Jump to content
View in the app

A better way to browse. Learn more.

Morning Big Blue

A full-screen app on your home screen with push notifications, badges and more.

To install this app on iOS and iPadOS
  1. Tap the Share icon in Safari
  2. Scroll the menu and tap Add to Home Screen.
  3. Tap Add in the top-right corner.
To install this app on Android
  1. Tap the 3-dot menu (⋮) in the top-right corner of the browser.
  2. Tap Add to Home screen or Install app.
  3. Confirm by tapping Install.

The Environment Thread

I can't believe I am even making this Thread... 

 

But, it seems to have taken over the politics Thread so I figured we can hash this out here (though the way the conversation was heading about AGW, maybe it should have stayed in the Politics thread...

 

 

So here we go, let's have at it!

 

 

I believe there is overwhelming evidence in AGW and it is a vocal, self-serving minority of the scientific community that derail and muddy up the issue so we can not act in a constructive manner to curtail this global thread.

Edited by Wanna-B-Fanboy

  • Replies 2.3k
  • Views 279.4k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Most Popular Posts

  • I thought I'd wade in here with a few thoughts, just to discuss a few points people have made (WARNING: very long post). First off, I have a doctorate degree in Earth Sciences, have worked as an activ

  • Not peer reviewed.  From ESI's own website:  "ESI continues its long-standing interest in climate change, although its focus has changed considerably. True to its dedication to evidence-based public p

Featured Replies

25 minutes ago, blue_gold_84 said:

I'd argue this has more to do with a shady, corrupt rail company having too much influence while only caring about its profits.

"The vast majority of the nation’s trains continue to rely on a braking system first developed in 1868. Trains equipped with these traditional air brakes make emergency stops more slowly and with higher rates of damage than trains equipped with ECP brakes, according to both safety advocates and the Federal Railroad Administration.

While air brakes stop train cars individually, as air pressure moves sequentially from one car to the next, ECP brakes operate using an electronic signal and can stop an entire train much faster."

successfully lobbied against requiring this.

https://www.levernews.com/rail-companies-blocked-safety-rules-before-ohio-derailment/

destruction of a town? who cares.

most of today's company executives would rather go have the company  of business, than be a good corporate citizen, and take smaller bonuses.

 wait till the oil corps can't service their debts, other obligations. holy cow.

 

Edited by Mark F

  • 2 weeks later...
8 hours ago, FrostyWinnipeg said:

The implications described in this article should be frightening for all, they've been ignoring science and common-sense for well over 50 years, allowing the population in a desert region to swell to unsustainable levels and encouraging a city like Las-Vegas to grow without limitations.  All for the sake of making as much money as possible from irresponsible water and land management, governments have done next to nothing to prevent this predictable catastrophe from happening. 

 

9 hours ago, Fatty Liver said:

The implications described in this article should be frightening for all, they've been ignoring science and common-sense for well over 50 years, allowing the population in a desert region to swell to unsustainable levels and encouraging a city like Las-Vegas to grow without limitations.  All for the sake of making as much money as possible from irresponsible water and land management, governments have done next to nothing to prevent this predictable catastrophe from happening. 

 

But that would cost money and mean higher (gasp) taxes. 

Just now, Tracker said:

But that would cost money and mean higher (gasp) taxes. 

We know taxes are evil because they take money from the rich to provide services to the poor and other untouchable classes. 

2 minutes ago, Tracker said:

But that would cost money and mean higher (gasp) taxes. 

I'm not sure this is a problem that can be solved either by taxation or spending.  This is an issue of people building where they shouldn't because there is no access to vital resources (water).

Civilizations have been leaving desertified environments for centuries.  These people need to take the "L" and move on.  Libertarians are going to need to learn that they just can't do whatever they want, where they want.

19 minutes ago, Wideleft said:

I'm not sure this is a problem that can be solved either by taxation or spending.  This is an issue of people building where they shouldn't because there is no access to vital resources (water).

Civilizations have been leaving desertified environments for centuries.  These people need to take the "L" and move on.  Libertarians are going to need to learn that they just can't do whatever they want, where they want.

The arid areas of Australia, due to the prolonged droughts they have suffered, embarked on a somewhat expensive program of forcing "grey water" from their cities and towns into their aquifers. As a result, the aquifers water levels have been rising. But that's environmental socialism. Abhorrent to Americans and many Canadians.

4 hours ago, Wideleft said:

I'm not sure this is a problem that can be solved either by taxation or spending.  This is an issue of people building where they shouldn't because there is no access to vital resources (water).

