Climate Change

[farmerbarleymow]

Greenland: enough ice melted on single day to cover Florida in two inches of water

Data from Danish government shows vast ice sheet lost 8.5bn tons of surface mass on Tuesday

www.theguardian.com

 

[farmerbarleymow]

This is another ominous sign, although this has been known to be a risk for quite a while.

Climate crisis: Scientists spot warning signs of Gulf Stream collapse

A shutdown would have devastating global impacts and must not be allowed to happen, researchers say

www.theguardian.com

 

[Flavour]

We're so fucked. How long till we see a breakaway XR that is not quite so cop-friendly?

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Another Canadian town is toast.

Second western Canada town destroyed by ‘exceedingly aggressive’ wildfire

Residents of Monte Lake, British Columbia, forced to evacuate a month after village of Lytton devastated by wildfire

www.theguardian.com

 

[teqniq]

FFS

 

[teqniq]

IPCC report out. Not telling us anything we didn't know already but considering the above we are royally fucked:

Climate change: IPCC report is 'code red for humanity'

Heating from humans has caused irreparable damage to the Earth that may get worse in coming decades.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[farmerbarleymow]

IPCC report out. Not telling us anything we didn't know already but considering the above we are royally fucked:

Climate change: IPCC report is 'code red for humanity'

Heating from humans has caused irreparable damage to the Earth that may get worse in coming decades.

www.bbc.co.uk

Yep, utterly fucked - I doubt there will be any meaningful changes.

 

[Pickman's model]

IPCC report out. Not telling us anything we didn't know already but considering the above we are royally fucked:

Climate change: IPCC report is 'code red for humanity'

Heating from humans has caused irreparable damage to the Earth that may get worse in coming decades.

www.bbc.co.uk

Sure we all knew it was coming to 'game over'

 

[SpookyFrank]

We're so fucked. How long till we see a breakaway XR that is not quite so cop-friendly?

Spiky direct actions have been going on for decades. XR are allowed some publicity precisely because they're harmless, non-confrontational and don't talk about structural or class issues.

Also they're happy to snitch on themselves and everyone else. If the state didn't invent them they probably wish they had.

 

[David Clapson]

Spiky direct actions have been going on for decades.

Got any examples?

 

[SpookyFrank]

Got any examples?

This very site is full of reports of climate activism going back 20 odd years.

 

[Flavour]

Up to a point, Frank. XR are indeed given more publicity because they're BBC-friendly, non-confrontational (at least in theory, except when kicking working class people trying to drag them from the tops of the underground trains they're blocking), largely white and middle-class and so on. We know that. I am against XR.

But at the same time, for all their numerous faults which I am very well aware of, I do think they organized some of the biggest climate protests the UK has seen for many, many years, probably the biggest ever. I know there were lots of protests against, for example, Manchester Airport expansion in the 90s, expansion of the motorway network, and so on, but those feel like a different age now. Certainly the general public opinion of the seriousness of climate change has shifted considerably since Swampy was trying to prevent the building of the Newbury bypass.

What happened between the Occupy protests of 2011 and the XR protests of 2019 that was worthy of note, that could have been built on?

 

[stavros]

I wonder if the "options" as it were, of fucked or not fucked need to be phrased differently, in a less binary fashion. Perhaps in the sense that yes, we are going to be fucked, but the time proximity and intensity of that fucking is still in our hands.

 

[Artaxerxes]

I wonder if the "options" as it were, of fucked or not fucked need to be phrased differently, in a less binary fashion. Perhaps in the sense that yes, we are going to be fucked, but the time proximity and intensity of that fucking is still in our hands.

It's not really, even if we dropped to zero overnight we're quite fucked. Climate has inertia.

If we're lucky we can make us fucked for a bit less time and adapt some modifications that'll ease the pain

 

[David Clapson]

Half a percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions are from traffic in Texas.

What If Texas Tore Down Its Highways?

The Texas Department of Transportation intends to spend $25 billion widening highways to fix traffic in Texas cities. What if we tore them down instead?

www.texasobserver.org

 

[David Clapson]

42 people have died in wildfires in Algeria. Cause of fires not yet known. Wildfires in Algeria: dozens of civilians and soldiers reported dead

 

[StoneRoad]

I know iceberg calving is a normal process (although I suspect that we are getting rather more than the "normal" frequency of calvings, and some big sections of ice shelves breaking free) ...
but A74 has been wandering about and has just bumped back into the corner of the Brunt Ice Shelf - not hard enough (?) to knock off the "Western" section [west of Chasm 1]

Giant iceberg A74 kisses the Antarctic coast

A colossus almost the size of Greater London gives the Antarctic coastline the gentlest of nudges.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[yield]

As drought worsens, California farmers are being paid not to grow crops

As Colorado River levels continue to drop, water agencies are working with local growers to leave some fields fallow in exchange for cash payments.

news.yahoo.com

Outline.com

outline.com

The Colorado River has long been chronically over-allocated, with so much water diverted to supply farms and cities that the river has for decades rarely reached the sea in Mexico. Most of that diverted water — approximately 70% — irrigates farmland, and much of that water flows to thirsty crops such as hay and cotton, which are exported in large quantities.

Since 2000, the river’s flow has shrunk during one of the driest 22-year periods in centuries. Scientists have described the last two decades as a megadrought, and one that’s being worsened by the heating of the planet with the burning of fossil fuels. Researchers have warned that long-term “aridification” of the Colorado River Basin means the region must adapt to a river that provides less water.

The water level in Lake Mead has declined 27 feet since January 2020. The reservoir now stands at just 34% of full capacity, placing it at a shortage level that will trigger mandatory water cutbacks next year for Arizona, Nevada and Mexico.

The lake’s water level is projected to continue falling. The latest estimates from the federal government show the water in Lake Mead could drop an additional 30 feet by August 2023, a level that would require water cuts in California.