If we are really serious about climate change, we have to be honest with ourselves, and politicians are going to have to be honest with their constituents about the lifestyle and societal sacrifices necessary to sufficiently address climate change.For too long, they have tried to paint the picture that we can have our planet and eat it too. We cannot maximise short-term economic growth AND address climate change. That is a myth that is harmful to the climate movement. Sure, eventually, our long-term economy will eventually be stronger if we address climate change now, but it may be decades before that investment pays off. Taking care of climate change is not primarily about creating jobs and growing the economy. It's about preserving the planet for future generations. To be even more honest, the most detrimental effects of climate change won't be felt in the United States. Period. Some countries will lose the majority of their food, water and land. The US will experience higher food prices, Katrina type relocation and increased instability around the world. Addressing climate change is much more about helping the people in those countries than it is about "America's national security". If we can't be honest about the reasons to address climate change, we probably won't ever be successful. Democrats can't continue to repeat these talking points because dishonesty only benefits the better liar and we all know who that is.
6/2/2017 7:56:44 PM
2/3 of the planet believes in a desert god some heat stroked guys thought up 3 thousand years ago. We're doomed.
6/2/2017 8:51:27 PM
^^ wash, rinse, repeatglobal cooling....nope...data refutesglobal warming...nope...data refutesclimate change...THERE'S AN IDEA WE CAN GET BEHIND AND MAKE A TON OF MONEY FROM!
6/2/2017 11:12:27 PM
but please, let's continue to listen to the same people who have said that you can't refute science, but chromosomes really don't matter when determining gender
6/2/2017 11:13:25 PM
^^You can thank conservative Frank Luntz for the switch from global warming to climate change:
6/2/2017 11:36:03 PM
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/sciencefair/2017/06/01/massive-iceberg-break-off-antarctica-crack-expands-11-miles/102385980/ in about a week we will probably have an iceberg the size of Delaware breaking off from Antarctica.
6/3/2017 2:28:38 AM
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/may/25/great-barrier-reef-2050-plan-no-longer-achievable-due-to-climate-change-experts-say
6/3/2017 5:41:47 AM
does reducing the amount of pollutants the world pumps into the air directly effect Kdoggs wallet or is he just an asshole?Also like it or not, by definition, sex and gender are two different things. Chromosomes determine sex. [Edited on June 3, 2017 at 7:49 AM. Reason : Derp]
6/3/2017 7:45:53 AM
6/3/2017 7:57:19 AM
6/3/2017 9:19:23 AM
The reason most Americans have trouble understanding is because there are too many prerequisite scientific concepts needed to make the connections between the causes and the effects.1.Greenhouse gas emissions causes global warming2.Global warming causes glacial melting.3.Global warming and ice caps melting increase the temperature of the oceans4.Glacial melting and thermal expansion increase sea level rise5.Glacial melting and ice cap melting decrease the salinity of the oceans6.Ocean currents are driven by density differences which are driven by air temperature, water temperature, and salinity7.Changes to ocean currents results in changes to regional climates8.Increased CO2 concentration causes ocean acidification (think about a soda stream)Ocean acidification is a separate, but maybe even more substatial issue. Thats 8 topics that you kind of need to be scientifically literate to understand and connect. Combining and applying scientific concepts is the most difficult thing to do but its impossible if you don't understand all of the concepts being combined in the first place. There's no coincidence that we are the OECD country that has the most trouble understanding this. The effects require even more applicaiton.Effects:1. Some places get cooler, some places get a lot warmer (specifically the poles which is where much of the ice is). Overall, the temperature is not really much of a direct issue so its easy to see why calling "global warming" the problem can be misleading. Its also easy to see how people like Trump talk about how small and meaningless the temperature change is.2. Two billion people get their water from Tibetan Plateau glacial melt