously think humanity today which survived that with so little then is going to just go extinct? Please.

The world can support 10bn with a modern lifestyle. All we have to do is finish weaning ourselves off fossil fuels and finish cutting pollution. In fact going back to a pre-industrial lifestyle would be worse on the planet than a modern lifestyle as we’d be back to burning wood/coal for heat, dumping raw sewage in rivers, getting 1/10th the crop yield per acre, and so on and so on.

Climate migration is going to be one of the major stories/disasters of this century. Your glibness at cities being 'abandoned' like that's no big deal is ridiculous. Life isn't just about 'not dying'.