Climate scientist claims it's too late

[Kaleva]

"Climate scientist says total climate breakdown is now inevitable: 'It is already a different world out there, soon it will be unrecognizable to every one of us'

In his new book, Bill McGuire argues it's too late to avoid catastrophic climate change.

The Earth science professor says lethal heatwaves and extreme weather events are just the beginning...


His perspective — that severe climate change is now inevitable and irreversible — is more extreme than many scientists who believe that, with lowered emissions, the most severe potential impacts can still be avoided."

https://news.yahoo.com/climate-scientist-says-total-climate-042317772.html

The last sentence above is telling. The best we can hope for is avoiding a worst case situation.

[bucolic_frolic]

1. We are to the point of exponential change.

You can't stop it. You can't mitigate it much.

[Samrob]

66. If we had started when Jimmy Carter was President as he tried to get us to do, things would be

Last edited Sun Jul 31, 2022, 01:20 PM - Edit history (1)

more hopeful. No one listened. Most were enthralled with Reagan's message Americans should not have to SACRIFICE anything. Galloping greed intensified under Reagan.

https://deceleration.news/2022/06/17/1977-white-house-climate-memo/

[milestogo]

68. If we had put Al Gore at the top of the ticket in 92 instead of Bill Clinton

Gore was sounding the alarm a long time ago.

[Samrob]

71. Yes he was, But nothing Clinton did stood in his way.

[milestogo]

72. I'm not blaming Clinton

but at the time I thought it would be better to elect Gore because of his concern for climate change. Then I thought, oh well, we'll elect him in 2000. And we did, but...

[DSandra]

134. As a millenial I am quite angry and feel like the older generations sold us out

Especially the baby boomer generation got really greedy in the 80s and got very corrupted. They voted on policies that favored them and effectively screwed younger generations in the process. It’s tantamount to saying to their children and grandchildren: “Sorry about your life, but you have to understand that my life, my pleasures, and my happiness is ultimately more important than yours, even if it means your suffering.”

[Botany]

2. We have known for 150 + years that the more CO2 in a body of gas the more heat that body will hold..

... and that warm air holds more moisture than cooler air.

[Brenda]

3. This will sink like a rock

People aren't interested or they prefer to live within their delusions. If they acknowledge things are bad they say "well the sea level rise will happen so slowly we can move people."

First of all the sea level has been rising for at least decades in America. Take Alaska...20 years ago I talked to a local Tlingit woman who said they were moving their fishing villages inland. Many of them have been moved or gone out to sea. Asshole Trump actually cancelled the Denali Commission that helped relocate these AMERICAN citizens.

Secondly how are you going to move millions of people? Who is going to do this? Who is going to buy out the property owners on the coasts? Is it fair for the rest of America to pay to buy out the uber wealthy in Coral Cables? Are there any plans in place now to help with that coming disaster?

[BannonsLiver]

54. I disagree

We love doomy scenarios here. The doomier the better, actually.

[H2O Man]

63. While this OP/thread

is getting numerous responses, discussions on the environmental crisis normally do not get much attention. Perhaps the fires in the west and the flooding in Kentucky have caught people's attention. While I cannot, of course, speak for Brenda, I suspect that her point is that there is an issue of people not thinking about climate change unless it comes to a fire or flood or hurricane near them. In my experiences, this is more true in this community than in the grass roots of the Democratic Party. While the environment may not be the number one concern of the majority of people I interact with while campaigning, it has become more of a concern with a growing number.

[BannonsLiver]

65. As well it should.

[H2O Man]

67. One of the things

I find curious as someone who lives in rural upstate New York, is that many of the guys I've known most all of my life -- republicans who are worried about Amendment 2, who hunt, trap, and fish -- recognize the there have been significant changes in the local environment, but don't believe in "climate change." There seems to be a stumbling block that prevents them from connecting the two.

[Brenda]

87. Glad to see this thread is not sinking

like they usually do when discussing climate chaos.

