Is climate change irreversible now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think most of us agree if we can help stop climate change and do our part, it's worthwhile, no matter how small a part.

However, the realist in me feels that it's the wrong perspective.

We should actually be pouring all our money, focus, PR into finding solutions to both maximize the time we have left that has the temperature holding stable and figuring out the plan for when instability happens. I doubt it will take until year 2050 or whatever - I'm thinking by 2025 or 2026, before 2030, we will be at the mercy of weather for most of US.

Ultimately, people are emotional beings and there's just too much weirdness and craziness and greed going on to really impact a positive change on this subject. I don't see us stopping travel, not using plastic to make most products, banning energy sources we would need in order to help climate change. There's just no possibility of us all doing enough. Whether you elect public officials who vow to make it an important cause or not, you gotta face the reality that the world needs and wants what we have. I don't believe for a minute we can just change our lifestyles over the course of a few years so I think we're pretty much going to suffer in 5-10 years.

What we CAN do that would be effective is figure out technology to curb the suffering. Hey, if we're gonna mess up the planet anyway, we may as well come up with some meaningful ways to survive the messed up planet sooner rather than later!!

My thoughts exactly

Your plan means that only the rich will survive. The very people that caused this mess in the first place will suck up ever more resources so that tjey can “adapt”. The poorest always suffer the most.

+1
It’s poor people getting swamped in Bangladesh, it’s girls having to carry water miles, it’s farmers and ranchers in desertifying areas who can no longer feed themselves. I’m not okay with the nihilism because it’s just privileged and pompous and lets everyone off the hook. “Oh well, I didn’t have kids so this is fine.” No, it’s not fine. Not an insignificant number of people on this board are people with actual power and could do something; certainly we can all vote Democratic and get the GOP rot out so that we can actually do something. The rest of us non-powerful people with yards can convert 50% (or more) of our turf to native perennials and sequester carbon instead of releasing it every time we throw more chemical inputs on our lawns.

Stop pretending to be fine with this when you will be but millions won’t.

[Anonymous]

Voting Democrat is futile. Have you see the Democratic party? It would be called conservative in any other country, and it's bloated and inert from corruption, complacency, and other bs. Democrats don't actually do anything significant, ever, to seriously stop climate change. They would never dream of annoying their rich buddies in the oil and gas industry.

I agree with the PP who said we need a mass revolution. A few neighborhoods coming together to build an eco-friendly community isn't going to cut it. The entire energy sector needs to be stopped.

Enough people need to gather the will to say, "I'm not buying gas anymore. I'm not buying into a ridiculous two-party political system, which guarantees that no change will ever happen. I'm not voting for Democrats or Republicans, I'm going to vote for a green party with socialist leanings. I'll join Anonymous and be an ethical hacker activist."

This is actually what needs to happen for real change to take place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
+1
It’s poor people getting swamped in Bangladesh, it’s girls having to carry water miles, it’s farmers and ranchers in desertifying areas who can no longer feed themselves. I’m not okay with the nihilism because it’s just privileged and pompous and lets everyone off the hook. “Oh well, I didn’t have kids so this is fine.” No, it’s not fine. Not an insignificant number of people on this board are people with actual power and could do something; certainly we can all vote Democratic and get the GOP rot out so that we can actually do something. The rest of us non-powerful people with yards can convert 50% (or more) of our turf to native perennials and sequester carbon instead of releasing it every time we throw more chemical inputs on our lawns.

Stop pretending to be fine with this when you will be but millions won’t.

agreed wih this

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, I am looking ahead at 2022 in dread. Wondering which state will be frozen, flooded, burned, or blown off of the map.

Climate change don't work that way. There may be issues but you will not see them year over year. If you said 2037 then I would agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Voting Democrat is futile. Have you see the Democratic party? It would be called conservative in any other country, and it's bloated and inert from corruption, complacency, and other bs. Democrats don't actually do anything significant, ever, to seriously stop climate change. They would never dream of annoying their rich buddies in the oil and gas industry.

I agree with the PP who said we need a mass revolution. A few neighborhoods coming together to build an eco-friendly community isn't going to cut it. The entire energy sector needs to be stopped.

Enough people need to gather the will to say, "I'm not buying gas anymore. I'm not buying into a ridiculous two-party political system, which guarantees that no change will ever happen. I'm not voting for Democrats or Republicans, I'm going to vote for a green party with socialist leanings. I'll join Anonymous and be an ethical hacker activist."

This is actually what needs to happen for real change to take place.

And that will never happen. Everyone will buy gas forever untilt here is an alternative that makes sense. That is 10-15 years int he future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Voting Democrat is futile. Have you see the Democratic party? It would be called conservative in any other country, and it's bloated and inert from corruption, complacency, and other bs. Democrats don't actually do anything significant, ever, to seriously stop climate change. They would never dream of annoying their rich buddies in the oil and gas industry.

I agree with the PP who said we need a mass revolution. A few neighborhoods coming together to build an eco-friendly community isn't going to cut it. The entire energy sector needs to be stopped.