alone. As glaciers disappear, river flows will decrease, move and some will stop altogether. Its a good thing the world is pretty good about allowing hundreds of thousands of people to walk across borders when their homeland experiences severe drought!3. As less ice covers the article, more sunlight hits the ocean. Sunlight that would have been reflected by white ice is now stored as heat energy in the ocean. This is a positive feedback with melting sea ice. https://insideclimatenews.org/sites/default/files/styles/colorbox_full/public/ice-explainer-optimized_1.jpg?itok=mYtpvO7n4. As the sea expands and rises, it will not only displace hundreds of millions of people, but saltwater intrusion will destroy wetland habitats, farms, and fresh-water sources. Many coastal areas will lose land, food and water at the same time because of this. 5. Not really a big deal until the currents change. Just remember that somehting as big as elnino is set off by one current changing in the paciic.http://www.geography.hunter.cuny.edu/tbw/wc.notes/3.temperature/ocean.currents.jpg6. The california climate is moderated by a coldwater current. Scandanavia and the British isles benefit from the warm gulf stream. Those are just a few examples7. As currents change, climate zones shift, rains come at different times, and ecological biomes shift. People and especially organisms can not just get up and follow the desired climate. We are already experiencing a mass extinction rate.8. I think this is the biggest of them all. The media and their polticians NEVER talk about it. (probably because its too late to prevent) As pH increases, calcification slows down and organisms with calcium carbonate (base) exoskeletons have trouble growing. This has the potential to wipe out eosystems that depend on the process. Coral and shellfish are our major source of food. All of the fish that depend on coral-based ecosystems are also in jeopardy. http://ocean.si.edu/sites/default/files/styles/colorbox_full_width/public/photos/hitimeseries.jpg?itok=8EMNsHwc[Edited on June 3, 2017 at 2:36 PM. Reason : cool graphic][Edited on June 3, 2017 at 2:40 PM. Reason : k][Edited on June 3, 2017 at 2:47 PM. Reason : dbl]
6/3/2017 2:35:39 PM
6/3/2017 2:48:01 PM
6/3/2017 3:25:40 PM
6/3/2017 3:28:05 PM
Great job mfrog. That is the best post I've ever seen on this site. (not sarcasm)
6/3/2017 4:41:21 PM
embarrassing mistake writing that: deletable -> depletable
6/3/2017 8:45:34 PM
6/4/2017 3:51:13 AM
6/4/2017 8:06:53 AM
Dbl post[Edited on June 4, 2017 at 8:07 AM. Reason : .]
6/4/2017 9:04:23 AM
6/4/2017 2:46:14 PM
Is fucking up our economy really what you're worried about?
6/4/2017 3:31:53 PM
6/4/2017 6:35:29 PM
^ treatment of emissions in international trade is the only thing that should matter right now for these climate agreements. Anything else is just hot air.Until we have a formula to correct the price of imports (via tariffs) for carbon intensity of their production, emissions reduction at the national, state, local, and individual is ineffective and just plain stupid.Germany is a perfect example of a national prerogative to legislate individual sacrifice for the sake of climate action. Sacrifice for the sake of our great grandchildren is not something you can impose on a nation from the international community. It needs to be believed and voted on on the level at which democratic decision making happens - the national level. A nation should be able to opt out if their citizens won't vote for climate action, but they shouldn't be allowed to unfairly suck up trade surpluses by using cheap carbon-intensive power sources.
6/4/2017 8:39:08 PM
6/4/2017 11:20:39 PM
those are all neoliberal policies. If it were up to the actual left, the cost of education and housing would be near nothing and the debt would be minimal or non-existant.[Edited on June 4, 2017 at 11:26 PM. Reason : k]
6/4/2017 11:25:45 PM
That failed instance of the left wasn't really the left! _____ wasn't real communism! ____ wasn't real socialism!
6/4/2017 11:38:41 PM
I feel like we can't complain about China's emissions vs our own, because we suck up every cheap piece of plastic that China produces. Because it's cheap. And it's cheap because China doesn't give a shit about the environment.Why don't we decide to pay more for our goods, bring that production back to our country, and ensure that they're produced in a responsible, sustainable manner? The only issue here is that the poorest people in our country would suffer the most from producing goods in-country.
