The Global Warming Thread

[Scraper]

I mean, I'm going to be dead, but if reading this by-line doesn't cause you to think, what would?

Within 60 years, hot days in the U.S. could be so intense that the current heat index can’t measure them.

Some of the study's findings:

The study averaged together projections from 18 hyper-local climate models between April and October over 30-year periods: a historical baseline (1971–2000), midcentury (2036–2065), and late century (2070–2099). The study showed generally that the Southeast and Southern Great Plains would bear the brunt of the extreme heat, experiencing heat that currently only occurs in the Sonoran Desert, in the Southwest

Areas in those regions would experience the equivalent of three months per year on average by mid-century that feel hotter than 105 degrees Fahrenheit, possibly as hot as 115 degrees, 125 degrees, or worse.

That's mostly Red states, so I guess it's Karma.

[Paingod]

That's mostly Red states, so I guess it's Karma.

They'll demand government grants to fund AC programs, get angry at being taxed for it, then complain that no one represents them and vote in someone who'll crank the heat up a notch with environmentally unfriendly policies, and then smirk about how superior he is.

[$iljanus]

That's mostly Red states, so I guess it's Karma.

They'll demand government grants to fund AC programs, get angry at being taxed for it, then complain that no one represents them and vote in someone who'll crank the heat up a notch with environmentally unfriendly policies, and then smirk about how superior he is.

Coal (or insert favorite fossil fuel here) will solve the problem!

[Paingod]

That's mostly Red states, so I guess it's Karma.

They'll demand government grants to fund AC programs, get angry at being taxed for it, then complain that no one represents them and vote in someone who'll crank the heat up a notch with environmentally unfriendly policies, and then smirk about how superior he is.

Coal (or insert favorite fossil fuel here) will solve the problem!

Only if it's completely unregulated, though. As soon as you slide in pesky pollution standards, you're being unreasonable.

[$iljanus]

That's mostly Red states, so I guess it's Karma.

They'll demand government grants to fund AC programs, get angry at being taxed for it, then complain that no one represents them and vote in someone who'll crank the heat up a notch with environmentally unfriendly policies, and then smirk about how superior he is.

Coal (or insert favorite fossil fuel here) will solve the problem!

Only if it's completely unregulated, though. As soon as you slide in pesky pollution standards, you're being unreasonable.

Well if you have regulations you might as well have the Socialists come in and confescate your air conditioners.

[Jaymann]

This interview should be required viewing for all citizens:

Climate change is now more reliable science than physics.

The last time the earth was +4 degrees warmer there were palm trees in the arctic.

[msteelers]

I had a very frustrating exchange with an older person last week. We were talking about the study that shows the number of days with heat index over 100 spiking in the next few decades.

“Our analysis shows a hotter future that’s hard to imagine today,” study co-author Kristina Dahl, a climate scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said in a statement. “Nearly everywhere, people will experience more days of dangerous heat in the next few decades."

By 2050, hundreds of U.S. cities could see an entire month each year with heat index temperatures above 100 degrees if nothing is done to rein in global warming.

The heat index, also known as the apparent temperature, is what the temperature feels like to the human body when relative humidity is combined with the air temperature. This is the first study to take the heat index – instead of just temperature – into account when determining the impacts of global warming, Dahl said.

The number of days per year when the heat index exceeds 100 degrees will more than double nationally, according to the study, which was published Tuesday in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Research Communications.

Their response, after bringing up the story in the first place, was to laugh and say "well we won't be here in 2050 so who cares?"

I'll hopefully be here you shit head! You grandkids will still be here, possibly with kids of their own.

They then muttered something about pseudo-science and then went away, probably to donate to Trump's reelection campaign.

[Archinerd]

Their response, after bringing up the story in the first place, was to laugh and say "well we won't be here in 2050 so who cares?"

I sure hope this person does't plan to collect on Social Security or use Medicare.

[msteelers]

Their response, after bringing up the story in the first place, was to laugh and say "well we won't be here in 2050 so who cares?"

I sure hope this person does't plan to collect on Social Security or use Medicare.

They're in their late 70s or early 80s, so I'm going to assume they already do collect.

[Smoove_B]

All you're seeing is verbalization of the mentality that put us in the position we're in. They'll be dead soon and we can hopefully course-correct and not fall into the same trap. At least, that's what I've been telling myself for the last ~4 years.

