The world is not ending, this is a very slow rolling problem. And humans will solve it for sure. Worst case scenario, quality of life goes down a bit but it would still be much higher than what the average human experienced for 99.9% of our history.
Fusion could still take decades, or maybe never happen at all. Modern fission reactor designs are already more than safe enough. We can’t afford to wait any longer.
You’re right. But I don’t get how people can’t see the risk. No matter how many controls you put in place, how safe you make it, there’s always a chance. And if that happens, we face a nuclear meltdown which will make the place and nearby locations uninhabitable for hundreds of years. I don’t know if controls even exist to prevent a meltdown caused by an earthquake or tornado/hurricane.
What is preferrable: a tiny chance to make a small area (Chernobyl-size is impossible with modern reactors) uninhabitable or a guarantee to make the entire planet uninhabitable?
Fusion is perhaps better, but not ready. We’re out of time, and doing nothing new guarantees death for all.
Modern nuclear reactors, especially ones not trying to turn a profit, and be made extremely safe in almost any environment. Investment in solar and wind is good too, but they can’t handle the current loads needed to keep things working.
Even something as simple as requiring all new construction be outfitted with solar panels would be a step forward, but politics and money will be the death of us all. Literally.
Maybe more like…goes down a bit in well-developed countries, in areas that are not already prone to natural disasters. We’re already losing people to the heatwave again. Last year, Europe lost a little over 61k, this year it’s 3 entire degrees below that. Heat waves are natural and would be happening regardless. Climate change makes them leagues worse than they would have been.
Myself, personally, I live in an area that is typically protected from the worst weather. We do get snow, but most of it ends up being waylaid by the mountains and I feel sorry for those who live there rather than in the plains. The area does get at least one hurricane every year, but it’s deflected by the coastline of the Outer Banks and I have no idea what kind of person still wants to live there, but they’re a trooper as well.
Hurricane Florence in 2018 was the first time in my life I have ever seen a hurricane come this far inland, and they are continuing to do so. For obvious reasons, I do not like this.
The earth isn’t going to shut off like a simulation tomorrow, it is just going to be a slow and steady burn. Which is the biggest reason nobody is doing anything about it – we’re wired for immediate threats. This will never be immediate. The human race is currently the boiling frog, acclimating to their new life in whatever happens to happen.
You would seem to suggest it’s a matter of an annoying loss of comfort, and it’s already not that for millions of people. Rising oceans and harsher cyclones blowing seawater inland have turned the soil and water supplies in Bangladesh increasingly salty. Enough that the salt-water resistant mangrove trees the area is famous for are experiencing a shift in biodiversity as those species with a lower tolerance are beaten out by more resilient competitors. Loss of habitat aside, we’re about to test out exactly how resistant tiger kidneys are to drinking that.
Available drinking water is hard to come by and repeatedly bathing in saltwater causes miserable full-body rashes. Building farms on floating river rafts is an older technique there that addresses the flooding a bit, but the salinity of the river water and the worsening heat are still having their impact on crop failure anyway.
I think that could be understandable, to be honest. Even just this (apart from where I live) is all stuff I came across scrolling news articles or random tweets. It’s not something I go out of my way to look for every day. Why? Because it makes me feel really bad and there’s nothing I can really do about it. If I could chuck a lemonade over there or ask people to kindly stop drone striking each other, I would. All it accomplishes is causing me more hopelessness than what I already have.
Which is likely why a lot of other people don’t devote a lot of research to it either. It takes a very specific person to voluntarily devote yourself to feeling really really bad, and that kind of interest in events only spreads to the masses when it’s unavoidably happening to them. It’s not anywhere close to idyllic, but most of human nature isn’t and (especially in the face of the internet) we end up whittling things down to our own personal well-being in order to make it manageable.
Tell me you don’t understand the implications of climate change without telling me you don’t understand the implications of climate change. If you think food and water shortages that put 80-90% of the world’s population at risk of death and simultaneously destroys global economic flows humanity has become reliant on is better quality of life than ever you are dillusenial.
I won’t argue about the science because there’s no argument left for that, but if you think money or technology is a magic formula that will shield us from climate change you’re putting a lot of faith in something with very little certainty.
Quality of life will go down massively for less developed countries. Remember when literally 1/3 of Pakistan was under water? These people had quite low QoL.
The world is not ending, this is a very slow rolling problem. And humans will solve it for sure. Worst case scenario, quality of life goes down a bit but it would still be much higher than what the average human experienced for 99.9% of our history.
“Many of you shall die, but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make”
Lol. Well how many people would die if we stopped using fossil fuels? In the end we’ll have to rely on technology to fix this.
We have the technology. Nuclear power can save the planet.
There is no will to put in the work.
Unfortunately, it’s too late to change people’s minds now that they’ve grown up thinking nuclear power is the devil.
“It’s easier to fool a man than to convince him he’s been fooled.”
How do we make it safe with the rise of natural disasters? Nuclear meltdowns are bad for us and the environment.
