this post was submitted on 05 Oct 2023
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Climate - truthful information about climate, related activism and politics.

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Discussion of climate, how it is changing, activism around that, the politics, and the energy systems change we need in order to stabilize things.

As a starting point, the burning of fossil fuels, and to a lesser extent deforestation and release of methane are responsible for the warming in recent decades: Graph of temperature as observed with significant warming, and simulated without added greenhouse gases and other anthropogentic changes, which shows no significant warming

How much each change to the atmosphere has warmed the world: IPCC AR6 Figure 2 - Thee bar charts: first chart: how much each gas has warmed the world. About 1C of total warming. Second chart: about 1.5C of total warming from well-mixed greenhouse gases, offset by 0.4C of cooling from aerosols and negligible influence from changes to solar output, volcanoes, and internal variability. Third chart: about 1.25C of warming from CO2, 0.5C from methane, and a bunch more in small quantities from other gases. About 0.5C of cooling with large error bars from SO2.

Recommended actions to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the near future:

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Made in America: how Biden's climate package is fuelling the global drive to net zero (theconversation.com)
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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I agree it needs to be changed, but how?

How do the millions of people who depend on gas cars get to work tomorrow? How do the millions of people with gas stoves heat their dinner tonight? How do the millions of people with gas furnaces stay warm this winter?

We can't just stop using fossil fuels without replacements. How do you change any of this faster than we already are?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Simplest answer, by wanting to change. Americans dont want to. If they did, we'd be building public transit, bike infrastructure, more renewable energy. Existing fossil fuel applications are one thing, but we're continuing to build new ones. New gas ranges, new gas vehicles, new gas heaters.

Im especially frustrated in rural Mississippi. I really wanna do some solar work, but there's no solar businesses for hundreds of miles. Big ass trucks and SUV's everywhere

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

"Wanting to change" isn't an answer. It's just an empty slogan. "Wanting to" doesn't mean I can afford to buy an electric car right now.

I just bought a gas stove (came with the condo). I expect it to last for another 20 years. That means I am buying natural gas for another 20 years.

Gad heaters are the worst problem. It's not just that we have to replace all the heaters. The electrical infrastructure just doesn't exist yet. That likely means building more nuclear and wind power. Getting that to a level to generate the energy to heat all homes will take decades.

There is no way to avoid it (short of killing a couple billion people). Fossil fuels are going to be with us for decades more.