[Holman]

"I won't be here in 2050 so fuck it" is simple stupid nihilism.

The real danger is "I won't be here in 2050 because I'll be in Heaven, and I'm making sure my kids and grandkids believe that talk of global warming is a lie against God." That's the stance that makes people oppose solutions rather than just ignore them.

[Jaymann]

Civilizations have collapsed before. This one is dead set on taking down the whole planet with it.

[YellowKing]

It's far easier to believe what you want to be true, than the reality you don't want to be true.

[Isgrimnur]

It's far easier to believe what you want to be true, than the reality you don't want to be true.

Especially when your paycheck depends on it.

[Smoove_B]

So much winning for coal miners:

Dozens of coal miners are expected on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, where they'll press federal regulators and members of Congress to address the epidemic of deadly progressive massive fibrosis, the advanced stage of black lung disease.

They'll ask lawmakers to fully restore a coal excise tax that pays for medical care and some living expenses for miners diagnosed with black lung, a crippling disease caused by the inhalation of coal and silica dust. The tax was cut more than 50% at the end of last year. It supports the federal Black Lung Disability Trust Fund, which is more than $4 billion in debt.

I'm sure the coal belt will vote Trump again though in 2020.

[LordMortis]

But clean coal is cheap and clean and the heart of small business and tax is theft and hurts smalltown USA.

[Zaxxon]

Report: Average American Must Have Life Ruined By Natural Disaster Every 6 Minutes To Fear Climate Change

[Scraper]

Report: Average American Must Have Life Ruined By Natural Disaster Every 6 Minutes To Fear Climate Change

That's the Onion. Which in this era of Trump is really hard to tell if they are legit articles or satire.

[$iljanus]

So much winning for coal miners:

Dozens of coal miners are expected on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, where they'll press federal regulators and members of Congress to address the epidemic of deadly progressive massive fibrosis, the advanced stage of black lung disease.

They'll ask lawmakers to fully restore a coal excise tax that pays for medical care and some living expenses for miners diagnosed with black lung, a crippling disease caused by the inhalation of coal and silica dust. The tax was cut more than 50% at the end of last year. It supports the federal Black Lung Disability Trust Fund, which is more than $4 billion in debt.

I'm sure the coal belt will vote Trump again though in 2020.

Everyone is a Socialist when they're faced with black lung.

[Paingod]

I closed Reddit today after reading something like the following (not copied/pasted):

For all of those complaining that this summer is the hottest one in 125 years, but I like to think of it as the coolest summer for the next 125! Glass half full!

I was just all done there for a bit.

[Kraken]

Another climate-denier claim demolished: If you don't like the climate, wait 10 decades.

Absolutely nothing resembling modern-day global warming has happened on Earth for at least the past 2,000 years, a new study published today in Nature confirms. Since the birth of Jesus Christ, the climate has sometimes naturally changed—some parts of the world have briefly cooled, and some have briefly warmed—but it has never changed as it’s changing now. Never once until the Industrial Revolution did temperatures surge in the same direction everywhere at the same time. They’re doing so now, the study finds.

Drawing on a huge database of climate-recording objects from all over the world—including tree rings, cave formations, and ancient pollen trapped in lake mud—the study concludes that 98 percent of Earth’s surface experienced its hottest period of the past 2,000 years within living memory. That uniform heat spike “is unprecedented over the Common Era,” it says.

This latest finding may not surprise most climate scientists, who suspect that the planet is as hot now as it’s ever been in at least the past 125,000 years. But it may shock some politicians, who have downplayed modern-day climate change by talking about those past shifts. “The climate has always been changing. There has never been a time when the climate has not changed,” said Senator Marco Rubio at a Republican presidential debate in 2016.

To which the study replies: Sure. It just hasn’t changed like this.

Oh, and btw: this month is on track to become the hottest month ever recorded, beating July 2017.

[Isgrimnur]

CBS News

Four major automakers have reached a deal with California to increase gas mileage and greenhouse gas emissions standards, bypassing the Trump administration's push to freeze requirements at 2021 levels.

Ford, BMW, Honda and Volkswagen signed the deal with the California Air Resources Board, the state's air pollution regulator, which had been at odds with the Trump administration for months. California has said it would exercise its powers to set more stringent pollution and mileage standards than the federal government has proposed.

