Warming of oceans due to climate change is unstoppable, say US scientists

[Javaman]

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jul/16/warming-of-oceans-due-to-climate-change-is-unstoppable-say-us-scientists

Seas will continue to warm for centuries even if manmade greenhouse gas emissions were frozen at today’s levels, say US government scientists

The warming of the oceans due to climate change is now unstoppable after record temperatures last year, bringing additional sea-level rise, and raising the risks of severe storms, US government climate scientists said on Thursday.

The annual State of the Climate in 2014 report, based on research from 413 scientists from 58 countries, found record warming on the surface and upper levels of the oceans, especially in the North Pacific, in line with earlier findings of 2014 as the hottest year on record.

Global sea-level also reached a record high, with the expansion of those warming waters, keeping pace with the 3.2 ± 0.4 mm per year trend in sea level growth over the past two decades, the report said.


more at link...

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we had a good run. did some cool things, did some truly horrible things. we were a mere blip on the radar of the history of the world. But what a blip we were. I hail the future cockroach overlords.

[randome]

1. I think climate change should be our #1 priority.

But when they focus on something people can easily dismiss, it does us no good. Sea level rise? The vast majority of people can't picture it. The 'risk' of worse storms? Pffft! What's that mean to the average layman? Not a damned thing.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]I'm always right. When I'm wrong I admit it.
So then I'm right about being wrong.[/center][/font][hr]

[yeoman6987]

2. Very depressing article

I figured as much. It was a good run through. Maybe some innovative young person may find a way to reverse it. Who knows.

[BlueJazz]

6. I heard somewhere that climate change will be fixed by a person working in their garage

[hatrack]

7. "Save Us, A Person Working In A Garage Somewhere! You're Our Only Hope!"

[Moral Compass]

3. It is becoming clear that climate engineering on a global scale is our only alternative…

It is a very unpleasant and very very uncertain alternative. But it is becoming increasingly clear that if we do nothing we as a species will probably become extinct along with many other of our fellow species.

I'm not certain what sorts of things could be done to start reflecting back some of the solar energy pouring into our system but I'm pretty sure that there are some things that we could entertain. One of them would be to sow the upper atmosphere with reflective materials. Similar to what a large-scale volcanic eruption does. We would probably have to do it over and over and over again. Possibly for centuries . But that may be our only chance. Would it be better to do that than quietly die.

There are all sorts of ethical issues that will instantly arise if something like this is proposed. One of the problems with this sort of climate engineering is that you could end up making some areas very very dry and some areas very very wet. In addition you could bring on a mini Ice Age in northern climates that would make life very very unpleasant if not impossible for people living in those latitudes.

Some of the changes would probably result in famines and other forms of mass death. However, with the threat of extinction looming what choice for you matter to we have?

What do you think? Should we quietly die? It won't be particularly quiet. The resource wars that will and are already breaking out are going to be brutal, bloody, and utterly violent.

Or should we try to re engineer our climate to try and cool our world? We won't be able to completely predict the outcome whatever methods we use. The climate is an incredibly complex system that we are only just now beginning to understand. But we do understand enough to know that we are in the process of drowning in our own heat.

[Javaman]

4. we, as a species, will solve climate change. Particularly the heating up part...

when things get really bad and more and more wars break out, some "smart" nation will launch a nuclear strike causing a nuclear winter.

there...fixed.

[Uncle Joe]

10. I'm just speculating on possible treatments to slow down the rising temperature.

One possible treatment may be to cover dark heat absorbing tundra which has been exposed by receding heat reflecting glaciers with giant reflective white sheets of canvas or some such material?

Not the total answer by any stretch, our energy sources much change rapidly as well along with a host of unknown remedies, but I wonder if that would help slow the receding glaciers?

[Lancero]

20. Climate engineering for long term...

Though short term, we're going to need to look into genetic engineering in order to adapt food crops to survive the quickly changing weather. And even then, plants genetically engineered for greater carbon absorption, or a quicker growth rate, will likely play a part in climate engineering.

I've made a post on similar a while back, but it still rings true - In the face of climate change, genetic engineering - GMOs - are going to be a necessity for our survival. And it is a true pity that such is now seen as a evil of the highest caliber.

Humanity is doomed long term, as sad as this makes me to say it. One side got us into this mess, and the other is working tirelessly to make people hate what could help humanity survive.

[The2ndWheel]

21. Yes, any way we go nothing will be perfect

But, the only alternative, to what? Is there one direction we're all going in? Is it diagonally to the top right of the graph? That's always where the good stuff is anyway. Up, and to the right. Up, and to the right. Up, and to the right.

