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[geomon]

Ballgame

 

[nintendoman58]

You're so naive. I don't even mean that in a mean way. You've created an alternate reality for yourself, and one day it's all going to come crashing down.

The is personal projection and an assumption of intent that can't be proven based on the statements you're responding to. People aren't concerned for the future in some weird anonymous Internet ego forum contest of smartness my friend....if you feel that they are smarter it's more likely because you can't adequately argue the logical statements they're making which show evidence of the dire consequences facing humanity.

Also, telling people you vehemently hate them multiple times doesn't give you a particularly defensible position. Despising individual humans because they don't want widespread ecological disaster and instability of human society? Even if you believe they may be exaggerating, consider their intent. Their intent is for things to be better...how in the world is that a moral justification for hatred?

Your statements are poorly reasoned, irrational, and lacking empathy for others. Considering your stated goal of being hopeful for humanity it's a touch ironic just how many of the troubling, selfish aspects of human nature you display in your cries for mindless hope.

Look, I may not show it much, but I'm just as terrified as the rest of you when I read news like this. I just watched that video in the OP and I'm even more terrified now.

It makes me question why I continue to work or pursue an education. It makes me question my very existence.

I'm young. I know people who love and care about me and I love and care about them. I want to believe that they and their children will grow up to have good futures. The prospect that me and they might not horrifies me to my very core.

I believe in hope because it's what keeps me going. When I see people telling other people to give up hope and "not have kids", I see it as an attack on one of my reasons to live. That's why I get angry and spout my "mindless" hope.

I don't want to fall into a depressed state where I would end up alienating the people around me. That's why I choose to believe. Believe in carbon capture technology. Believe in the growth of renewable energy. Believe that a solution may one day be found.

Because otherwise, what is honestly the point in me living? How can I honestly live with myself and others just sitting down and accepting that the lives of the ones I love are all going to head to disaster because of climate change?

I can't accept that. I just CAN'T. No matter what people say the probable outcome is, I can't accept it.

For my sake and the ones that I love.

 

[Vincent Alexander]

People think I'm fucking nuts that I don't want to put any more kids on this planet....Why make them suffer through the shit of our mistakes?

 

[TheCochese]

Look, I may not show it much, but I'm just as terrified as the rest of you when I read news like this. I just watched that video in the OP and I'm even more terrified now.

It makes me question why I continue to work or pursue an education. It makes me question my very existence.

I'm young. I know people who love and care about me and I love and care about them. I want to believe that they and their children will grow up to have good futures. The prospect that me and they might not horrifies me to my very core.

I believe in hope because it's what keeps me going. When I see people telling other people to give up hope and "not have kids", I see it as an attack on one of my reasons to live. That's why I get angry and spout my "mindless" hope.

I don't want to fall into a depressed state where I would end up alienating the people around me. That's why I choose to believe. Believe in carbon capture technology. Believe in the growth of renewable energy. Believe that a solution may one day be found.

Because otherwise, what is honestly the point in me living? How can I honestly live with myself and others just sitting down and accepting that the lives of the ones I love are all going to head to disaster because of climate change?

I can't accept that. I just CAN'T. No matter what people say the probable outcome is, I can't accept it.

For my sake and the ones that I love.

So I apologize if that all feels wrong to the both of you.

I think you need to be real with yourself and figure out if children are going to define your life. They could, and there's nothing wrong with that. I live, I exist, but my driving purpose in life is to enjoy my children and see them prepared to live the best lives they can. Some people have kids and aren't defined by their existence. Some don't have kids and never did want to. There's only the right answers for you.

But, and I mean this in the most sincere way, you really should explore having conversations with a professional and determine how to process the world around you and turn it into a positive thing more than just having to hold on to positive thoughts to keep you going.

My concern for you is that existential dread that is lurking in the background is one day not going to be held back by happy thoughts and this barrier you've constructed for yourself. I was much like that, but found once I accepted the truth, it gave me power. It doesn't mean I'm littering everywhere and air conditioning the neighborhood. Far from it. I do everything I can to contribute to a better society with a better chance of meaningful impact for the mere fact that I did come to the terms of what the reality entails.

There certainly are some doom and gloomers on this board, I won't lie. But accepting and being prepared for possible eventualities doesn't necessarily put people into that category. Things could get better, across a broad spectrum of issues that is discussed here. Things also can get worse. Much like your method of coping is to be positive, cynicism is a coping mechanism as well.

