My hot take - climate change is about to hit in a major way!

[Anonymous]

It’s like Don’t Look Up. Denial. Profits. Our quality of life will go down, it already has for many people. But the rich will find a way around it and the rest will scramble for resources.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who else has read The Ministry for the Future? Now when I hear reports about heat waves in India, it's terrifying.

I was in India during the heatwave in March/April. Understand that it was not even the height of summer. Normal life came to a standstill in the middle of the day. Trees, plants and crops wilted. It was the kind of oppressive heat that prevented most of us from leaving the house. Animals and birds were dying. Immense water scarcity coupled with huge amounts of mosquitos. Rancid and putrid smells from many open sewage drains. It was hell. It was horrifying. Temperatures were looming at 110 degree Fahrenheit. Yesterday, when DC was at 90 degrees, I thought it was a normal weather because it was bearable. Otherwise, the air at 105 - 110 degrees felt so hot that it hurts your lungs to breathe it in.

I feel all of us need to plant more trees around our homes. Get rid of lawns. Dig some trenches to do rain harvesting on your property and recharge the ground level of water. Stop using pesticide, weed killers and fertilizers. Plant clovers to fix nitrogen in the lawn. Compost your kitchen waste.

On an individual level, I do everything you state above. My yard is full of trees and no pesticides or insecticides and I compost food waste. I even have solar panels and our next car will be electric.

Unfortunately this is a situation where individual action really does not matter. I still live in a suburban house and drive everywhere because I couldn’t afford something else for my family and deliberate policy decisions created the modern suburb. Governments have to take drastic action to move the needle here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s like Don’t Look Up. Denial. Profits. Our quality of life will go down, it already has for many people. But the rich will find a way around it and the rest will scramble for resources.

What I do not understand is why the rich and famous keep buying beach-front mansions.

They MUST know those properties will soon literally be under water, due to rising sea levels.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who else has read The Ministry for the Future? Now when I hear reports about heat waves in India, it's terrifying.

I was in India during the heatwave in March/April. Understand that it was not even the height of summer. Normal life came to a standstill in the middle of the day. Trees, plants and crops wilted. It was the kind of oppressive heat that prevented most of us from leaving the house. Animals and birds were dying. Immense water scarcity coupled with huge amounts of mosquitos. Rancid and putrid smells from many open sewage drains. It was hell. It was horrifying. Temperatures were looming at 110 degree Fahrenheit. Yesterday, when DC was at 90 degrees, I thought it was a normal weather because it was bearable. Otherwise, the air at 105 - 110 degrees felt so hot that it hurts your lungs to breathe it in.

I feel all of us need to plant more trees around our homes. Get rid of lawns. Dig some trenches to do rain harvesting on your property and recharge the ground level of water. Stop using pesticide, weed killers and fertilizers. Plant clovers to fix nitrogen in the lawn. Compost your kitchen waste.

Lawns are dumb.

Huge lawn are super dumb.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's frustrating that climate change will cause such misery in the coming decades and so few people care. I don't understand how even selfish people aren't at least concerned about what their own children will live through. Is it a state of denial?

I think because it is likely to cause harm to so few people and most of those people are not in the US. hard for people to see. It is really unclear as to impact in the US even in long term.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's frustrating that climate change will cause such misery in the coming decades and so few people care. I don't understand how even selfish people aren't at least concerned about what their own children will live through. Is it a state of denial?

I think because it is likely to cause harm to so few people and most of those people are not in the US. hard for people to see. It is really unclear as to impact in the US even in long term.

Fires, hurricanes, eroding sea levels, flooding? It is harming Americans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who else has read The Ministry for the Future? Now when I hear reports about heat waves in India, it's terrifying.

I was in India during the heatwave in March/April. Understand that it was not even the height of summer. Normal life came to a standstill in the middle of the day. Trees, plants and crops wilted. It was the kind of oppressive heat that prevented most of us from leaving the house. Animals and birds were dying. Immense water scarcity coupled with huge amounts of mosquitos. Rancid and putrid smells from many open sewage drains. It was hell. It was horrifying. Temperatures were looming at 110 degree Fahrenheit. Yesterday, when DC was at 90 degrees, I thought it was a normal weather because it was bearable. Otherwise, the air at 105 - 110 degrees felt so hot that it hurts your lungs to breathe it in.

I feel all of us need to plant more trees around our homes. Get rid of lawns. Dig some trenches to do rain harvesting on your property and recharge the ground level of water. Stop using pesticide, weed killers and fertilizers. Plant clovers to fix nitrogen in the lawn. Compost your kitchen waste.