The disconnect you experience is happening with so many different groups of people. Economic people usually only talk about the stock market, war, GDP, talking about futures that don't include these disasters coming soon. People in the health fields talk about more pandemics and healthcare problems but don't include this issue. City planners, engineers and politicians on the ground in areas already affected KNOW the shit has already hit the fan.

But money greasing their hands from corporations and developers plus their own selfishness and greed won't let them talk about reality. Or if they do speak out they're simply fired and replaced.

The stumbling blocks are: lying politicians, media, religious leaders and lack of critical thinking skills.

[Auggie]

4. Scariest aspect: ensuing mob/gang mentality in the war of survival

[Brenda]

5. Mad Maga Max nt

[H2O Man]

64. +1

[bucolic_frolic]

7. Those living in caves with oxygen tanks survive

All else takes their chances

[Auggie]

16. For the very wealthy, "superyacht" condos:

It's a real thing

https://nypost.com/2021/07/05/largest-superyacht-selling-luxury-condos-by-invitation-only/

[localroger]

18. So is piracy. Nowhere will be safe. /nt

[FalloutShelter]

34. Yep...

Waterworld

[Auggie]

36. They'll have their own navy for defense

[Farmer-Rick]

27. The seas are the worst place to be

The oceans will be full of hurricanes and vast storms. The water and heat will fuel these ever more deadly super massive storms.

Shore lines will be hurricanes central; droughts and desserts will be expanding in the center of the continents along with massive tornadoes.

Millennials will be experiencing some of the worst storms in the history of the planet.

Al Gore pointed out how diseases will run rampant due to global warming in his book an Inconvenient Truth. And he was right.

[2naSalit]

33. Indeed...

Like, check out this thing developing of the West coast of Mexico. It's called hurricane Frank and it is massive, like Sandy.

https://www.aviationweather.gov/satellite/intl?region=a

[Auggie]

37. I disagree

Beauty of a ship is that it moves

[Locrian]

41. yeah - while is has fuel...

and I know the rich have gobs of money to buy fuel... but supply chain disruptions, wars, having to pay and deal with the black market to get it (like in war time) makes it a risky business to be floating w/o fuel while a storm bears down.

[rubbersole]

44. It seems inevitable that a certain class of people will be targets...

...for the starving masses. It won't be the "libtards".

[Locrian]

84. yes

We have a very thin layer of "civilization", that is enforced by a common "agreement" ie the "rule of law" . When society breaks down then it just becomes who has most numbers and best weapons (and food, etc). Roving bands of pirate with nothing to lose would love a target like that.

I *hate* the rich person fantasy that they can just build a castle (or boat, whatever...) and "ride it out". They spend $$$$ on crap like that but won't work for equality and action that we all need. Its not going to work for them when its a planet wide crises. Unless we ALL get our shit together its going to be a short, hard life in the future. Sure the rich will have it "better". But its still going to be horrible.

[Delphinus]

92. Just looking at your first paragraph,

you have no idea how often my husband and I discuss the lack of the social compact/contract. I really recognized it when COVID shutdowns struck in 2020 and how the rules of the road (speed, lane changes, etc.) were no longer important or necessary.

[Ponietz]

75. Most refineries are near coastlines and will be unusable

[Auggie]

79. Sails and solar. Don't judge superyachts of today by superyachts of tomorrow.

[Locrian]

82. maybe, going to need to improve a LOT ...

Most of those supper yachts are going to need something more like nuclear power.
And then there's food, and being a target, etc. The workers will likely have a limit if they are watching their loved one starve on land, while they shuttle the privileged from port to port.

[dalton99a]

57. It also needs supplies and parts for maintenance

[Farmer-Rick]

94. Only if you can get out of the path of the storm

The storms will be the size of continents.

I think a submarine would be safer.

[jaxexpat]

42. ...and no space at the safe harbors.

If the floor elevation of the lowest story of your home is less than 15' above sea level, think hard about relocating.
If the lowest point of your road access to high ground is less than 5' above sea level, same thing.

[Kaleva]

73. Werewolf Preppers may be a problem.

People who plan on taking by force from others what they need to survive.

[Auggie]

80. Scariest of all

[Celerity]

6. time to stop beating around the bush and go all out nuke power, as much as possible

Will it happen?