The Trump administration reacted angrily to the end run, with Environmental Protection Agency spokesman Michael Abboud calling it a "PR stunt" and charging that California regulators "continually refused to produce reasonable and responsible proposals."
...
The administration also has threatened to challenge California's ability to set its own standards.
...
In a statement Thursday, California regulators said their deal delays by one year the new-vehicle fuel efficiency requirements approved under the Obama administration for model years 2022 through 2025. That means the fleet of new vehicles would have to average around 36 miles per gallon in real-world driving by 2026. The deal also slightly slows the rate of growth in the early years "to provide additional lead time" for the auto industry, the statement said.
...
The four automakers represent only about 30% of U.S. new-vehicle sales.

[Holman]

Several European countries hit their *highest-ever recorded* temperatures today.

Paris (a city where air-conditioning is rare because until recently unnecessary) was 108 degrees. That's Arizona weather.

[Isgrimnur]

Arizona doesn't have the humidity that Paris does.

[gilraen]

We were in Lithuania in June - they were setting one heat record after another, with temperature hotter than normally this time of year in the south of Spain.They beat their last heat record from 1905 by over 2 degrees Celsius when they recorded a temp of 32.8C. That's a country where average June temperature is considered to be around 15.4C (~60F), and I remember going to the seaside in June, when I was a kid, and having to bring a light jacket because it was too damn cold.

My friends there told me that the waitlist to have an in-wall A/C unit installed was around 4 months.

[msteelers]

Arizona doesn't have the humidity that Paris does.

Humidity is the worst. 90 degrees in Florida on a humid day is unbearable. I was out in Vegas a few years ago when it was hot enough that they were delaying flights because of the plane tires melting (or something similar, I can't quite remember). Either way, it was well over 100 degrees. Yes, it was hot... but the heat didn't bother me at all. I could spend all day outside as long as I was able to hydrate. But you get to 90 degrees here in Florida, where it feels like 100 because of the humidity? I'm useless.

[YellowKing]

This reminds me of the first time I ever went to Louisiana in the summertime. I went straight from plane to shuttle to hotel.

I walk into the hotel and it is just stifling muggy - I asked the front desk lady, "Is the air conditioning broken?" She gives me this weird look and it dawned on me that this was what it felt like in Louisiana *with* air conditioning.

[Blackhawk]

I've lived in the desert, and I've lived in Indiana, where humidity is often 80%+ in the summer. I'll take the desert at 110 over 90 degrees and 80% humidity any day. One has you hot, but just hot. With the other you're instantly sticky and covered in sweat, but there is so much humidity that the sweat can't evaporate to cool you off. It's like being wrapped in plastic wrap. The only real advantage Indiana has over places further south is that there are less-humid (~50-60%) days mixed in with the really nasty ones.

The problem is that with the non-stop rain we've had the last few years, the humidity is high more often than not. Nothing's worse than having a thunderstorm at night or in the morning, followed by a 90 degree day.

[msteelers]

I've lived in the desert, and I've lived in Indiana, where humidity is often 80%+ in the summer. I'll take the desert at 110 over 90 degrees and 80% humidity any day. One has you hot, but just hot. With the other you're instantly sticky and covered in sweat, but there is so much humidity that the sweat can't evaporate to cool you off. It's like being wrapped in plastic wrap. The only real advantage Indiana has over places further south is that there are less-humid (~50-60%) days mixed in with the really nasty ones.

The problem is that with the non-stop rain we've had the last few years, the humidity is high more often than not. Nothing's worse than having a thunderstorm at night or in the morning, followed by a 90 degree day.

Uh, having that thunderstorm roll through for 15 minutes in the middle of the afternoon is much worse. The entire landscape turns into a sauna during the hottest part of the day.

[Blackhawk]

True. Any combination of 'hot' and 'wet' is generally unpleasant.

[LordMortis]

True. Any combination of 'hot' and 'wet' is generally unpleasant.

That does not sound correct. It took me a moment to remember we are in the Global Warming Thread.

[em2nought]

It's funny the issues that various sides support, or don't support. You'd think globalization would be viewed as bad by the left and vice versa? If China ends up with as large a percentage of people driving cars as the USA that's got to be bad right? If living creatures evolve then surely the world could handle global warming? It's almost like conservatives are evolutionists, and liberal are creationists. Strange juxtaposition, kinda happens with the death penalty and abortion too.