On an individual level, I do everything you state above. My yard is full of trees and no pesticides or insecticides and I compost food waste. I even have solar panels and our next car will be electric.

Unfortunately this is a situation where individual action really does not matter. I still live in a suburban house and drive everywhere because I couldn’t afford something else for my family and deliberate policy decisions created the modern suburb. Governments have to take drastic action to move the needle here.

Yes, it’s going to have to be governmental, but until we get rid of the GOP and their constant hampering of progress, it’s going to be down to the individual.

Native perennials are even better than trees at sequestering carbon. Many people can turn over at least some turf to native perennials and in return start sequestering carbon (and creating habitat for birds and pollinators, since in addition to global warming we’re also killing all our birds and beneficial insects).

[Anonymous]

Luckily humans have the ability to adapt. It's a shame that climate studies and conversations intentionally leave that factor out to make things sound far worse than they are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who else has read The Ministry for the Future? Now when I hear reports about heat waves in India, it's terrifying.

I was in India during the heatwave in March/April. Understand that it was not even the height of summer. Normal life came to a standstill in the middle of the day. Trees, plants and crops wilted. It was the kind of oppressive heat that prevented most of us from leaving the house. Animals and birds were dying. Immense water scarcity coupled with huge amounts of mosquitos. Rancid and putrid smells from many open sewage drains. It was hell. It was horrifying. Temperatures were looming at 110 degree Fahrenheit. Yesterday, when DC was at 90 degrees, I thought it was a normal weather because it was bearable. Otherwise, the air at 105 - 110 degrees felt so hot that it hurts your lungs to breathe it in.

I feel all of us need to plant more trees around our homes. Get rid of lawns. Dig some trenches to do rain harvesting on your property and recharge the ground level of water. Stop using pesticide, weed killers and fertilizers. Plant clovers to fix nitrogen in the lawn. Compost your kitchen waste.

On an individual level, I do everything you state above. My yard is full of trees and no pesticides or insecticides and I compost food waste. I even have solar panels and our next car will be electric.

Unfortunately this is a situation where individual action really does not matter. I still live in a suburban house and drive everywhere because I couldn’t afford something else for my family and deliberate policy decisions created the modern suburb. Governments have to take drastic action to move the needle here.

Yes, it’s going to have to be governmental, but until we get rid of the GOP and their constant hampering of progress, it’s going to be down to the individual.

Native perennials are even better than trees at sequestering carbon. Many people can turn over at least some turf to native perennials and in return start sequestering carbon (and creating habitat for birds and pollinators, since in addition to global warming we’re also killing all our birds and beneficial insects).

All we have to do is get rid of the GOP, lower our standard of living, and global warming will slow? We can ignore other large carbon polluters like India and China?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Luckily humans have the ability to adapt. It's a shame that climate studies and conversations intentionally leave that factor out to make things sound far worse than they are.

No they don't Every srious conversation about climate change is about 1. trying to keep the global changes below 2 degrees (because really, survival at much more than that will be miserable) and 2. what we need to do infrastructure-wise to prepare for changes. We have done almost nothing in the U.S. with cities that are about be swallowed by fire and water.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who else has read The Ministry for the Future? Now when I hear reports about heat waves in India, it's terrifying.

I was in India during the heatwave in March/April. Understand that it was not even the height of summer. Normal life came to a standstill in the middle of the day. Trees, plants and crops wilted. It was the kind of oppressive heat that prevented most of us from leaving the house. Animals and birds were dying. Immense water scarcity coupled with huge amounts of mosquitos. Rancid and putrid smells from many open sewage drains. It was hell. It was horrifying. Temperatures were looming at 110 degree Fahrenheit. Yesterday, when DC was at 90 degrees, I thought it was a normal weather because it was bearable. Otherwise, the air at 105 - 110 degrees felt so hot that it hurts your lungs to breathe it in.

I feel all of us need to plant more trees around our homes. Get rid of lawns. Dig some trenches to do rain harvesting on your property and recharge the ground level of water. Stop using pesticide, weed killers and fertilizers. Plant clovers to fix nitrogen in the lawn. Compost your kitchen waste.

On an individual level, I do everything you state above. My yard is full of trees and no pesticides or insecticides and I compost food waste. I even have solar panels and our next car will be electric.

Unfortunately this is a situation where individual action really does not matter. I still live in a suburban house and drive everywhere because I couldn’t afford something else for my family and deliberate policy decisions created the modern suburb. Governments have to take drastic action to move the needle here.

Yes, it’s going to have to be governmental, but until we get rid of the GOP and their constant hampering of progress, it’s going to be down to the individual.