I highly doubt it.

Far too many drill baby drill bellends out and about.

[dalton99a]

12. +1. A sea change in attitude is needed among environmentalists and the general public

Typically it takes at least 5 years to review an application, which is then withdrawn/suspended/rejected for various reasons

The government should declare a national emergency and shorten the permitting and construction process

We already know where to build and how to build these plants

[Lochloosa]

25. We just haven't quite got the hang of cleaning up after them though.

[Farmer-Rick]

32. Nuke power?????

You want to put nuclear power plants in the path of giant tornadoes and hurricanes? You going to place really deadly radiation for hurricanes the size of a quarter of the globe to spread over the planet?

You would have Fukushima and Chernobyl 10 times worse.

[Celerity]

35. the next gen ones are shedloads safer, and we are going to have no choice, the EROI on renewables

is nowhere enough

we need to be pumping in trillions globally to get thorium and other types of next gen reactors up and running ASAP

also, fusion down the road

[Farmer-Rick]

104. Perhaps

But doesn't thorium have to be mined? Doesn't it have the same drawbacks of rare earth minerals involved in chip tech?

[paleotn]

49. Evidence of potential giant tornadoes and hurricanes?

[Farmer-Rick]

103. How do you think global warming works?

[paleotn]

106. ....

Look up the PETM. The Day After Tomorrow wasn't a documentary. A +3C world will be ugly, but come on.

[Farmer-Rick]

108. Increased heat increases the energy of storms

This creates larger and larger storms with more and faster winds, rains, sleet, snow anything a storm can do now but on a massive increased size. At least according to Al Gore and an Inconvenient Truth and many climate scientists' warnings.

[paleotn]

112. Show me one peer reviewed paper

predicting single hurricanes that could cover 1/4 of the globe. Just one.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=16986291

You see, wild speculation like that is just as bad as the crazed deniers in my mind. I'm not a climate scientist. That's not my field. But I listen to those who ARE in that field, and I seriously doubt any legitimate group in that discipline are predicting 1/4 of the globe spanning hurricanes. Given the laws of physics, thermodynamics and global atmospheric circulation, that's not even possible. Like I said, The Day After Tomorrow is not a documentary.

What they are predicting .... More powerful hurricanes? Check. More active hurricane seasons? Possible. More tornadic activity? Certainly likely. More Joplin, MO / Moore, OK type events? Probably, but not to the point of making much of our continent uninhabitable. Unless you're a property and casualty insurer anyway.

Reduced agricultural yield due to floods, droughts and desertification, particularly in the developing world? Probably inevitable, making it nearly impossible to feed 8 billion plus humans, much less give them clean water. The extinction of thousands of species due to warming that's perhaps a factor of 10 faster than Mom Nature ever did it? Probably inevitable as well. That's more than bad enough, so lets not make it any worse by dreaming up crazy scenarios that won't work in this universe. Please?

[NickB79]

50. Chernobyl literally took tank shells during the spring war offensive

And it didn't breach the containment vessels in place.

Lots of US reactors have been hit by hurricanes in the past 50 years with no damage either.

Fukushima failed because the diesel generators were sited too low, and flooded from storm surge. That was a failure of thinking, not of the reactors themselves. Another 20' up, and Fukushima wouldn't have been a thing.

But, reactors do have a big issue in a warmer world. If the water sources they rely on for cooling get too hot, they have to reduce output. And that's been happening a lot more often now, especially in France the last few years. That makes their use problematic, at least the water cooled designs.

[Farmer-Rick]

105. Good to know about the shells dropped on Chernobyl

Since there will always be ocean water available, even if a bit warm, they would have to be by the sea making them more vulnerable to hurricanes. Let's hope they keep up with the infrastructure strengthening.

[gulliver]

61. +1

[leftyladyfrommo]

8. I worry about the wild things. They will not be able

to survive.

[MiHale]

9. I think they will fare better than us.

[2naSalit]

10. Actually...

Very few will survive. We'll be taking most of them with us because that's how we roll as a species.

