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Post by lilolpeapicker on Aug 9, 2021 8:31:27 GMT -5
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Post by reuben on Aug 10, 2021 7:17:58 GMT -5
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Sixth Assessment Report, was released yesterday. The fifth was released in 2014. Given that there is insufficient social or political will to do anything substantial to fix the problem, I think humanity, as well as most other species, are looking at a very bleak future. The full report is almost 4,000 pages, but the Summary for Policymakers should suffice. A.1 It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land. Widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere and biosphere have occurred. A.2 The scale of recent changes across the climate system as a whole and the present state of many aspects of the climate system are unprecedented over many centuries to many thousands of years. A.3 Human-induced climate change is already affecting many weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe. Evidence of observed changes in extremes such as heatwaves, heavy precipitation, droughts, and tropical cyclones, and, in particular, their attribution to human influence, has strengthened since AR5. A.4 Improved knowledge of climate processes, paleoclimate evidence and the response of the climate system to increasing radiative forcing gives a best estimate of equilibrium climate sensitivity of 3°C with a narrower range compared to AR5. www.ipcc.ch/assessment-report/ar6/www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/08/09/ipcc-climate-report-global-warming-greenhouse-gas-effect/
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Post by gardendmpls on Aug 10, 2021 9:47:27 GMT -5
If you want to be reassured somewhat, or least have a clearer view, read the book by one of the founders of Greenpeace, Patrick Moore, an environmental scientist and activist with a PhD in ecology from the early 1970s when it was a new science. He left Greenpeace after it was taken over by a group more interested in turning it into a money making machine than in sifting out what is real and what is not. He shows, using excellent sources, what needs to be fixed and what is hype. His book is called Fake Invisible Catastrophes and Threats of Doom. It is important to focus on the real problems rather than on the ones used as means for fund raising and political goals unrelated to the environment.
One thing is that some organizations have disinformation campaigns which turn staged photos into $$$ which go mainly to their executives. He points out where the real problems are as opposed to the made up ones. For example, the so called garbage patch in the ocean, which has yet to be actually seen. Smaller pieces of plastic, like anything in the ocean, soon are covered with barnacles and other ocean life and sink. Birds actually use plastic pieces in their gizzards as grinding material. Organizations have cut open dead birds and filled their insides with plastic pieces (way more than could ever fit in their gizzards). The photos are gruesome, shocking and staged. They don't reflect reality (but do bring in the donations). The real plastic problem in the ocean is discarded fishing nets and ropes, which float around continuing to kill fish caught up in them and this is what really needs to be dealt with.
In another chapter dealing with polar bears, it is pointed out that the polar bear population has been increasing since the 1970's. A highly regarded polar bear expert was the target of canceling because her long term published research differed from a group of scientists with an agenda who visited one of her study areas for two weeks. National Geographic published a picture of a starving polar bear, purportedly one of many victims of climate change. They finally admitted, six months later, that it was the only starving bear they could find, out of many bears in the area that were doing well. It seems that starvation is the main cause of death of polar bears because they are an apex predator. If they aren't killed by one of their own, they outlive their teeth. With their teeth too worn to hunt, they starve to death, but the real cause is old age.
Patrick Moore helps separate the wheat from the chaff on such issues as polar bears, forest fires, ocean acidification, walruses and climate. It is important to get a handle on what is really happening and what is not. If you want to deal with forest fires, you want to know the real causes or you will be wasting your time chasing dead ends.
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Post by desertwoman on Aug 10, 2021 10:08:11 GMT -5
Anything I can say seems so simplistic. There are those of us who have been ringing the bell for decades and others who keep their heads in the sand (I'm being kind). Like reuben, I think the future is looking quite bleak- and I tend to be an optimist! Greta Thunberg came out, after the release of the report, to say "we can still avoid the worst". That is a chilling statement to me. Yet hopeful too. I often think that those having kids these days are incredibly optimistic. Or blind. What I do know is we cant leave it to "them" to fix it. Them is us. Time for much stronger activism. Has anyone read The Ministry For the Future- written by a sci-fi author it leaves us with hope. www.amazon.com/Ministry-Future-Kim-Stanley-Robinson/dp/0316300136
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Post by gardendmpls on Aug 10, 2021 10:44:27 GMT -5
Them is us. Time for much stronger activism. Just make sure that the activism isn't misdirected by those with other agendas. Then your energy will go to make a difference.
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Post by Mumsey on Aug 10, 2021 16:14:39 GMT -5
lilolpeapicker, So many tv ads/articles use the fear/shock factor to get into our pockets. Most of us think more rationally than what they try to make us believe.
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Post by reuben on Aug 10, 2021 16:55:37 GMT -5
What I do know is we cant leave it to "them" to fix it. Them is us. Time for much stronger activism. VOTE
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