Civilizations have been leaving desertified environments for centuries.  These people need to take the "L" and move on.  Libertarians are going to need to learn that they just can't do whatever they want, where they want.

The funny thing is the US stole this desert region from Mexico because it was basically under-populated.

The chickens are now coming home to roost, and I don't think there is a viable solution in sight other than a drastic depopulation of the South-West, which would add stress to many other parts of the country. Realistically what could also happen at some point with unstable US government as it is, once Republicans are back in charge they just take what they need from whomever under the "America First" banner, and keep on consuming.  That means we negotiate to their terms to supply them with water....until that also runs out.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/27/speculative-tech-to-reflect-sun-away-from-earth-needs-focus-un.html

Quote

Global efforts to respond to climate change are so far insufficient, making it time to begin studying technologies to reflect sunlight away from the Earth to cool it down temporarily, said a new report from the United Nations published on Monday.

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is the only way to permanently slow global warming, but worldwide efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are currently “not on track to meet the 1.5° Celsius Paris Agreement goal,” the U.N. Environment Program said in a written statement accompanying the release of the report.

With the world not responding to climate change urgently enough, a “speculative group of technologies” to reflect sunlight back away from the Earth have been getting more attention recently, UNEP said in a written statement accompanying the report. This category of technologies is often called solar radiation modification (SRM) or more broadly solar geoengineering.

The report on these technologies, written by an expert panel brought together by the U.N. program, advised that it’s currently not a good idea to use them in an effort to respond to climate change.

YARN | That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my life. | Due Date |  Video clips by quotes | 5e871a1a | 紗

10 minutes ago, blue_gold_84 said:

Read an article about the potential political pitfalls of this idea just yesterday:

It sounds like something out of science fiction: A country suffering from heat, flooding or crop failures decides on its own to send out a fleet of aircraft to spray a fine, sun-blocking mist into the earth’s atmosphere, reducing temperatures and providing relief to parched populations. Other countries view it as a threat to their own citizens and ready a military response.

But members of the U.S. intelligence community and other national security officials were worried enough last year to plot how to avert a war triggered by this kind of climate engineering. In a role-playing exercise, they practiced managing the tensions that would be unleashed, according to people familiar with the exercise, a sign that they see it as a credible threat in need of a strategy.

The practice, known as solar geoengineering, is theoretically possible. And as the world’s most vulnerable populations suffer more sharply from rising temperatures, global decision-makers will likely come under heavy pressure to deploy the technology, scientists and policymakers say. Compared to other methods to combat the effects of climate change, it’s likely to be cheaper and faster.

Because the technique could weaken the sun’s power across the globe — not just above whichever country decided to deploy it — security officials are concerned about the potential to spark conflict, since a single capital could make decisions that shape the entire world’s fate.

Parts of the U.S. government are rightfully focused on trying better to understand this,” said Sherri Goodman, a senior fellow at the Wilson Center, referencing last year’s geoengineering exercise. “If you don’t understand it, you can’t manage it.”

The science is evolving, said Goodman, a longtime expert on the intersection of climate change and security. But global discussions haven’t kept up, leaving a powerful technology largely unregulated internationally.

“It could be weaponized by a country to either try to improve the climate and reduce the temperatures in their own location or against an adversary,” Goodman said. “It could be threatened in a way that could cause fear or panic among populations.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/02/27/geoengineering-security-war/

Why is it that the most ridiculous Simpsons jokes become the ones that actually come true?
 

ClassicShoddyBasilisk-size_restricted.gi

9 hours ago, Wideleft said:

Read an article about the potential political pitfalls of this idea just yesterday:

It sounds like something out of science fiction: A country suffering from heat, flooding or crop failures decides on its own to send out a fleet of aircraft to spray a fine, sun-blocking mist into the earth’s atmosphere, reducing temperatures and providing relief to parched populations. Other countries view it as a threat to their own citizens and ready a military response.

But members of the U.S. intelligence community and other national security officials were worried enough last year to plot how to avert a war triggered by this kind of climate engineering. In a role-playing exercise, they practiced managing the tensions that would be unleashed, according to people familiar with the exercise, a sign that they see it as a credible threat in need of a strategy.

The practice, known as solar geoengineering, is theoretically possible. And as the world’s most vulnerable populations suffer more sharply from rising temperatures, global decision-makers will likely come under heavy pressure to deploy the technology, scientists and policymakers say. Compared to other methods to combat the effects of climate change, it’s likely to be cheaper and faster.