[localroger]

19. 60 million years from now

...some other species will look at our fossilized remains the way we look at the K-T boundary today.

[dameatball]

11. Well, shit. Pretty hard to maintain optimism anymore.

[merrifield]

13. He isn't the only one sounding the alarm

If you want to keep yourself from sleeping, check out Arctic News blog. It's the stuff of nightmares, written by scientists. http://arctic-news.blogspot.com/

[dalton99a]

15. +1. In a mere five years from now:

[hatrack]

14. He's not necessarily wrong, but should point out he's not a climatologist

.

[localroger]

20. So what? I'm not a doctor but I figured out I was pre-diabetic all on my own.

I also realized there was something wrong with my own heart because my blood pressure went crazy. Turned out I had 75% blocked LAD aka widowmaker artery. Went to an actual doctor when most people wouldn't have and saved my own life. The people shouting fire in this crowded theater aren't the bad actors. They are warning us of an ACTUAL FIRE. And we are realizing it is far too late to save very many of the audience.

[USALiberal]

26. So people should not visit doctors?? Nt

[jaxexpat]

46. Why did you ask that question?

The post you're questioning has that answered in its text.

[NickB79]

51. It appears he's a volcanologist

Which would share some fields of study with climatology at least.

[AntivaxHunters]

17. We aren't doing enough

and at times I feel we also aren't taking climate change seriously.
We need to be doing a lot more but until we get the fossil fuel industry out of our lawmakers pockets, we won't.

Here is the Open Secrets list of the members of Congress who take the most from the oil & gas industry.
This is an "overall" list and it cane be broken down into members of the House & Senate separately.
You can also break it down by which industry they are getting money from; big oil, coal, natural gas, etc.
https://www.opensecrets.org/industries./recips.php?ind=E01++

Top "all" recipients of big oil & gas.


Top "all" recipients of money from utility companies.


Top "all" recipients of the mining industry.


Top "all" recipients of waste management.


Top "all" recipients of coal industry cash

[Amishman]

21. I'm very tempted to start prepping for climate change upheaval

I'm already in a remote location, with decent resources (forest and farmland on my property) and excellent water availability (well far deeper than other properties).

If I see a 5% of a major societal breakdown in my lifetime (based on family history I've got a decent chance at 30-50 more years), what are prudent steps to take? This is what I find myself debating in the shower.

[Kaleva]

28. I've got many posts in the Frugal Living & Gardening groups detailing what I'm doing

Might give you some ideas.

[Farmer-Rick]

38. Yeah, if I can keep my farm out of the hands of corporations,

I think my kids will have a safe haven to land on when the earth really starts retching.

I've had a lot of calls from realtors lately. And I've never indicated I wanted to sell. I think the filthy rich are looking for safe havens too.

[BannonsLiver]

90. LOL

Last edited Mon Aug 1, 2022, 10:17 AM - Edit history (1)

I this scenario your farm isn’t going to be a “safe haven.”

[Farmer-Rick]

97. Safer than New Orleans or tornado ally

The outback in Australia or a seaside cottage or New York City. I could do worse

Get real

[Farmer-Rick]

117. Thanks for the personal attack

I'm not the one who took your birthday away.

Blocked

[BannonsLiver]

118. It's a personal attack?

You’ve swatted away every other person’s opinion in the thread, assigning them death and doom in the coming climate apocalypse, but magically your property is a “safe haven.”

How is pointing out how ridiculous that is a personal attack?

[Farmer-Rick]

126. No I just swatted away your silly little insults cause no one

Has the guts to call you out on your crap. You get away with personal attack after personal attack and everyone is just fine with it here. Wow you must have a buddy protecting your insults and constant personal attacks.

[BannonsLiver]

131. Whoa.

[Farmer-Rick]

125. You got nothing better to do but insult me

Ok, you got me I misspelled a word. Call the word police

What do you plan for? You are so full of your own self importance you insult everyone to death? There's a plan, everyone can be miserable and die miserable with you. I get it

[BannonsLiver]

132. Hi Rick

[NickB79]

119. So what then? Suicide or join a post-apocalypic gang to survive?

If you've got a better idea of how to increase one's odds of survival, we're all ears.