[Pyperkub]

True. Any combination of 'hot' and 'wet' is generally unpleasant.

It's nice if you're with a lady but it ain't no good in the jungle. - Roosevelt E. Roosevelt

[TheMix]

True. Any combination of 'hot' and 'wet' is generally unpleasant.

It's nice if you're with a lady but it ain't no good in the jungle. - Roosevelt E. Roosevelt

That was what I immediately thought of as well.

[hepcat]

It's funny the issues that various sides support, or don't support. You'd think globalization would be viewed as bad by the left and vice versa? If China ends up with as large a percentage of people driving cars as the USA that's got to be bad right? If living creatures evolve then surely the world could handle global warming? It's almost like conservatives are evolutionists, and liberal are creationists. Strange juxtaposition, kinda happens with the death penalty and abortion too.

That’s not how logic works.

[Max Peck]

Many animals can’t adapt fast enough to climate change

Climate change has thrown our beautifully balanced planet into chaos. As oceans and forests transform and ecosystems go into shock, perhaps a million species teeter on the edge of extinction. But there may still be hope for these organisms. Some will change their behaviors in response to soaring global temperatures; they might, say, reproduce earlier in the year, when it’s cooler. Others may even evolve to cope—perhaps by shrinking, because smaller frames lose heat more quickly.

For the moment, though, scientists have little idea how these adaptations may be playing out. A new paper in Nature Communications, coauthored by more than 60 researchers, aims to bring a measure of clarity. By sifting through 10,000 previous studies, the researchers found that the climatic chaos we’ve sowed may just be too intense [Editor's note: The researchers scanned 10,000 abstracts, but their analysis is based on data from 58 studies]. Some species seem to be adapting, yes, but they aren’t doing so fast enough. That spells, in a word, doom.

Ah, well, maybe this is just the tardigrades' big break. There's going to be a lot of new ecological niches opening up.

[Isgrimnur]

Independent

Denmark is considering proposals to introduce a tax on red meat, after a government think tank came to the conclusion that “climate change is an ethical problem”.

The Danish Council of Ethics recommended an initial tax on beef, with a view to extending the regulation to all red meats in future. It said that in the long term, the tax should apply to all foods at varying levels depending on climate impact.

The council voted in favour of the measures by an overwhelming majority, and the proposal will now be put forward for consideration by the government.

In a press release, the ethics council said Denmark was under direct threat from climate change, and it was not enough to rely on the “ethical consumer” to ensure the country meets its UN commitments.
...
Cattle alone account for some 10 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, while the production of food as a whole makes up between 19 and 29 per cent, the council said.

Danes were “ethically obliged” to change their eating habits, it said, adding that it is “unproblematic” to cut out beef and still enjoy a healthy and nutritious diet.

[NickAragua]

Ethiopians are on the ball at least. Never thought I'd use Ethiopia as a positive example for other countries to follow, but there it is.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/29/ethiopia-plants-250m-trees-in-a-day-to-help-tackle-climate-crisis

[Isgrimnur]

Vox

Amid a flurry of ambitious state action on climate change policy, the Republican-controlled Ohio legislature has just passed an energy bill that represents an enormous step backward. It is the most counterproductive and corrupt piece of state energy legislation I can recall in all my time covering this stuff — the details must be seen to be believed.

The bill, just signed by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, is called HB 6. Though the story behind it is complex and sordid, the bill itself is pretty simple. It would do four things:

• Bail out two nuclear plants
• Bail out two coal plants
• Gut renewable energy standards
• Gut energy efficiency standards

...
To summarize: The bill would subsidize four uncompetitive power plants, remove all incentive to build more renewable energy projects, and cancel efforts to help customers use less energy. It is a bill only a utility (and the lawmakers who do its bidding) could love, an extravagant gift to utility investors that hoses Ohio ratepayers.

List detail text omitted

[Kraken]

Yes, we are still going in the wrong direction. Amazon deforestation is up 80% this year under Bonisaro. At least one scientist says that unless CO2 levels start to fall by next year, we don't have any shot at meeting the 1.5 C target. Until the US gets on board, that can't happen.