Enough people need to gather the will to say, "I'm not buying gas anymore. I'm not buying into a ridiculous two-party political system, which guarantees that no change will ever happen. I'm not voting for Democrats or Republicans, I'm going to vote for a green party with socialist leanings. I'll join Anonymous and be an ethical hacker activist."

This is actually what needs to happen for real change to take place.

Hey, Green Party spoilers are here on this forum too? What fun! Guarantees the Koch and Russia funded GOP gets in power, stays there and does absolutely nothing. Yes, I have seen the Democratic Party. They’re actually trying. The Green Party? It gave us W and Trump by virtue of spoiling.

Vote Democratic.

[Anonymous]

There are ways to mitigate climate change. First up, stop mowing your lawn so frequently (or at all). Stop using herbicide, anything with "cide" in it. Tear up that Mosquito Joe contract!! Replace your lawn with native plants and create a pollinator garden. (Call Miss Utility first though!) Insects are under threat everywhere and they support the whole food chain. A truly interesting read is Silent Earth: Averting the Insect Apocalypse by Dave Goulson. He's in the UK but much of it is relevant to the US. (And he does advocate voting for the Green party, but as PP pointed out, that could backfire in the US.) Plant more trees. Even with a small yard, there are lots of native trees that are smaller. Farming practices need to change throughout the US. Still, if homeowners throughout the US convert from grass yards to biodiversity we could start a negative feedback loop against climate change. Don't sit around being discouraged. Do what you can, start now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are ways to mitigate climate change. First up, stop mowing your lawn so frequently (or at all). Stop using herbicide, anything with "cide" in it. Tear up that Mosquito Joe contract!! Replace your lawn with native plants and create a pollinator garden. (Call Miss Utility first though!) Insects are under threat everywhere and they support the whole food chain. A truly interesting read is Silent Earth: Averting the Insect Apocalypse by Dave Goulson. He's in the UK but much of it is relevant to the US. (And he does advocate voting for the Green party, but as PP pointed out, that could backfire in the US.) Plant more trees. Even with a small yard, there are lots of native trees that are smaller. Farming practices need to change throughout the US. Still, if homeowners throughout the US convert from grass yards to biodiversity we could start a negative feedback loop against climate change. Don't sit around being discouraged. Do what you can, start now.

Yes, all of this. We can always take our power back and mitigate disaster.

[Anonymous]

No one knows for sure, Op.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are ways to mitigate climate change. First up, stop mowing your lawn so frequently (or at all). Stop using herbicide, anything with "cide" in it. Tear up that Mosquito Joe contract!! Replace your lawn with native plants and create a pollinator garden. (Call Miss Utility first though!) Insects are under threat everywhere and they support the whole food chain. A truly interesting read is Silent Earth: Averting the Insect Apocalypse by Dave Goulson. He's in the UK but much of it is relevant to the US. (And he does advocate voting for the Green party, but as PP pointed out, that could backfire in the US.) Plant more trees. Even with a small yard, there are lots of native trees that are smaller. Farming practices need to change throughout the US. Still, if homeowners throughout the US convert from grass yards to biodiversity we could start a negative feedback loop against climate change. Don't sit around being discouraged. Do what you can, start now.

+2

Planting native perennials literally creates a carbon sink in your yard. Having a chemically-treated lawn actually adds to global warming. The chemical inputs actually kill the microbiome that holds the carbon in the earth. Stop spraying your lawns. Convert some more lawn to native perennials.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are ways to mitigate climate change. First up, stop mowing your lawn so frequently (or at all). Stop using herbicide, anything with "cide" in it. Tear up that Mosquito Joe contract!! Replace your lawn with native plants and create a pollinator garden. (Call Miss Utility first though!) Insects are under threat everywhere and they support the whole food chain. A truly interesting read is Silent Earth: Averting the Insect Apocalypse by Dave Goulson. He's in the UK but much of it is relevant to the US. (And he does advocate voting for the Green party, but as PP pointed out, that could backfire in the US.) Plant more trees. Even with a small yard, there are lots of native trees that are smaller. Farming practices need to change throughout the US. Still, if homeowners throughout the US convert from grass yards to biodiversity we could start a negative feedback loop against climate change. Don't sit around being discouraged. Do what you can, start now.

Yes, all of this. We can always take our power back and mitigate disaster.

All of you who truly believe we can as a society and civilization do the above are dreaming. It's just too easy to live our lives in convenience and status quo.

Plastic. Enough said.

Travel. Enough said.

Steakhouses. Enough said.

I mean - I know it sounds good and like you're going to have all these people change because you know, we all just "love" the earth and want to make sure we all poor and rich can live happily ever after. It's not reality. The rich will always be able to save themselves first. They will always be more comfortable than the poor. It doesn't matter how much your heart aches for that girl as PP said would be struggling, this is real life. There's gonna be those who have and those who have not. Even in a non climate changing world. I say this as one of the "poor" or at least not that rich person who doesn't have to worry about impacts of global warming.