 

[-Mutsukki-]

Look, I may not show it much, but I'm just as terrified as the rest of you when I read news like this. I just watched that video in the OP and I'm even more terrified now.

It makes me question why I continue to work or pursue an education. It makes me question my very existence.

I'm young. I know people who love and care about me and I love and care about them. I want to believe that they and their children will grow up to have good futures. The prospect that me and they might not horrifies me to my very core.

I believe in hope because it's what keeps me going. When I see people telling other people to give up hope and "not have kids", I see it as an attack on one of my reasons to live. That's why I get angry and spout my "mindless" hope.

I don't want to fall into a depressed state where I would end up alienating the people around me. That's why I choose to believe. Believe in carbon capture technology. Believe in the growth of renewable energy. Believe that a solution may one day be found.

Because otherwise, what is honestly the point in me living? How can I honestly live with myself and others just sitting down and accepting that the lives of the ones I love are all going to head to disaster because of climate change?

I can't accept that. I just CAN'T. No matter what people say the probable outcome is, I can't accept it.

For my sake and the ones that I love.

A lot of the driving force behind these posts is a deep embrace of nihilism as their life motto, so if I were you I wouldn't pay them that much thought. Be informed, be aware and be prepared and also keep hoping for a better future because it is possible.

Edit: I felt like I brushed off climate issues in this post. That's not the case, those are worrying and we should do all we can to make them less worse, while also keeping them in mind. What I meant with what I said is just to why some posts here and around the internet are so dramatic, hopeless and overblown.

 

[erragal]

Look, I may not show it much, but I'm just as terrified as the rest of you when I read news like this. I just watched that video in the OP and I'm even more terrified now.

It makes me question why I continue to work or pursue an education. It makes me question my very existence.

Because otherwise, what is honestly the point in me living?

Life is suffering. "Avoidance of suffering leads to worse suffering. It hurts to face the brevity of our lives, and we drink alcohol excessively to avoid that pain, thus causing more pain. It hurts to share, so we create poverty and war to protect our comfortable greed"

From a strictly rational perspective it's rarely smart to change your behavior based on externalities you cannot influence. Even if the world were to end, this is an unknowable and an unchangeable.

"How many happy songs, how many sad?
Finally realizing that outside of mind
There is nothing else
All situations, adverse and favorable,
Are our Teachers"

Act according to your nature, not according to the nature of an unknowable future. Express frustrations and fears as they happen and learn what risks can be avoided or mitigated and which are only ghosts, the impressions of journeys which would never be finished.

 

[Cyanity]

This may sound dumb but I've always wondered why we can't just filter out the C02 out of the air. It's obviously not the best solution but if we will be suffering the effects even if we cut production why not just filter it out and store it somewhere compressed.

Do you know how much air there is

 

[ponpo]

Is there anyway to remove CO2 from the atmosphere?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...74ccaf1d02f_story.html?utm_term=.155dbb95a2fe

WADI ABDAH, Oman — Deep in the jagged red mountains of Oman, geologists are searching for an efficient and cheap way to remove carbon dioxide from the air and oceans — and perhaps begin to reverse climate change.

They are coring samples from one of the world’s only exposed sections of the Earth’s mantle to uncover how a spontaneous natural process millions of years ago transformed carbon dioxide into limestone and marble.

Peter Kelemen, a 61-year-old geochemist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, has been exploring Oman’s hills for nearly three decades. “You can walk down these beautiful canyons and basically descend 20 kilometers (12 miles) into the earth’s interior,” he said.

The sultanate boasts the largest exposed sections of the Earth’s mantle, thrust up by plate tectonics millions of years ago. The mantle contains peridotite, a rock that reacts with the carbon in air and water to form marble and limestone.

“Every single magnesium atom in these rocks has made friends with the carbon dioxide to form solid limestone, magnesium carbonate, plus quartz,” he said as he patted a rust-colored boulder in the Wadi Mansah valley.

“There’s about a billion tons of CO2 in this mountain,” he said, pointing off to the east.

 

[SpaceCadetKeon]

The Newsroom.
This scene is a pretty accurate depiction actually.
We are already at a point where devastating effects of climate change are inevitable. Its about damage control now.

My only issue is that he uses the phrase "catastrophic failure of the planet". This isn't a failure of the planet. These are just changes that take place so rapidly that millions upon millions of people will die (as direct or indirect result of these changes) because we can't adapt fast enough. Countless animals and plants will go extinct, too, obviously.
But the planet is functioning just fine.

