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hatrack

(59,587 posts)
Sun Jul 25, 2021, 12:52 PM Jul 2021

"All Of This Is Happening Exactly As We Have Known It Would Happen" As Climate Disasters Accelerate

The panicked commuters of Zhengzhou, China, could only stand on seats and cling to poles in a desperate attempt to keep their heads above the muddy torrent this past week, as floodwaters from record-breaking rains inundated the subway system. On the other side of the planet, in Gresham, Ore., a 61-year-old maker of handcrafted ukuleles slowly died in June as searing temperatures made an oven out of his lifelong home — one of at least 800 victims of what one scientist called “the most anomalous heat event ever observed on Earth.” Massive floods deluged Central Europe, Nigeria, Uganda and India in recent days, killing hundreds. June’s scorching temperatures, followed by a fast-moving wildfire, erased a Canadian town. More than a million people are close to starvation amid Madagascar’s worst drought in decades. In Siberia, tens of thousands of square miles of forest are ablaze, potentially unleashing carbon stored in the frozen ground below.

In Italy on Friday, a top U.N. climate official once again pleaded for the world to heed the alarm bells, reminding leaders that these catastrophes are simply the latest in a ghastly string of warnings that the planet is hurtling down a treacherous path. “What more can numbers show us that we cannot already see? What more can statistics say about the flooding, the wildfires, the droughts and hurricanes and other deadly events?” United Nations Climate Change Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa told a gathering of energy and environment ministers from G-20 nations. “Numbers and statistics are invaluable, but what the world requires now, more than anything else, is climate action.”

EDIT

Speaking before a group of powerful senators, a NASA scientist outlined the grim reality facing the planet: Human carbon emissions had raised global average temperatures to the highest levels in recorded history. Heat waves, drought and other extreme weather were disrupting people’s everyday lives. “The greenhouse effect has been detected,” James Hansen said, “and it is changing our climate now.” That was June 1988. Four years later, countries around the globe created the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or UNFCCC, in which they agreed to “stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.”

Yet in the decades since, people have emitted more carbon dioxide than they did in the entire century prior. And many of the catastrophes Hansen warned about have come to pass. “All of this is happening exactly as we have known it would happen,” said Fredi Otto, a climate scientist at the University of Oxford and co-lead of the World Weather Attribution initiative.

EDIT

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/07/24/amid-summer-fire-floods-moment-truth-climate-action/

29 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
"All Of This Is Happening Exactly As We Have Known It Would Happen" As Climate Disasters Accelerate (Original Post) hatrack Jul 2021 OP
we'll take half hearted measures.... bahboo Jul 2021 #1
'Tis not slow. Duppers Jul 2021 #22
Maybe, "Let's just wait and see what happens," wasn't actually the best plan. Jim__ Jul 2021 #2
And not fooled Jul 2021 #11
much sooner CloudWatcher Jul 2021 #12
Uh-HUH. calimary Jul 2021 #16
Uh-HUH. calimary Jul 2021 #17
It was short term profits ... Auggie Jul 2021 #13
The ever popular,"It's God's will." n/t spike jones Jul 2021 #20
What a cop out that is, huh? SergeStorms Jul 2021 #27
One of the worst examples of this was a loaded hand gun was left unsecured spike jones Jul 2021 #28
So it would be "god's will".... SergeStorms Jul 2021 #29
Put more simply: House of Roberts Jul 2021 #3
++ appalachiablue Jul 2021 #4
++++++ Doc Sportello Jul 2021 #5
Loved your movie, Doc. SergeStorms Jul 2021 #7
I feel the same way Doc Sportello Jul 2021 #23
I agree. Phoenix IS Sportello! SergeStorms Jul 2021 #25
That's really cool Doc Sportello Jul 2021 #26
Nick Lowe wrote this magnificent song... RobertDevereaux Jul 2021 #9
Thanks for the deserved recognition for Lowe Doc Sportello Jul 2021 #24
Proud dirty fucking hippie since 1969 rickyhall Jul 2021 #14
I remember the first Earth Day. CrispyQ Jul 2021 #6
As much as the political will there is the financial fist shoving back the other way. Ford_Prefect Jul 2021 #10
Our science class bucolic_frolic Jul 2021 #8
I was to the first Earth Day in the everning. twodogsbarking Jul 2021 #15
But but but, Jim Inhofe had a snowball...! Grokenstein Jul 2021 #18
The world acted in unison when the ozone layer was found to have a hole. Fox is to blame for Pepsidog Jul 2021 #19
There isn't any doubt in my mind that humans will not do any significant to slow down climate change marie999 Jul 2021 #21

bahboo

(16,346 posts)
1. we'll take half hearted measures....
Sun Jul 25, 2021, 12:58 PM
Jul 2021

and the slow degradation of life on our planet will continue...especially for the non rich. Governments just lack the will to do what needs to be done...

Duppers

(28,125 posts)
22. 'Tis not slow.
Sun Jul 25, 2021, 04:30 PM
Jul 2021

And this isn't a temporary phase as some folks would like to think. The planet has flipped faster than most models predicted and is only accelerating.

And you're right, even governments have lacked the will - they've only been after-the-fact crisis managers, not planners.

We consumers have a BIG say in this. A few important things:
Stop burning fossil fuels (traveling).
Stop having more than 2 children (better yet, have only one...or NONE, as my only child has decided to do). Because it is we consumers who are the biggest drivers of global warming.


not fooled

(5,801 posts)
11. And
Sun Jul 25, 2021, 02:56 PM
Jul 2021

"Whatever's going to happen will take place after I'm gone, so I'll just keep on doing the same thing to make money."