6/5/2017 9:06:27 AM
6/5/2017 11:47:03 AM
Without significant social reform, Americans will never be able to care about the environment because they will have to make sure they save as much money as possible to pay for healthcare if their child gets sick. Our society puts pressure on everyday people to live with disregard for the poor and the environment. Caring puts you at greater risk to end up becoming one of the poor people who are affected by the bullshit.[Edited on June 5, 2017 at 3:42 PM. Reason : keep em honest]
6/5/2017 3:42:12 PM
6/6/2017 11:00:53 AM
You can only claim the US has reduced CO2 emissions the most if you use nominal values and ignore the country's starting point. The US emits 5x as much CO2 as Germany, so even modest reductions (as a % of US total) are larger than what Germany has achieved. If the US had achieved a 30% reduction similar to Germany, Germany would have to reduce their emissions to zero to match the nominal CO2 reduction.
6/6/2017 12:00:01 PM
That's a fair point that I won't ignore. Kind of like a fat person starting a workout regime at the gym Still, the cost...Jesus.
6/6/2017 4:56:24 PM
6/6/2017 4:59:41 PM
that's what happens when you generate power when nobody wants it, and you effectively pay other generators and countries to shut down plants so that you can offload your excess wind energy during periods of low demand. Germany needs pumped hydro facilities a lot more than they need additional renewable interconnections.
6/6/2017 5:15:47 PM
"Don't worry, this won't affect sea level"White climate change at its finest
6/6/2017 5:17:28 PM
6/6/2017 5:28:38 PM
6/6/2017 5:35:12 PM
^^if you have ice floating in a container of water and it melts the water levels stays the samehttps://www.quora.com/If-an-ice-cube-melts-in-water-why-does-the-water-level-stay-the-same[Edited on June 6, 2017 at 8:55 PM. Reason : may or may not be good point ]
6/6/2017 8:50:06 PM
I think he's questioning the idea that ice connected to Antarctica is supported by the Ocean.
6/6/2017 9:06:30 PM
^^how do you claim a pumped storage facility is a major contributor to GHG emissions if the source of the stored energy is renewable?
6/6/2017 9:08:28 PM
JFC, its melting land ice (like much of Antarctica and Greenland) that contributes to rising seas, not sea ice.[Edited on June 6, 2017 at 9:13 PM. Reason : But thx for the sixth grade Chem lesson ]
6/6/2017 9:12:19 PM
^Its not that simple. The ice "shelf", even if it floats on water, is connected to the ice on land acting as a buffer preventing the ice on land from slipping into the sea. Its questionable at best.
6/6/2017 9:40:36 PM
6/6/2017 10:05:45 PM
whoa whoa whoa.I've been accused of a lot of things, but being a liberal isn't one of them. That's offensive. I'm sure there are other factors that make Walmart's plastic paradise so much cheaper to manufacture in China. They also don't care about the living conditions of their people. But not being hemmed in environmentally helps too.
6/6/2017 10:23:36 PM
China is embracing green energy at a faster pace than we are and are going to lap us economically because of it
6/6/2017 10:52:56 PM
EU Will Ignore White House And Work Directly With US States On Paris Agreementhttp://www.iflscience.com/environment/eu-ignore-white-house-work-directly-states-paris-agreement
6/6/2017 11:54:55 PM
^^are you kidding? They're building coal power plants now at a faster rate than ever in their history. To the point that their construction of power plants is now outpacing their economy and they're considering selling their excess coal-fired electrical energy to Europe via long transmission lines, i.e. highly inefficiency.
6/7/2017 9:02:44 AM
^ https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/5/15/15634538/china-coal-cleaner
6/7/2017 9:51:02 AM
set em up
6/7/2017 9:51:40 AM