Like you say, climate engineering would probably solve a few issues, but then it would create new ones too. That we would then be forced to solve. Which would then create new problems. Which we would have to solve. Which would then create new problems. We can't escape physical reality.

We can't stop, but we can't continue. Prisoners of history, and slaves to the future.

[G_j]

5. posted this earlier,

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=edit&forum=1002&thread=6979451

Earth's Degradation Threatens Major Health Gains: Study

https://www.yahoo.com/health/earths-degradation-threatens-major-health-gains-124204503917.html


The dramatic decline of bees has already compromised the quantity and quality of many nutrient-rich crops that the health of women and children depend on. (Photo: Corbis)


The unprecedented degradation of Earth’s natural resources coupled with climate change could reverse major gains in human health over the last 150 years, according to a sweeping scientific review published late Wednesday.

“We have been mortgaging the health of future generations to realize economic and development gains in the present,” said the report, written by 15 leading academics and published in the peer-reviewed medical journal The Lancet.

“By unsustainably exploiting nature’s resources, human civilization has flourished but now risks substantial health effects from the degradation of nature’s life support systems in the future.”

Climate change, ocean acidification, depleted water sources, polluted land, over-fishing, biodiversity loss — all unintended by-products of humanity’s drive to develop and prosper — “pose serious challenges to the global health gains of the past several decades,” especially in poorer nations, the 60-page report concludes.

The likely impacts on global health of climate change, ranging from expanded disease vectors to malnourishment, have been examined by the UN’s panel of top climate scientists. But the new report, entitled Safeguarding Human Health in the Anthropocene Epoch, takes an even broader view.

..more..

[bahrbearian]

8. Party like there's No Tomorrow.

[hifiguy]

9. It will not kill off humanity.

We are a pretty resilient species.

But figure on a die-off of 30-60% over the next century, and a further 20% being worked and neglected to death by the plutocracy.

We are on the eve of a new Dark Ages for a couple of hundred years.

[geomon666]

12. Oh I think we can get pretty close to endangered species status.

Especially if we continue to do nothing about it and the climate gets worse than just sea level rise.

[gratuitous]

11. Well, in that case

We can all admit that global climate change is a thing, and why didn't you dirty fucking hippies do something about it sooner? You could have at least told someone. This is all your fault!

There. Just covered the next 12 months of environmental programming on Fox.

[DFW]

13. We're noticing this here on Cape Cod.

There is a 6 mile wide stretch of land here in Truro between the Bay and the ocean. Used to be, the ocean was so cold, you needed a wet suit to stay in the water for any length of time. Starfish clung to the rocks and horseshoe crabs used to come up to the shoreline at low tide. Now, the ocean is warmer than the bay used to be, erosion is at a galloping pace (Cape should be gone in a few centuries), the starfish are gone, as are the sand dollars and horseshoe crabs. Seals are coming in summer by the thousands, and great white sharks, which feed on seals, are now seen here frequently. They were practically unknown here twenty years ago.

[mnhtnbb]

16. The water off NC coast has been much warmer, much earlier this summer

and the scientists say that is contributing to the record number of shark attacks
in NC waters.

We're going to the beach this Sunday, and my husband--who loves to body surf--says
he won't go in the ocean! Good thing we rented a house with a pool this year.

[artislife]

14. Warm oceans killing fish and other life.

Radiation from Fukusima, Plastic islands, warm waters, oil spills, et cetera et cetera.

We have ruined this planet.

[951-Riverside]

15. Talk is cheap. We must reduce the world's population by at least 50% within the next 100 years

Our booming human population is a disease and a virus that is choking the planet. We need to do this before this planet turns into a barren rock like mars but we cannot do this simply by telling people not to have children or by sterilization because there will be mass resistance, cancer might be the last key to our salvation.

[Javaman]

18. no worry, climate change has that covered. nt

[raouldukelives]

17. Nobody cares.

"Huh! Sounds awful! Sure hope somebody can do something about this! Hey, how is the DOW today?"



A liberal investor is, at best, every bit as progressive and honorable as an abolitionist slave owner.

[The2ndWheel]

19. Human progress comes at a cost

Even lions will have consequences if they eat too many zebras. We humans not only need to eat, but we need to be more than whatever we are. We need complex education, and careers, and money, and retirement, and entertainment, and more ways to travel than just our own two feet, and whatever else we can think of. The more we do and need, the bigger the cost.

I know why that's difficult to accept. Because as someone once said; we're human beings, god damn it! Our lives have value!