Except--oops--it's taking place within their lifetimes, much sooner than they anticipated.





CloudWatcher

(1,848 posts)
12. much sooner
Sun Jul 25, 2021, 03:02 PM
Jul 2021

"Happening Exactly As We Have Known It Would Happen" is wrong ... it's been faster than the worst-case estimates.

Auggie

(31,173 posts)
13. It was short term profits ...
Sun Jul 25, 2021, 03:10 PM
Jul 2021

plus (IMO) the belief by the 1% they could simply buy their way out of any problem or preemptively plan ahead.

SergeStorms

(19,201 posts)
27. What a cop out that is, huh?
Sun Jul 25, 2021, 09:25 PM
Jul 2021

Relinquish all personal responsibility and wish it away. That one burns my ass more than any other.

spike jones

(1,680 posts)
28. One of the worst examples of this was a loaded hand gun was left unsecured
Tue Jul 27, 2021, 04:54 PM
Jul 2021

and a child got it and killed himself.
The mother said, “It was God’s will.”

SergeStorms

(19,201 posts)
29. So it would be "god's will"....
Tue Jul 27, 2021, 07:21 PM
Jul 2021

that my foot would be so far up her ass she could read my shoe size?

Religion is a psychiatric disorder.

House of Roberts

(5,177 posts)
3. Put more simply:
Sun Jul 25, 2021, 01:04 PM
Jul 2021

The dirty effing hippies have been proven right again.

(Proud dirty effing hippie since 1970)

SergeStorms

(19,201 posts)
7. Loved your movie, Doc.
Sun Jul 25, 2021, 02:39 PM
Jul 2021

'Inherent Vice'. Very entertaining. Great cast. One of the very few movies I can watch again and again, and still be entertained.

Doc Sportello

(7,522 posts)
23. I feel the same way
Sun Jul 25, 2021, 05:05 PM
Jul 2021

It walks a fine line of humor and animus, while capturing a time and place like nothing else I've seen. Pynchon is a great writer but this is one where I thought the movie was actually better than the novel. Joaquin IS Doc.

SergeStorms

(19,201 posts)
25. I agree. Phoenix IS Sportello!
Sun Jul 25, 2021, 06:09 PM
Jul 2021

Brolin IS 'Bigfoot'. Waterston IS Shasta Fay. The entire cast live their roles perfectly.

As a matter of fact, I probably haven't watched it in a year or so. I haven't watched it AC ( after covid) that I can recall. Guess what's going to be popped in the DVD player tonight?

Doc Sportello

(7,522 posts)
26. That's really cool
Sun Jul 25, 2021, 07:01 PM
Jul 2021

I think it is underrated by some critics. It's not just a stoner movie, although I have to admit I do enjoy it after an edible. Enjoy.

Doc Sportello

(7,522 posts)
24. Thanks for the deserved recognition for Lowe
Sun Jul 25, 2021, 05:08 PM
Jul 2021

To me the song is just such a great counterpoint to the greed is good 80s and cynicism that followed.

rickyhall

(4,889 posts)
14. Proud dirty fucking hippie since 1969
Sun Jul 25, 2021, 03:12 PM
Jul 2021

I caught onto "Global warming" in high school chemistry after a lecture on CO2 and that it continues to accumulate and holds heat in, thus continuing to raise the temperature, etc.

CrispyQ

(36,478 posts)
6. I remember the first Earth Day.
Sun Jul 25, 2021, 01:40 PM
Jul 2021

The entire community planned events and all the schools let out. Little kids helped clean & pick up the parks & we high schoolers picked up garbage from the sides of the roads. There was other stuff, too, all week long. I remember Carter's solar panels on the White House & Reagan taking them down almost immediately. There is no political will to change, much less at the pace that needs to happen.

Ford_Prefect

(7,901 posts)
10. As much as the political will there is the financial fist shoving back the other way.
Sun Jul 25, 2021, 02:55 PM
Jul 2021

The extraction industries and the governments who profit from and by them have only one agenda. The portions of government still beholden to voters and a civil society have fought hard but they cannot stop the Oil Lobby and the Mining lobby and the MIC. When Saudi Oil Princes and Military Arms procurers determine our foreign policy and can remove or muzzle Congressional critics, Prime Ministers and Presidents we are in deep trouble indeed.

One estimate of the impact the "endless wars" has had on the environment was that with all the ordinance fired, exploded or burned, with all the aircraft flying missions or delivering troops and equipment, with all the vehicles, tanks and generators burning millions of gallons of diesel, along with the burning of towns and cities, that the world had been put back more than 2 decades in terms of improvements made to air quality generally. This leaves out comment on the effects of burning the Amazon forests or the whole question of the acrid cloud above industrialized China.


bucolic_frolic

(43,182 posts)
8. Our science class
Sun Jul 25, 2021, 02:39 PM
Jul 2021

received seedlings on the First Earth Day. Mine is about 75 feet tall now. It's doing its job. More so than everyone else.

Pepsidog

(6,254 posts)
19. The world acted in unison when the ozone layer was found to have a hole. Fox is to blame for
Sun Jul 25, 2021, 03:30 PM
Jul 2021

America’s failure to lead the world with their crack-pot fake scientists. I hate Fox, Murdoch and rw media.

 

marie999

(3,334 posts)
21. There isn't any doubt in my mind that humans will not do any significant to slow down climate change
Sun Jul 25, 2021, 03:46 PM
Jul 2021

I am glad that we won't be alive in 30 years. Unfortunately, we have great-grandchildren as young as 2. Their lives will be miserable at best. I feel sorry for the animals.

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