[HN Gopher] Carbon budget will exhaust in 10 years at current em...
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       Carbon budget will exhaust in 10 years at current emission levels:
       IPCC report
        
       Author : boplicity
       Score  : 15 points
       Date   : 2021-08-12 18:30 UTC (4 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.downtoearth.org.in)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.downtoearth.org.in)
        
       | boplicity wrote:
       | I think the goal, at this point, should be to do anything we can
       | to give us breathing room.
       | 
       | Maybe over the next two years, we can turn things around enough
       | so that we still have 10 years before we hit the emissions limit.
       | 
       | Even that, though, would require dramatic investments that I'm
       | not seeing right now.
        
       | raffraffraff wrote:
       | I was under the impression that we're way past the point where we
       | should be removing co2 from the atmosphere instead of talking
       | about some emmissions _budget_. There _is no budget_. Practically
       | nobody I 've ever spoken to on the subject of climate change
       | actually knows what the 1.5C "thing" is all about. The assumption
       | most people seem to make is that we're fine for now, we just have
       | to make sure that "some temperature" doesn't exceed "some value"
       | by 1.5C, within, uh... "some time frame". In other words: don't
       | worry! The boffins have drawn a nice safe imaginary line
       | somewhere, and future generations better not cross it or bad
       | things will happen to polar bears! But don't worry, keep eating
       | steak and driving everywhere and buying shit you don't need, and
       | of course you can fly transatlantic as long as you're vaccinated!
       | 
       | That while 1.5C thing was supposed to be a "DO NOT CROSS" worst-
       | case-scenario. But it was domed from the start because it was
       | based on a lot of best case scenarios (like magic co2 capture
       | that doesn't exist) and didn't even account for the multitude of
       | feedback loops that were thought _possible_ (but actually all
       | happening).
       | 
       | I did a deep dive on this stuff 4 years ago. I was already
       | vegetarian and don't drive, don't have kids. All I could really
       | do was give up flying (which I did). I'm done worrying about this
       | stuff. I know we're fucked, but I refuse to let it bother me.
       | It's funny having it ignored for years until suddenly the weather
       | actually turned to shit and people all start to talk about it
       | like it's a surprise.
       | 
       | Sorry. I'm drunk and pissed off seeing this shit.
        
         | ipspam wrote:
         | I agree, but in a totally different way. We are past the
         | tipping point. To destroy capitalism and everything that got us
         | here is a VERY risky strategy.
         | 
         | Instead, it's full steam ahead. Technology will save us from
         | ourselves. Or not. But that's the only realistic option.
         | 
         | On a positive note, we've been here many many times before and
         | overcome. There would be no trees left without coal. There
         | would be no whales left without petroleum. Now we are on to
         | coal, petroleum, natural gas, nuclear, and renewables.
         | 
         | Whatever budget anyone thinks there is, life goes on. Coal will
         | be the next to go, and probably in about 50 years.
        
           | tuatoru wrote:
           | Capitalism got "destroyed" in WW II for a while. The US
           | government told US factories what to make, and US growers
           | what to grow.
           | 
           | Changed circumstances need changed responses.
        
       | chewz wrote:
       | In other news. China reopens 44 coal plants. Europe is stocking
       | coal like crazy for winter so coal prices reached all time high
       | at Rotterdam.
        
       | newbamboo wrote:
       | "As of September 2017, there are two new reactors under
       | construction with a gross electrical capacity of 2,500 MW, while
       | 39 reactors have been permanently shut down. ... More than 100
       | orders for nuclear power reactors, many already under
       | construction, were canceled in the 1970s and 1980s, bankrupting
       | some companies."
       | 
       | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_in_the_United_...
       | 
       | Split wood not atoms.
        
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       (page generated 2021-08-12 23:02 UTC)