A friend of mine sent me a link to this; we were discussing prevailing currents in the Pacific in the context of ancient rafters maybe going to South America from Africa and vice-versa. So, this is just cool. I’m not sure of its longterm usefulness but when Canada catches on fire this year I’ll turn the mapping on an see how it looks.
The live link is here: Earth
It’s been no surprise, but very depressing, to watch the democrats trying to skate by again on “we are not as bad as Trump” (which is true) but spending money on energy without trying to cut back fossil fuels is a subtle strategy that has basically not worked at all, yet. I’m sure someone is telling Biden “we can point to all the money we are spending on solar and wind and they’ll forget how quickly you broke your off the cuff promise to cut back on fossil fuels.” I guess it depends whose numbers you believe but the US is now the world’s largest consumer and exporter of fossil fuels. I was surprised when I saw something from a climate scientist saying – rather suddenly – that we’re heading for +3.5C, which is higher than my hold-out number of +3C. I’m starting to realize that’s all going to be fudged to hell and gone because people will just argue that +3C means “every single point on the planet must be +3C higher than usual” which conceals neatly the fact that some parts are experiencing +3C right now.
Misery in many places. The Bush in the Adelaide Hills among them. The flora here is suffering badly. So dry and yellow and stressed and wilting. Usually after Anzac ay, (25th April) we get a lot of rain. This year – nope. The worst drought albeit masked by a wetter and milder Summer than predicted we’ve had inthe Adealdie hills for over a century :
https://glamadelaide.com.au/adelaide-faces-historic-dry-spell-driest-february-april-stretch-in-over-a-century/
Gardens too. Farmers in some parts of the state experiencing their record-breaking worst Autumns ever.
Leaves that should be green and wet and alive, crumbling and breaking to the touch. Orchids and wildflowers that should be out in bloom, wilted and not there.
Ocean surface temperatures at a level far above what they should be based on precendent and previous record. Graphs screaming. See Climate reanalyser among other places.
This is NOT fine or usual or okay.
Then there’s the fatal floods killing hundreds of human individuals liek me, klike you, in Brazil and Kazahkstan’s floods and what’s happened in Afghanistan and Kenya & the rest of the globe. Fifty degrees Celsius plus heat in Mexico and so, SO, much more..
News media mainly ignoring it but .. its happening right now and its .. no expletives suffice.
Canada is already burning.
I realise it will be easy to dismiss as doomerism, but many years ago I saw a worst case scenario, in which nothing was done and things continued to get worse, which pinned the rise at 12 degrees. That’s the one I’ve been working on ever since, because I see no evidence, sociological or historical, which would suggest humanity is even remotely capable of solving a problem of this nature or scale. Bear in mind that even with climate change being at the top of the agenda for a lot of people worldwide, emissions are STILL RISING. Not stopping, not dropping. Rising.
I’d be willing to bet that when the crisis point comes and things start to fall apart the most effective response to the rising of sea levels, the failure of agriculture and the rest will be to ramp up industry and burn more oil to compensate for the damage caused by burning oil.
Ian King@#3:
Bear in mind that even with climate change being at the top of the agenda for a lot of people worldwide, emissions are STILL RISING. Not stopping, not dropping. Rising.
Yeah, it’s like politicians looked at Mad Max and asked, “is this doable?”
I had a conference call with my doctor this morning and told her that I intend to continue having the occasional drink but that I will increase my drinking progressively until I stop entirely some time before 2050. Naturally, she said, “you won’t live to 2050!” (I would be 88) I’m not really thrilled at the idea of being old and alone and watching the world burn around me, so I’m trying to not get attached to things.
Someone (regarding the Trump defense team’s last witness) described it as “a burning clown car” emitting an endless stream of burning clowns. I love that visual. Naturally, I asked Stable Diffusion:
SteveOr@#1:
News media mainly ignoring it but .. its happening right now and its .. no expletives suffice.
I’m dumbfounded, too, as I am sure everyone here knows.
I don’t know what will bring it home, but I suspect it will be something absolutely catastrophic. My posting about the potential die-off if a major urban power grid collapses during a hot spell – obviously, that’s what I think it will be. But humanity seems to be OK (shrug!) that exactly that is happening in India every summer. I guess it’s going to take some 1st world city becoming a mass casualty event. Or something. Dubai, maybe? It’ll have to be someplace where it’s going to result in the impending decedents posting it on TikTok.
chigau@#2:
Fires:
I’m waiting for mass migrations. Places with millions of people will become uninhabitable – from heat, lack of water, or conversely being permanently flooded. Big countries have alternative land for those flooded out, but little countries may not. Heat and drought are harder problems. Since Julius Caesar large population migrations have been resisted.
@6: I fear you hit the nail on the head there. Many governments are realizing this is a real emergency but are doing sweet FA about it, and the rest are simply ignoring the whole thing.
So it’s going to take something really horrible to wake everyone up, and a pile of heat-collapsed dead bodies in the 100K range may be it.
Have a look at the recent Guardian’s coverage on climatologists’ opininons and morale:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2024/may/08/hopeless-and-broken-why-the-worlds-top-climate-scientists-are-in-despair
and wonder why we ever thought we were a rational species. Hhhh.
@#9 outis:
You seem to be an optimist after what happened in the US during Covid?
marcus #7
What was your point?
That pretty picture conveys nothing.
My home is currently in an ‘unprecedented drought’, just like last year’s ‘unprecedented drought’. All of which is good preparation for next year’s ‘unprecedented drought’. We’re surrounded by second-growth pine/fir/spruce that was planted back during the ‘protect the merchantable timber at all costs’ days, so that’s all loaded with what the wildfire-fighters call ‘fuel’. It’s not a question of if it will burn, just one of when.
At this stage, I feel like I’m experiencing the transition of the North Okanagan (mountains around Kamloops, BC, Canada) from southern boreal forest to something more like Chaparral. The parts of our valley that have burned over the last few years have few remaining living evergreens – they’ll eventually grow back with something, plants are durable, but it’s going to be a bleak couple of decades.
I’m so glad I chose not to have kids.
rwiess @ #8:
The mass migrations are already happening, and you misspelled “billions”.
outis @ #9:
Not true! They’re busy demonising migrants, building walls, and rolling out razor wire.
There’s at least two reasons to vote for Democrats over GQP. One, of course, is that Democrats aren’t the GQP. But in addition to that, Democrats are capable of being persuaded to change their minds & votes. Whether or not Democrats are sufficiently flexible of mind to suit a given voter is a matter of personal judgement… but the fact is, Democrats do (at least sometimes) listen to voices they don’t agree with, and do (at least sometimes) alter their behavior in response to those voices.
Yes, the Democratic Party is not perfect. Yes, the Democrats have their share of running sores, and then some. But for anyone who wants to change how Business As Usual is conducted? Voting for a party that sometimes takes heed of voices it doesn’t agree with is clearly preferable to voting for a party that regards Disagreement With The Angry Cheeto as a mortal sin.
Ideally, we’d have more viable options than just the GQP and Not The GQP. But given “first past the post”, we just are stuck with a two-party system, and if we want to make third (fourth, fifth, etc) parties viable, we’re gonna have to junk “first past the post” in favor of any of the other voting protocols which have been proposed and/or are in use around the world.