[Farmer-Rick]

127. Hint Bannon will personally attack you

Over and over again and all is fine and dandy.

And pretending you have any knowledge about farming while personally attack those who do is just plain rude.

[BannonsLiver]

130. Hi Rick

Can you remind me how pointing out your farm is not a safe haven during a climate collapse a personal attack?

[Kaleva]

123. My son-law has acquired 20 acres and my youngest step-son will soon get 20 acres

Just outside of our little town. I'm working on converting my backyard in town into a vegetable garden and orchard.

[Chainfire]

52. There will be no survival because you are a little better fixed than some others.

Think it through. When life in cities becomes unsustainable (which would only take days after permanent power failure) and the populations flood to the country, like a swarm of locusts, in search of food and shelter for survival, how will you deal with it. It is a situation where only the most ruthless would survive, and then in a constant state of war for limited resources. Life would be violent, miserable and short. Hungry people recognize no law, no ethics and no morals.

[Kaleva]

88. Without gas, they won't get far.

If it's winter and the roads aren't plowed, they won't get far.

[Farmer-Rick]

101. Yeah sooooo?

I won't be the one fleeing the cities, seaside or deserts.

Not saying it will be Valhalla but it will be something better than Nothing.

[Wounded Bear]

22. K & R...nt

[robodruid1]

23. Missing Words

Not one word on Nuclear Power.

Hard to take him seriously.

[merrifield]

29. He thinks it's too late for that.

The feedback loops will start kicking in, especially with the methane deposits in the Arctic starting to blow with the thawing of the tundra. This upcoming El Niño might just push us over the edge into temps that might do us all in.

[robodruid1]

43. Unless he is saying "Game over man"

And we are all going to die, then Nuclear Power is still the only way out.

[NickB79]

55. Add in the loss of the Amazon rainforest for massive carbon release

The forests literally make their own rainfall from transpiration. Once a sufficient amount of forest is destroyed, the rain cycle breaks, the trees die, fires rage, and a feedback loop sets up that turns the Amazon to savannah and grassland.

We're dangerously close to that threshold now, and there's no sign we're going to stop in time.

https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/amazon-rainforest-nearing-savannah-tipping-point-69782

[Farmer-Rick]

39. Putting nukes in the paths of quarter globe sized hurricanes

And city wide sized tornadoes, is asking for trouble.

[paleotn]

48. Candles and reading by firelight then?

[Farmer-Rick]

95. Orrrrr better solar tech.

N/T

[paleotn]

99. Not when it's cloudy, at night or during the Winter.

Or when the wind isn't blowing much. Or the time between significant tidal ebb and flow. Really, the only continuously sustainable renewable is geothermal. The depths of the earth are hot no matter what's going on on the surface. In my mind, nothing is off the table and nuclear can be done safely.

[Farmer-Rick]

102. You're confused about how solar works

I have some systems already on solar and they run all night long in rain or shine.

[Farmer-Rick]

128. So is insulting me and

Pretending you haven't personally attacked me 5 times already is purely amazing.

Thanks for the insults and the personal attacks, do you win the "I got away with it" award?

[paleotn]

47. It's got to be in the mix.....

Thorium based nuclear power for instance. It's currently a little used byproduct of rare earth mineral extraction for everyone's cellphones and laptops. My father in law worked on Alvin Weinberg's MSRE team at Oak Ridge in the 60's. He talked about it at length, usually way over my head. "Sorry, Ed, dumb it down. Not my field of engineering."

https://www.ornl.gov/molten-salt-reactor/history

Thorium isn't a panacea, but it does have advantages to light water reactors common today. The point being, there's lots still to learn and lots of benefits. Given where we are with climate change, NOTHING should be off the table at this point.

[paleotn]

24. May very well be. Climatologists have been ultra conservative in their predictions

so as not to be considered shrill and hyperbolic by the reich and media types. So far, the impacts have occurred earlier than predicted. In some cases much, much earlier. I can hear it now....why didn't the scientists warn us?!!!! They did, you idiots, but you called them alarmist. Now, go see if you can eat your SUV.