I’m really looking forward to advancements in nuclear fusion.
Fusion could still take decades, or maybe never happen at all. Modern fission reactor designs are already more than safe enough. We can’t afford to wait any longer.
You’re right. But I don’t get how people can’t see the risk. No matter how many controls you put in place, how safe you make it, there’s always a chance. And if that happens, we face a nuclear meltdown which will make the place and nearby locations uninhabitable for hundreds of years. I don’t know if controls even exist to prevent a meltdown caused by an earthquake or tornado/hurricane.
What is preferrable: a tiny chance to make a small area (Chernobyl-size is impossible with modern reactors) uninhabitable or a guarantee to make the entire planet uninhabitable?
Fusion is perhaps better, but not ready. We’re out of time, and doing nothing new guarantees death for all.
Modern nuclear reactors, especially ones not trying to turn a profit, and be made extremely safe in almost any environment. Investment in solar and wind is good too, but they can’t handle the current loads needed to keep things working.
Even something as simple as requiring all new construction be outfitted with solar panels would be a step forward, but politics and money will be the death of us all. Literally.
I’m all for nuclear power. What I meant more is about removing the excess greenhouse gasses from the atmosphere.
Maybe more like…goes down a bit in well-developed countries, in areas that are not already prone to natural disasters. We’re already losing people to the heatwave again. Last year, Europe lost a little over 61k, this year it’s 3 entire degrees below that. Heat waves are natural and would be happening regardless. Climate change makes them leagues worse than they would have been.
Areas like Ireland that get a lot of rain are experiencing a dangerous amount of flooding. Areas in the middle east that typically only see rain during the monsoon season are experiencing an even dryer, hotter dry season followed by a much stronger rain that causes increasingly destructive flash floods.
Myself, personally, I live in an area that is typically protected from the worst weather. We do get snow, but most of it ends up being waylaid by the mountains and I feel sorry for those who live there rather than in the plains. The area does get at least one hurricane every year, but it’s deflected by the coastline of the Outer Banks and I have no idea what kind of person still wants to live there, but they’re a trooper as well.
Hurricane Florence in 2018 was the first time in my life I have ever seen a hurricane come this far inland, and they are continuing to do so. For obvious reasons, I do not like this.
The earth isn’t going to shut off like a simulation tomorrow, it is just going to be a slow and steady burn. Which is the biggest reason nobody is doing anything about it – we’re wired for immediate threats. This will never be immediate. The human race is currently the boiling frog, acclimating to their new life in whatever happens to happen.
You would seem to suggest it’s a matter of an annoying loss of comfort, and it’s already not that for millions of people. Rising oceans and harsher cyclones blowing seawater inland have turned the soil and water supplies in Bangladesh increasingly salty. Enough that the salt-water resistant mangrove trees the area is famous for are experiencing a shift in biodiversity as those species with a lower tolerance are beaten out by more resilient competitors. Loss of habitat aside, we’re about to test out exactly how resistant tiger kidneys are to drinking that.
Available drinking water is hard to come by and repeatedly bathing in saltwater causes miserable full-body rashes. Building farms on floating river rafts is an older technique there that addresses the flooding a bit, but the salinity of the river water and the worsening heat are still having their impact on crop failure anyway.
That’s a great post. I can’t add much to it, a lot of that info is new to me.
I think that could be understandable, to be honest. Even just this (apart from where I live) is all stuff I came across scrolling news articles or random tweets. It’s not something I go out of my way to look for every day. Why? Because it makes me feel really bad and there’s nothing I can really do about it. If I could chuck a lemonade over there or ask people to kindly stop drone striking each other, I would. All it accomplishes is causing me more hopelessness than what I already have.
Which is likely why a lot of other people don’t devote a lot of research to it either. It takes a very specific person to voluntarily devote yourself to feeling really really bad, and that kind of interest in events only spreads to the masses when it’s unavoidably happening to them. It’s not anywhere close to idyllic, but most of human nature isn’t and (especially in the face of the internet) we end up whittling things down to our own personal well-being in order to make it manageable.
Tell me you don’t understand the implications of climate change without telling me you don’t understand the implications of climate change. If you think food and water shortages that put 80-90% of the world’s population at risk of death and simultaneously destroys global economic flows humanity has become reliant on is better quality of life than ever you are dillusenial.
It’s not that bad.
I won’t argue about the science because there’s no argument left for that, but if you think money or technology is a magic formula that will shield us from climate change you’re putting a lot of faith in something with very little certainty.
We can do amazing thing when we are united and determined. I trust that as the situation gets worse humanity will rise up to the task.
Quality of life will go down massively for less developed countries. Remember when literally 1/3 of Pakistan was under water? These people had quite low QoL.
Humans will solve it?!? LMAO like how we all got together to kill off COVID? Instead of just making it a political problem?
Naw dude, humanity will never ever work together again. If aliens invaded half of y’all be making deals with em so they eat you last.