Christ this is depressing. Even if I die before shit starts to really hit the fan, the idea that future generations will be fucked by all this upsets me.

 

[Sky Interloper]

Wonderful.

It is not surprising at the least with how things have been happening this last couple of years. The whole year the city I live in has been suffering of high concentrations of pollutants, to the point I can't see the surrounding mountains during my moring commute and more people are suffering from respiratory illnesses

But keep going, it's not like this is the only planet that we are capable of inhabiting with our current technology deployment.

 

[ADS]

I can't accept that. I just CAN'T. No matter what people say the probable outcome is, I can't accept it.

For my sake and the ones that I love.

You are very young. At some point you will realize that reality does not care what you believe and you have to plan for what is most likely to happen, not what you hope happens.

I want to have children and I hope they live full fulfilling lives, but I am not sticking my head in the sand and hiding from the reality of the situation. There is a high probability that future generations will live in a much less hospitable environment than the one we currently enjoy.

 

[Jack The Nipper]

I plan to move more north in the Us as I really hate heat. The changes of too warm winters in the south aren't for me.

 

[Electric Eye]

Great now I feel bad about BBQ'n today. If its any consolation i fucked up the seasoning and it wasn't even that good : /

 

[AstroNut325]

Anyone here willing to drive less, eat less meat, use less AC or buy less stuff in general?

 

[R10Neymarfan]

Anyone here willing to drive less, eat less meat, use less AC or buy less stuff in general?

That's the big issue here and one I thought about mostly. The biggest change starts at the bottom and even though people want their government or UN to do something, they still won't change their lifestyle. They want a solution but nothing that ruins their daily routine. But that's mostly impossible IMO

 

[Monocle]

We fucked ourselves and I don't have any sympathy for it. The animals didn't deserve this but we certainly do.

Don't blame me, I don't vote for venal morons or invent excuses to throw my vote away.

Anyone here willing to drive less, eat less meat, use less AC or buy less stuff in general?

I do all of this stuff. However, I live in a city where that kind of lifestyle is fairly practical.

 

[Davide]

I've seriously cut down how meat I eat. I'll usually get a chicken or fish burger instead of a hamburger now.

 

[Neo C.]

The US is the key factor, the biggest polluters per capita with one of the biggest ratio of climate change denialists.

We can still do some damage control, but we need more efforts and less infights between different groups. For example, it wouldn't be too costly to plant more GMOs with bigger CO2 intake, but we need to do it now and on massive scale. The amount of offshore wind farm is increasing as well, but we absolutely need more of them in America. There are different methods to make deserts green and prosperous, but again, instead of arguing which method is best we need to use it all.

 

[Warm Machine]

The problem of power and resources is going to solve itself due to the economics involved. It might take a few years yet but you will see a spectacular downward trend in CO2 and fossil fuel in 5 years. In 10 years it'll be more so. Tech is moving unbelievably fast to secure a cheap democratic solution.

 

[Tall4Life]

That's the ironic part about saying things like "Save the planet". I feel like if people actually phrased it like "save the human race", it'd be harder to be against it...

And about the world trying to make progress on it, it's somewhat reassuring that countries like India & China are putting a lot of effort into renewables and so forth, as they realize the problems pollution and global warming cause and in China's case, are sick of suffering from it. Ironically that's what got the US to think about how we alter our environment back in the 70s (LA smog, etc.), but it seems like people forgot somehow..

The US will probably start caring once Miami/New Orleans goes fully under

 

[Neo C.]

That's the big issue here and one I thought about mostly. The biggest change starts at the bottom and even though people want their government or UN to do something, they still won't change their lifestyle.

It's actually more effective through governmental regulation than changing the private consumption though (from Adam ruins everything, sorry for the poor quality).

 

[Tall4Life]

People think I'm fucking nuts that I don't want to put any more kids on this planet....Why make them suffer through the shit of our mistakes?

But if there are no more generations of kids then there will be literally no one to stop climate change if we get too old and die

 

[Muppet of a Man]

That's the big issue here and one I thought about mostly. The biggest change starts at the bottom and even though people want their government or UN to do something, they still won't change their lifestyle. They want a solution but nothing that ruins their daily routine. But that's mostly impossible IMO

This does not work. The only thing that will work in this scenario is large scale systemic change via a major change in energy infrastructure and removing subsidies that prop up the livestock industry (i.e., making meat more expensive).