[Glaisne]

30. This is what happens when you don't listen to scientists but

listen to corporate propaganda and crackpots instead.

[Delphinus]

93. Story in the BBC

a few days ago:
[link:https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-62225696|

The audacious PR plot that seeded doubt about climate change

[betsuni]

31. Thank you, Al Gore for warning us for decades about global warming and

"The Assault on Reason." But "Democratic Establishment" and he's from a wealthy family so all those bullshit attacks make him invisible.

[Ron Green]

40. And yet, try to get people to embrace one of the only effective responses to this emergency:

Economic de-growth. “News” media are assuming that recession is a bad thing, and people right here in this thread are talking about a cockamamie nuclear salvation.

Those who can’t see the earth trying to shake off humans as a toxic species don’t understand that no politician will tell the truth except in the past tense.

[jaxexpat]

74. You are 100% correct about de-growth. But it's too late now.

The effort should have started 50 years ago with population de-growth. But the way it stands today, we could halve the human population today and it's still not going to stabilize the climate of this planet. Do people understand that climate change is going to starve most people and pretty soon? Climate change is disrupting the farm-to-market-to-table system we have built over the last 4000 years. Climate change promises to be worse than any "depression" or recession ever. Farmers will be ever more desperately trying to produce food on unusable land and almost all the newly useable lands will be in places where there is no agriculture support infrastructure. The unpredictability of annual harvest expectations will increase due to more frequent crop failures which will further force more producers off the land. Food scarcity will be the norm and empty shelves common. Expect groceries to become the number one cost in everyone's budget, not housing, heating, transportation or entertainment, greater than even the sum of all those items' costs.

You're also right about nuclear energy. It's a fool's errand and besides, one can't eat electricity. Of course, this isn't coming from a "climatologist" so it may as well be ignored, right?

[hunter]

85. Imagine a politician running on a political platform of "NO NEW CARS..."

...and rebuilding our cities so that most people don't need them.

That wouldn't fly, not even here on DU.

What would all those auto workers do?

How many people here would like to see the population density of their suburban neighborhoods doubled or tripled? Streets closed, parking lots in-filled with attractive energy-efficient high-density apartments and condos, public transportation expanded, etc.?

What we learned from Chernobyl is that humans going about their ordinary business are worse for the natural environment than the very worst sort of nuclear accident. So we have to change our ordinary business. What we now call economic "productivity" is, in fact, a direct measure of the damage we are doing to the earth's natural environments and our own human spirit.


Unfortunately there are now about 8 billion of us. So-called "renewable" energy can't support our population. We've become dependent on high density energy resources, mostly fossil fuels, for our food, water, and shelter. And it's not the poor people who are most dependent on fossil fuels, it's the affluent people.

We've worked ourselves into a terrible corner. Without these high density energy resources half of us wouldn't survive. If we don't quit fossil fuels soon global warming is going to kill even more of us.

I used to be a "live within our means" anti-nuclear activist, and a fairly radical one at that. I'm not any more. Aggressive renewable energy schemes in places like California, Denmark, and Germany have failed. The experiment has been done. These schemes will only prolong our dependence on fossil fuels, especially natural gas.

There's enough natural gas in the ground to destroy whatever is left of the natural environment as we know it. It's best we leave that gas in the ground, even that which supports our renewable energy fantasies.

I figure the U.S.A. could quit fossil fuels in fifteen years if we decided to do it with the same intensity we fought World War II. We have the resources and the technologies, including nuclear power, to do that.

First we have to recognize the problem.

Just before the U.S.A. entered World War II there were still many U.S. Americans who thought Hitler had some good ideas and Japan was too far away to worry about. That's where we are now.

I don't know what the wake-up call is going to be, but it's going to be horrible.