Let's face it - it's not just changing how your lawn gets mowed or maintained. It's not just changing your diet. It's not just changing your lifestyle in what you use too much of, waste, need to give up. It's about doing a LOT of uncomfortable, different things to change JUST your own lifestyle. Now multiply that number to have any impact by a zillion globally. Please, I love that people like to believe things are possible because they may be willing to do something. The rest of the world I guarantee will not want to do everything that is necessary to change our trajectory. And that there is the key - NECESSARY changes - it's a lot.

In poor countries, when they hand out a different starch to those in need of food, they will reject for example certain grains just because it's not what they are used to. Bulgar wheat will not do if it's not white rice, for example. These are like starving families. They just can't make that adaptation because they haven't hit the lowest point of actual starvation to the point of no return. So now you want to talk about us as a society changing our lifestyles as a whole to combat climate change. Did you see the party at the Oscars? Do you see the celebrations for Super Bowl and other sports events? Do you really think that people are willing to sacrifice their convenience and the little joys in wasting here and there, using what we shouldn't when there are healthier alternatives to be had? I will. You will. 97% of the rest of the population around the world will not.

And again, it's much more than just planting trees and changing the size of your yard. It's how we live our lifestyles in general. So yeah, maybe stop flying airplanes or driving to get out of town on your holidays forever if you truly want to do something impactful. Stop using plastic everything.

The BEST we can hope for is to look for solutions to help ourselves survive when we are all faced with everything gone to hell. Honestly, I love how people just want to keep running into the wall. Everyone talks a great game of change, but when you find out exactly how much you will need to change and everyone at the same time needs to change, there is no way that is going to happen. If it could happen, it would have already happened. I don't know why people won't face the reality that it's a matter of time before our time actually runs out and it's likely a lot shorter than 30 years. But we can use all our money, intelligence and creativity to figure out what our plan is to move forward given the new reality facing us. That my friends would be akin to saving the world - because we would in fact be saving ourselves.

[Anonymous]

Think back to what human civilization looked like 10,000 years ago; 1000 years ago, or even 150 years ago.

Humans adapt, and continue to adapt, to disasters on Earth.

If coronavirus would have hit in 1800, many more people would have died. In the 1800's (think Oregon trail) many more people died of disease, treatable injuries, and exposure to extreme weather than we do now. Toxic chemicals used to prevent forest fires kill us, but so do fires. So which do you want to choose?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Think back to what human civilization looked like 10,000 years ago; 1000 years ago, or even 150 years ago.

Humans adapt, and continue to adapt, to disasters on Earth.

If coronavirus would have hit in 1800, many more people would have died. In the 1800's (think Oregon trail) many more people died of disease, treatable injuries, and exposure to extreme weather than we do now. Toxic chemicals used to prevent forest fires kill us, but so do fires. So which do you want to choose?

I don’t think you have any idea of the scale of global warming or understanding of the issue at all, honestly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are ways to mitigate climate change. First up, stop mowing your lawn so frequently (or at all). Stop using herbicide, anything with "cide" in it. Tear up that Mosquito Joe contract!! Replace your lawn with native plants and create a pollinator garden. (Call Miss Utility first though!) Insects are under threat everywhere and they support the whole food chain. A truly interesting read is Silent Earth: Averting the Insect Apocalypse by Dave Goulson. He's in the UK but much of it is relevant to the US. (And he does advocate voting for the Green party, but as PP pointed out, that could backfire in the US.) Plant more trees. Even with a small yard, there are lots of native trees that are smaller. Farming practices need to change throughout the US. Still, if homeowners throughout the US convert from grass yards to biodiversity we could start a negative feedback loop against climate change. Don't sit around being discouraged. Do what you can, start now.

Yes, all of this. We can always take our power back and mitigate disaster.

All of you who truly believe we can as a society and civilization do the above are dreaming. It's just too easy to live our lives in convenience and status quo.

[…]
The BEST we can hope for is to look for solutions to help ourselves survive when we are all faced with everything gone to hell. Honestly, I love how people just want to keep running into the wall. Everyone talks a great game of change, but when you find out exactly how much you will need to change and everyone at the same time needs to change, there is no way that is going to happen. If it could happen, it would have already happened. I don't know why people won't face the reality that it's a matter of time before our time actually runs out and it's likely a lot shorter than 30 years. But we can use all our money, intelligence and creativity to figure out what our plan is to move forward given the new reality facing us. That my friends would be akin to saving the world - because we would in fact be saving ourselves.

No, what the PP above suggested is actually an enormous change that would 1) begin to mitigate climate change and 2) would begin to mitigate habitat fragmentation.

Do we need to address many, many other sources of carbon pollution as well as environmental pollution? Absolutely. Is this a concrete thing that can make an actual difference and will help bury carbon vs releasing it? Yes.

[Anonymous]

I've been prepping for this eventuality for a while. I have friends who call me alarmist and say that the globe is warming much more slowly than I think, but you don't need to be a scientist or a psychic to see which way the (warmer, fiercer) wind is blowing.

Crazy some people still think we can adapt, when the Arctic is getting warmer and stormier and hundreds of houses get burned down (or flooded away) every year.