Native perennials are even better than trees at sequestering carbon. Many people can turn over at least some turf to native perennials and in return start sequestering carbon (and creating habitat for birds and pollinators, since in addition to global warming we’re also killing all our birds and beneficial insects).

All we have to do is get rid of the GOP, lower our standard of living, and global warming will slow? We can ignore other large carbon polluters like India and China?

\
No, we can't ignore them, but we are doing nothing to help them.
"The financial aid which rich countries promised yet failed to deliver as part of the Paris Agreement signed in 2015 was supposed to help developing countries dump coal for cleaner sources of energy. And while the world berated India and China for weakening the Glasgow Climate Pact’s coal resolution, few questioned the fossil fuel projects being floated in developed nations, like the UK’s Cambo oilfield and the Line 3 oil pipeline between Canada and the US.:

It is al worth considering that:

"India and China are undoubtedly both major emitters, with China responsible for 28 per cent of carbon emissions and India 7 per cent, ranking them first and third in the world.

But as the per capita analysis shows, they slip down the rankings when you account for their huge populations. Between them, China and India are home to more than a third of the planet’s people -36 per cent in total."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you nicer this week’s forecast?

This type of heat wave isn’t normal.

And hurricane season is forecast to be a record breaker (people will die and billions in damage done).

We need action on climate justice RIGHT NOW!

Yes. I have always believed in climate change. And, yes, it's BAD now.

But, I grew up in this area (I'm 52 now). This heat wave is VERY COMMON. I played an outdoor sport and every Memorial day it was 90s, and the springs were warmer and less rain than the past few years in DC. It wasn't unusual to have a hot April.

I remember hot, hot days (90s) and big thunderstorms (my dad sending us to the basement) as a kid.

+1 50yo DC native.

+2 The year of the previous cicada wave (2004 IIRC) it was even hotter in early May.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's frustrating that climate change will cause such misery in the coming decades and so few people care. I don't understand how even selfish people aren't at least concerned about what their own children will live through. Is it a state of denial?

Ok, as a “selfish” person who doesn’t really care, I’ll bite:

1. Even accepting the dire worst case scenario predictions, there is nothing we can do to materially move the needle. There are massive industrial economies in India and China built on fossil fuels. The entire 3rd world runs on the same. Combined, that’s like 80% of the globe and it’s not changing. Composting my table scraps and driving a Prius around Arlington is a vanity exercise.

2. I have a great deal of confidence that as cost-benefit analysis shifts over time (should the situation deteriorate further), more resources and innovation will be brought to bear and we’ll more or less be fine. Lots of smart people out there, and over time the market will properly allocate labor and capital toward the optimal solution(s).

3. Related to 2 above, the most “immediate” impacts of climate change are not going to affect me, my family, my career, etc. Let’s assume there is meaningful coastal erosion and a reshaping of some coastlines and cities. And also that certain areas of the globe become uninhabitable due to extreme heat in the summer. OK. Not great, but people will adjust and I don’t own a beach house. I also wouldn’t go to India for all the tea in China, regardless of temperature.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Luckily humans have the ability to adapt. It's a shame that climate studies and conversations intentionally leave that factor out to make things sound far worse than they are.

Humans are not the only thing that matters on this planet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's frustrating that climate change will cause such misery in the coming decades and so few people care. I don't understand how even selfish people aren't at least concerned about what their own children will live through. Is it a state of denial?

Ok, as a “selfish” person who doesn’t really care, I’ll bite:

1. Even accepting the dire worst case scenario predictions, there is nothing we can do to materially move the needle. There are massive industrial economies in India and China built on fossil fuels. The entire 3rd world runs on the same. Combined, that’s like 80% of the globe and it’s not changing. Composting my table scraps and driving a Prius around Arlington is a vanity exercise.

2. I have a great deal of confidence that as cost-benefit analysis shifts over time (should the situation deteriorate further), more resources and innovation will be brought to bear and we’ll more or less be fine. Lots of smart people out there, and over time the market will properly allocate labor and capital toward the optimal solution(s).

3. Related to 2 above, the most “immediate” impacts of climate change are not going to affect me, my family, my career, etc. Let’s assume there is meaningful coastal erosion and a reshaping of some coastlines and cities. And also that certain areas of the globe become uninhabitable due to extreme heat in the summer. OK. Not great, but people will adjust and I don’t own a beach house. I also wouldn’t go to India for all the tea in China, regardless of temperature.

You are a bad and selfish person. Countless lives will suffer and be lost but since you can’t see that we are all connected, you just don’t care.

Just remember how many people in history have paid dearly for their hubris. You are not an island and will not be able to live without clean water and food.