Climate change

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Stephen hawking says that if the polar ice caps melt (I think this means fully melt) then the resultant release of co2 would increase the climate to 250 degrees Celsius.

I am assuming this must be true. It was in his book, brief answers to the big questions, but the quote does not reference how this has been calculated, not what paper the fact is drawn from.

I had no idea that if the ice caps totally melt, the world would be entirely uninhabitable and basically dead. I feel like this needs to be more known about? It's the way he casually writes it.

@Swrigh1234 Do you even know what Woke actually means? Nope, didn't think so.

FYI woke/wokesters and climate change are not in anyway related.

@Swrigh1234 I’d rather be “dim” than rude. But I don’t think you know what wine means, so I’ll leave you to it.

Gosh. This thread is terrifying I had no idea the temperature could potentially rise so much.

Stop worrying OP, the planet isn't in any danger what so ever.

When people talk about climate change they mean that we, the people, would be affected. The planet will just carry on, it's fine, it's survived a lot worse than we could throw at it.

The solution to climate change is to STOP having children. We need to accept that vast areas of the planet need to be depopulated, as in whole continents. Yes, this does mean that countries which currently exist, won't exist in the future. But a managed decline, planned and structured, would see these areas returned to nature. Imagine a planet where North and South America were a nature reserve. Where Africa, Australia and Asia were emptied of people, where the UK, Ireland, Channel Islands and even most of Europe was returned to nature.

As a species, humans could exist in small pockets of the most habitable areas around the world.

That's what needs to happen. But people arw too obsessed with having children to do anything about climate change.

The hypocrisy of JSO is embarrassing.

"I'm doing this for my children's future"

Listen love, if you have children, you have NO voice when it comes to climate change. There is nothing you can do that will mitigate the damage you have caused to the planet by your utterly selfish decision to have children.

@onefinemess The solution to climate change is to STOP having children.

This is pretty egregious. The 2009 study this comes from assigns 1/2 of the lifetime emissions of a child to each of it's parents, 1/4 of the grandchildren etc etc, out until 2400. It also assumes absolutely no progress on reducing emissions over that time.

This kind of alarmist preaching is almost as dangerous as denial.

This hasn't come from any study.

The world doesn't need children. Not in the numbers currently being produced.

You're part of the problem. Your level of thinking is damaging the planet.

I knew it was over 40 years ago, watching it in real time is just shocking and surreal

No one is willing to make the big changes needed. And many people like to bury their heads in the sand and say ridiculous things like 'global warming isn't real' or 'well good id like it a bit warmer'. Partly they are uneducated and mostly the just don't want to accept that they personally need to change things in their own lives.

I'm at the point where I think we've already gone too far to bring it back. Teaching our children to make ethical and responsible choices is the best we can do to prolong it.

Although I don't agree with the disruptive protests like 'just stop oil' I think they have a really good point. Give it 25 years and people will say 'those people knew and no one listened'

*This hasn't come from any study.

The world doesn't need children. Not in the numbers currently being produced.

You're part of the problem. Your level of thinking is damaging the planet.

And yet here we are... on MUMSnet

i keep wondering why these alarmists haven't topped themselves yet. Too soon?

When COVID hit and the world stopped, I said it was a chance to see if there was a international will to face climate change.

Yes, it would have been uncomfortable, but it was the time for dialogue and action and a starting point was - more than it probably ever will be - effectively handed on a plate.

But nada. Not a mention of any attempt.

We are doomed.

We do need children if we need innovation!

When COVID hit and the world stopped, I said it was a chance to see if there was a international will to face climate change.

There world realized we're drowning in bullshit. Next such even will be met much less enthusiastically.

LOL. The world absolutely does need as many children as we have if you and millions like you plan on living longer than your working lifespan. Because however you intend to fund those years you need to have people around you engaged in paid work to enable it. We can just about manage now with the number of children we're having. If the birth rate falls any lower then it's Logan's Run time.

I am sorry to be a pedant (not sorry) but you are badly misrepresenting Canute.

the king cried, "Let all the world know that the power of kings is empty and worthless, and there is no king worthy of the name save Him by whose will heaven, earth and the sea obey eternal laws."

When COVID hit and the world stopped, I said it was a chance to see if there was a international will to face climate change.

Oh god, were you one of those types that put memes on facebook about the planet healing itself? Every time I saw one of them I went out for a massive long drive.

The only thing I can do is try to ensure I earn enough money to make sure my one (adopted) child is protected for as long as possible and his children after him. I want them in the house on the hill, the bunker with Rishi or the transporter with Elon. Human life on earth will not carry on as we know it within a few generations. I can't change that. So I will protect my loved ones in whatever way I see fit for as long as I can.

Pretty sure the birth rate is continuing to fall and the issue is too many people living far too long past natural expiration with no quality of life (work In healthcare so see it every day and the vast amounts of waste produced e.g. chronic leg ulcers and the vast amount of bandaging needed etc)

Ha ha yes you are! and he was actually King Cnut

• there are also many differing versions of the story!

The Antarctic ice is not looking good this year. 6.4 standard deviations below the mean or a 1 in 13 billion chance of there being this little ice

There is no one solution. We have do everything all at once. Having fewer kids while still burning fossil fuels won’t help.

Burning less fossil fuel is the most important thing, and until we have the technology to displace all the fossil fuel energy with renewables we have to do a lot less flying and driving fossil fueled vehicles and reduce our electricity use.

We must also not extract any new fossil fuels (no new mines, no new wells, no fracking) and put renewable energy everywhere we can - onshore wind in the UK must be built. It may only be needed for a few generations, but we do need it.

At the same time we must protect forests and oceans, and create new forests where we destroyed them in the past.

Any answer to this challenge which starts with “but…” is wrong.

I was just shocked that Hawkins is saying there is a possibility that the temperature could actually reach above boiling! I kind of thought it would get very hot such that we will have to adapt, massive competition for resources etc but things could still be possible to survive. But it’s physically impossible to survive at 250C

*hawkings

If he is correct then these are the glory days, and humans probably don't have much longer on the earth

In terms of how long the earth's existed we've not had that much time anyway, and may or may not have a lot more

It's the arrogance that gets me though - as if, in the endless events which have happened through geological time, the pinprick which is mankind will have made so very much difference

I quite like the way scientists write, it's factual, not emotive, not political, just facts.
Of course the world population needs to keep producing children, we just need to slow it down. Producing more babies than the world can feed or our country can house means more of our fields and woodlands are being lost.