[Marthe48]

45. Is anyone making plans?

I'm really trying to avoid contributing to the problems, but I exist. I think we've been the frog in the heating water for a long time, but even if we have been warned and are aware, we don't personally make many changes to head off climate change. So eventually, probably sooner rather than later, no one will avoid the dangerous effects of climate change-heat, floods, powerful storms, food unavailable, water and electricity gone, no fuel, societal breakdown, mob rule. And wealth won't help, not paper money, not precious metals. If you can make plans now to create a safe location, don't think you'll be safe for long.

I'm almost 70. I probably won't live to see the worst of it. My kids and grandkids will suffer and I can't protect them, whether I'm here or not. If I allow myself to think of it, it brings on despair. Some things, some people will survive, and some species, maybe even some parts of the world we have created. But in 3 or 4 generations, it'll be talked of as a fable.

Earth will heal, and go on being home to something, but I hope the next iteration of Life treats the environment much differently.

[Kaleva]

53. I am

Been doing so for several years. While I'm 63 now, my goal is to set things up to assist the kids and grandkids to adapt.

[NickB79]

60. Yep

42 yr old. Acres of land in Minnesota in an exurb that's still largely farmland. On a well, gardens, orchards, prairie restoration to maintain pollinators. House is heated by a heat pump, propane and a wood stove in winter. Deep basement provides cool temps for root cellaring and refuge in case of a tornado or wet bulb event and loss of AC from blackouts. Chickens for meat and eggs. Adding rabbits and solar next year. Will be debt-free in 5 years. Teaching my daughter how to hunt and fish. She's 12. She'll need all the help she can get. She knows that what I'm building is for her to use when she's older. She's already talking about moving to Canada if she can when she's an adult, though.

[Lancero]

89. I've had a plan for almost two decades.

It involves a bottle of sleeping pills.

Always figured I'd be in my 60's, maybe 70's, before I needed em. Way things are going now, 40's is looking rather optimistic. Probably need to buy that bottle by the end of the decade, keep it on the shelf until the time comes.

I'm lucky though. No kids to worry about, writing on the wall was far more apparent to my generation than others. Many of us are realizing, have realized, how foolish it is to bring kids into a dying world. Of course, not like the rest of the world sees it like that - Apparently, collapsing birth rates are the real threat to civilization.

[Marthe48]

98. Grim

I think each of us will find scraps of comfort, no matter how long we survive.

I think if you are talking about an actual bottle of sleeping pills that are over 20 years old, they might not kill you :/

[Marthe48]

107. I had a friend

in the early 70s. She was a fundy and believed the world was going to end in 5 years. My husband and I had just bought our first house, and I started saving things like old shoes and plastic milk bottles. We read Mother Earth News. I learned about wild food foraging, and still have those skills.

The 5 years came and went. She had moved away from the area, so we didn't see each other often. I saw her maybe 6 years after she had warned us the world would end and asked her about it. She had some lame story that her preacher had miscalculated. After that visit, I cleaned all the crap out of the basement and stopped believing that the end of our world would be a divine event. Science is science and I don't have much hope for a good outcome.

We sold that lovely place, and moved to a small town. in 1998, the first derecho we ever experienced hit our area. I was driving around town with an exchange student from Spain we had hosted when it hit. A tree fell in front of our car, but we got around and headed home, basically seeing the power failure before our eyes, traffic and street lights going dark. My husband was at home, and the closer I got, the more worried I was. Our house was okay. He was sitting on the floor with the cats, said he was waiting for the roof to fly off. We knew the storm wasn't over. I got some boxes to pack some of the class and china we had collected. It was so overwhelming, to think what to pack, what to save, where to put it, I didn't even try. Luckily, the worst for us was we lost power and got it back the next day. But since that experience, wanting to save things I loved and realizing I probably couldn't, I am fatalistic. We had another derecho in 2012, and lost some trees in our yard. I used to enjoy summer storms, but now I dread the next one. I hate that we harmed the Earth to the point that she has lost patience with us, and is turning our harm into her punishment.

[Kaleva]

113. Those with adult kids and older grandkids may have a better chance of survival

And us older people may be able to help the younger to survive.

[Marthe48]

124. It'll certainly help to cooperate

and share knowledge and lore.

