To worry that the planet is heating faster than we have been led to expect and whether we can cope?

[100thingstoknowaboutspace]

I understand that extreme weather events, including spikes in temperatures and longer heatwaves, are a result of smaller incremental rises in global temperature. But the rate of heat records and large jumps in the temperatures during those spikes and heatwaves that we have experienced during the last 10 years feels off the scale for me, and I am wondering how we can actually cope if it continues at this pace? Climate experts talk about 2 degrees warming by mid century, but if we experience heatwaves that are 5 or more degrees hotter or go on longer than this one, I genuinely don't understand how we will cope. At the moment my flat is only just tolerable - with every measure of cooling I could think of. A few degrees more, and survival is literally threatened. Whereas humans may be able to cope with 5, 10 etc degrees lower, as it is easier to heat up, it seems we are reaching the edge of survivability in terms of being able to stay cool enough to maintain life. Not only here in the UK obviously.

I do believe there is still action that we as individuals and as a country (which in turn may impact other countries) can take, but I am scared that things are worse than even experts, in their carefully hedged or caveated statements and predictions, cause us to believe. I am worried I won't be able to keep my child safe as they grow up.

Grateful if anyone can talk me down from this climate anxiety - and also, grateful for insight about what might be most effective for us to do.

AI is a terrible source of info. It makes things uo and when challenged will basically suck up to you and say you are right.
Temperatures.on the tube are different to met office temperatures which are recorded in the shade in particular conditions. Because the soil in London is clay and because the Underground has existed for a long time now it has experienced it's own gradual heating as clays a very good insulator and the heat never escapes. When it opened it was colder than above ground (like caves are) but since then the heat has built up so now it's many degrees hotter than above ground. So I can well imagine temperatures got above 40% in the past on the tube which is basically a large clay oven. That's different to recorded temperatures above ground. When temperatures above ground are 40% the London Underground is basically hell.

People keep banging on about 1976 because it was so highly unusual. It was a once in a lifetime freak event to get those temperatures for that long. Now those once in a lifetime events are expected once every 5 years, somehow they seem to be happening more frequently than that and still people bring up 1976.

Do you really think any stories about how it was will be reported accurately?

And I wouldn’t wish survival on anyone in that situation. If the the planet burns/is underwater, then I wouldn’t count on survivors anyway unless they have found another planet to live on and fuck up.

Humans have survived huge end-of-age collapses before. We have, as a species, survived times of great climate change before (someone upthread pointed out that the Sahara used to be green: so it did, and Doggerland was above water, and most of north Europe covered by glaciers). Many species, if not the majority, are at risk due to environmental change of 1 kind or another, but I do not think humans, with 8 billion representatives on 8 continents, will be among them.

So, start thinking about what kind of society you want to survive.

I'd say england 1911 had quite an extreme heatwave. Brutali and pushed aome chnages in the country. Do you think the media has used these few days to push their usual shock factor ?

I'll leave this here for the doubters, it doesn't even include the last 5 years....

You need to calm down and get some perspective. Humans absolutely
can adapt to rapid changing climate
conditions and their impacts.
Well, the non-hysterical ones can.

I will keep mentioning it on here, but the most proactive action you can take is to “collapse now, avoid the rush”.

And if the last 100 years doesn't convince you then take a look at the last 2000 years:

Sure and that was the first time the UK had recorded anything over 38 ever. And now we have recorded 40, and are getting close to 38 in June not long after!!

Your anecdote adds nothing to the conversation.

And all stories about AI without full records of both sides of the conversation should always be ignored, many times the conversation context is what messed up the llm.

Yeah; even so, it's "but one half-pennyworth of bread to this intolerable deal of sack."

The long term is measured in millenia; man-caused climate collapse has taken a bit under three hundred years.

(Your speelchock doesn't believe in "axis", but that is what the earth wobbles on.)

And then there is always the bad effect of goats on green landscapes.... Mustn't forget that. The Sahara was absolutely not helped to stay green by the grazing of goats.

In Britain, immigration needs to be stopped. We don’t have the resources to support all these people and our first responsibility is to those here.

People in other countries are going to have to recognise their own impact on their local environment: stop forcing women to bear more kids everywhere, and learn that our increased health sciences and fewer kids dying means that contraception is not an option and not ‘racist’.

Why do politicians and activists never mention the African birth rate? I suspect it is a fear of being labelled ‘neo-colonialist’. Africa has the highest birth rate in the world, and the African population is going to double. In some parts of sub-Saharan Africa, women have five or six children on average.

I am in Essex and the heat yesterday was unbelievable. I could hardly breathe. I’m no longer a skeptic. If climate change is as bad as people predict, Africa’s booming young population is going to migrate en mass into Europe. This country is unbearably overcrowded NOW. We’ll never cope. Europeans are not responsible for Africa’s out of control birth rate. There comes a point where they have to take responsibility and start investing in birth control and family planning.

Yabu.
Scientists and campaigners have been telling you this will happen, exactly as it is for literally decades unless we took action.

We as a species all chose to do nothing and now here we are.

Quote : "Europeans are not responsible for Africa’s out of control birth rate."

There is the thing with that fella in the Vatican who is against birth Control. And the current US admin too.

Africa is not a big polluter. The continent is responsible for only about 3% to 4% of total global greenhouse gas emissions. Despite contributing the least to global warming, Africa is highly vulnerable to its impacts, such as severe droughts and floods

@Dappy777 Africa contribute the least to global warming, but are severely affected by the West and Asia who contribute the most.

No one factor will explain everything. We would have to compute the methane emissions from 60,000,000 buffalo (I know nothing about buffalo emissions) and set them against the industrialisation that was occurring at this time. We would need to compute the relative effects.

Same with the birds.

I think industrialisation would prove to dwarf other factors but it would take a bit of effort to create a good model.

After carefully reviewing the evidence, virtually all of the world’s experts in the field have come to believe in climate change. There is no longer any debate. Some on this thread
(not you, @NotAnotherScarf ) sound like Donald Trump.

Quote: “Europeans are not responsible for Africa’s out of control birth rate.”

No they’re not, and despite having significantly higher birth rates, Africans produce a much smaller carbon footprint. The staggering disparity in consumption and lifestyle means that one individual in the West produces exponentially more carbon emissions than an entire family in Africa.

InWaryCrow
In Britain, immigration needs to be stopped. We don’t have the resources to support all these people and our first responsibility is to those here.

Unfortunately we have an ageing population no longer able to work but in need of all the services and care plus a bit more, and a shortage of indigenous people of working age prepared to do scut work and manual labour for minimum wage, so we need immigrants.

We have plenty of young people unemployed. Couldn’t they do the scut work and manual labour for minimum wage?

If this work is desperately needed, why should they do it for minimum wage?

Yes they could. But they won't. Not while benefits are available as an alternative to doing these types of jobs.

It’s more money than they would get on benefits.

The operative words were "prepared to". They could; they won't. If they would be prepared to, they would be doing these jobs, and they are not.

(I just find the "pull up the drawbridge" kneejerk irritating as well as somewhat under-informed.)