Because the technique could weaken the sun’s power across the globe — not just above whichever country decided to deploy it — security officials are concerned about the potential to spark conflict, since a single capital could make decisions that shape the entire world’s fate.

Parts of the U.S. government are rightfully focused on trying better to understand this,” said Sherri Goodman, a senior fellow at the Wilson Center, referencing last year’s geoengineering exercise. “If you don’t understand it, you can’t manage it.”

The science is evolving, said Goodman, a longtime expert on the intersection of climate change and security. But global discussions haven’t kept up, leaving a powerful technology largely unregulated internationally.

“It could be weaponized by a country to either try to improve the climate and reduce the temperatures in their own location or against an adversary,” Goodman said. “It could be threatened in a way that could cause fear or panic among populations.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/02/27/geoengineering-security-war/

This is represented in Kim Stanley Robinson's excellent 'The Ministry of the Future'. A great sci-fi read that is very much grounded in science and what the near future could look like.

  • 3 weeks later...
On 2/13/2023 at 12:16 PM, Mark F said:

"The vast majority of the nation’s trains continue to rely on a braking system first developed in 1868. Trains equipped with these traditional air brakes make emergency stops more slowly and with higher rates of damage than trains equipped with ECP brakes, according to both safety advocates and the Federal Railroad Administration.

While air brakes stop train cars individually, as air pressure moves sequentially from one car to the next, ECP brakes operate using an electronic signal and can stop an entire train much faster."

successfully lobbied against requiring this.

https://www.levernews.com/rail-companies-blocked-safety-rules-before-ohio-derailment/

destruction of a town? who cares.  most of today's company executives would rather go have the company  of business, than be a good corporate citizen, and take smaller bonuses.   wait till the oil corps can't service their debts, other obligations. holy cow.

 

As a footnote to the Ohio derailment and while the legal stuff is ongoing, hours of video footage regarding it have disappeared.

re fossil fuelled climate.....when you see what is happening now, world over, and the un says not even close to doing what is needed.

tahoe fifty six feet of snow has fallen.

and most people across all age groups just dont seem to care. for the most part, just ignoring this. flying, huge trucks, boats, rv. 

Canada, and the world, still investing huge amounts, in oil.

El Nino is probably coming this summer.

outlook is grim.

since the easy path has not been taken, wonder what the path will be.

since we always seem to do things the hard way, probably will be completely crazy geo engineering.

 California fieldworkers this week

https://twitter.com/omeojenn/status/1640161904516816896?s=20

 

 

Edited by Mark F

  • 2 weeks later...

https://apnews.com/article/methane-emissions-climate-change-noaa-fe5f29a93e5407f1f80d383eb829b41e

Quote

Methane in the atmosphere had its fourth-highest annual increase in 2022, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported, part of an overall rise in planet-warming greenhouse gases that the agency called “alarming.”

Though carbon dioxide typically gets more attention for its role in climate change, scientists are particularly concerned about methane because it traps much more heat — about 87 times more than carbon dioxide on a 20-year timescale.

Methane, a gas emitted from sources including landfills, oil and natural gas systems and livestock, has increased particularly quickly since 2020. Scientists say it shows no sign of slowing despite urgent calls from scientists and policymakers who say time is running out to meet warming limits in the Paris Agreement and avoid the most destructive impacts of climate change.

 

1 hour ago, Tracker said:

What do you expect to happen when bean burritos are so cheap and plentiful.

That's funny. But reality is, we will probably need to eat more beans (plant based protein) 

"The mine has 33 employees and uses nearly 10 times as much electricity as all the homes in the 16,000-person town (Jamestown, ND). It is one of three mines in the state that together consume nearly as much power as every home in North Dakota."

 

 

just checked this

wife's kia niro ev, 15 kWh to go 100 k.  

20,0000 k, cost of charging, 346.00.

The other thing about bitcoin is it targets to have a new coin "mined" every 10 minutes.  This means it adjusts how hard the algorithm is to mine the next coin regularly (every 2 weeks I believe).  The more people that mine it, the more difficult it becomes.

This is the difficulty factor over time, which would also be an indication of how many machines are out there trying to mine them.

diff.jpg

 

Create an account or sign in to comment

Account

Navigation

Search

Configure browser push notifications

Chrome (Android)
  1. Tap the lock icon next to the address bar.
  2. Tap Permissions → Notifications.
  3. Adjust your preference.
Chrome (Desktop)
  1. Click the padlock icon in the address bar.
  2. Select Site settings.
  3. Find Notifications and adjust your preference.