[Auggie]

96. Stuck in California for the near future

Otherwise I'd be headed for the Pacific Northwest

[Marthe48]

110. Found a list of derecho events

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_derecho_events

In my area, these are more worrisome than tornadoes and hurricanes, at least for now.

[DSandra]

135. It should be known to future generations that capitalism caused this

Capitalism via the industrial revolution, capitalism via the prioritizing of commerce and greed above all else, the production addiction, the lack of care to the environment, the addiction to profits and growth, and ultimately the coverup by the industry that knew decades prior to public knowledge what would ultimately happen. Capitalism bred and fueled societal insanity.

[CrispyQ]

56. The oil companies just posted the biggest profits in their history.

Despite our big brain, we lack the imagination to visualize how drastically we've changed our planet.

[Xavier Breath]

58. A couple of years back I read an interview

with someone of the same opinion as this scientist. I can't recall the article's title or even the publication, but it essentially drew the same dark conclusions. At one point the interviewer asked what if anything we could do as a people to halt the slide. The scientist responded that the slide couldn't be halted, and all that was left to do was to treat everyone as humanely as possible for as long as we can.

[Kaleva]

62. We can strive to adapt

The effects of climate change will not be uniform around the world. Some regions will be devastated, some not so bad and others will become more suitable for human habitation.

[Xavier Breath]

69. True, we can strive to do a lot of things.

Doesn't mean we'll succeed, though. Given the combined selfishness and outright avarice exhibited by the powerful of this planet, and the complete obstruction to any real action to this point, I know the outcome I'd bet on occurring.

But, I'd much rather you be right in this instance.

[Kid Berwyn]

59. Those who can afford to survive may even prosper.

[H2O Man]

70. Recommended.

My west coast brother just retired from working at a university, where he used to have lunch with the earth science faculty. They all said that it is not a question that the crisis becomes worse and rapidly gains force, even if human being stopped polluting the environment immediately.

[sky_masterson]

76. It's been too late for years.

Never thought I'd live to experience the Apocalypse.

[Kaleva]

77. Climate change is happening much faster then earlier predicted.

[Mosby]

78. Fareed Zakaria wrote this piece 15 years ago

Global Warming: Get Used To It

https://www.newsweek.com/global-warming-get-used-it-104789

[roamer65]

83. Population crash in 3...2...1....

[Elessar Zappa]

86. I'm in the camp that the worst case scenario can still be avoided.

But we’re still going to see a lot of disasters no matter what we do now. It’s best to focus on adaptation so we can preserve civilization.

[Kaleva]

100. I agree

[Initech]

111. Want to know who to blame? Thank Rupert Murdoch and 20+ years of climate science denial.

Fuck Rupert Murdoch, Satan will have a special circle of hell reserved just for him.

[Kaleva]

114. It will take over a thousand years for CO2 to naturally dissipate

"Press is correct that CO2 can take “hundreds of thousands of years to be fully removed from the atmosphere by natural processes following its emission”, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Scientists say that even if CO2 emissions were to be reduced to net zero, global temperatures would begin to stabilize, though not fall substantially."

https://deceleration.news/2022/06/17/1977-white-house-climate-memo/

[Patton French]

115. Too late?

So, then what?

[Kaleva]

116. We struggle to survive in the brave, new world

[Mosby]

122. Best places to live

https://www.thebalancesmb.com/best-places-to-live-in-a-climate-change-future-4582407

[Meowmee]

133. Then we all die

Those of us who are still alive. It will be like the movie dreams or something.
I agree that it is already too late and has been for quite a while. But whatever can be done should be anyway. Mostly population control since that is the cause.

[Brainfodder]

121. Reminder to thank Big Oil and Big Coal and Big Paper and Plastic, on your way out?

So when does the world orgy hedonism gala begin?

All this has been so long in the making with warnings, I am in middle 50's I recall too many times, ignored and Big WTF steps in and nothing happens.

Big Oil is an abusive SOB, costs yoyo so much it has to be B$!!!
Govts should have taken them over long ago and yeah it is that fucking obviou$.
Same for utilities, all of them, or you like your gouging on the monthly as is?