Governments will be the only ones who can effectively implement these changes. They need to make it easier, cheaper, and faster to get nuclear power plants up and running, as well as majorly subsidize research into renewables and battery technologies to up their efficiency. They need to remove subsidies to the livestock husbandry industry, including the subsidizing of staple feedstock grains which go to feed that livestock.

It has been shown time and time again that changes to cultural behaviors and habits lag far behind increasing efficiencies in technology. In order to do something that will have a significant impact, we need to circumvent individual behavior, and essentially beat this thing from the top down via technology.

 

[Ashhong]

no one cares about norcal

socal is the lifeblood of this state

So true

 

[TwiztidElf]

Stuff.

You have a great attitude, but you're spitting into the wind here.

 

[Herr Schwarz]

We didn't listen!

I don't think this will be the end of humanity as we know it. By the time things start to get drastically fucked I'm sure SpaceX et al would have got to Mars at that point.

A massive shrinkage of unprecedented scale of the human population? Hells yes.

Total wipeout? That's hard to believe.

I just feel bad because you know it's gonna be like Elysium with shielded, maybe underground compounds, built in the most optimum spot that'll house the most affluent and educated.

Fallout games got it wrong, Selfishness Never Changes.

 

[The Kree]

Look, I may not show it much, but I'm just as terrified as the rest of you when I read news like this. I just watched that video in the OP and I'm even more terrified now.

It makes me question why I continue to work or pursue an education. It makes me question my very existence.

I'm young. I know people who love and care about me and I love and care about them. I want to believe that they and their children will grow up to have good futures. The prospect that me and they might not horrifies me to my very core.

I believe in hope because it's what keeps me going. When I see people telling other people to give up hope and "not have kids", I see it as an attack on one of my reasons to live. That's why I get angry and spout my "mindless" hope.

I don't want to fall into a depressed state where I would end up alienating the people around me. That's why I choose to believe. Believe in carbon capture technology. Believe in the growth of renewable energy. Believe that a solution may one day be found.

Because otherwise, what is honestly the point in me living? How can I honestly live with myself and others just sitting down and accepting that the lives of the ones I love are all going to head to disaster because of climate change?

I can't accept that. I just CAN'T. No matter what people say the probable outcome is, I can't accept it.

For my sake and the ones that I love.

I love your enthusiasm. Such a shame it's going to go to waste living on a doomed planet. You'd be a great addition to a superior species living in more promising circumstances.

 

[GillianSeed79]

How soon until shit looks like that movie The Road? I feel kind of guilty trying to have a baby right now knowing that their kids or grandchildren are going to grow up in the post apocalypse.

 

[BreezyLimbo]

We'll be fine.

 

[rainz]

Can people stop eating beef/animals now? (Animal agriculture is one of the biggest contributors to the problem by a large factor, more than transportation. Not to mention would be one of the easiest changes to make..)
What is it going to take exactly??
Im hoping lab grown stuff takes off, and soon, so at least that can put a dent in the environmental effects for those who still wish to consume.

 

[Sirpopopop]

I honestly can't tell what the situation is like from GAF's reporting back or even these kinds of reports because of lack of context. I honestly would like to know what the most accurate predictions are for the future. Like, are we all going to seriously fucking die from heat and increased ultraviolet radiation in fifty years and we might as well not even bother, or are we going to be faced with survivable albeit terrible economical and sociological disasters in areas and countries ill-equipped to handle the droughts and rising sea levels? And what can I as an individual do about it in the meantime, if anything? Having those basic questions answered would be nice, even if the answer is "Yes, you're going to die from global warming."

You don't.

Right now, the main argument in the scientific world is about limiting how fucked we are:

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/paris-cop2...-happens-if-global-warming-exceeds-it-1530851

It's between just watching Bangladesh, Florida, etc. being completely fucked, or a whole lot of fuckery.

Since we elected Trump, expect us to miss the 2 degree C mark completely.

 

[Frankfurter]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...74ccaf1d02f_story.html?utm_term=.155dbb95a2fe

For some reason I expect us to be stupid enough to actually release some of that stored CO² in Oman :/

 

[TSM]

While we absolutely need to cut back on the causes of global warming, making things worse more slowly isn't a solution in itself. At some point we are going to have to pull it out of the atmosphere. Given how poorly the UN functions things will probably have to get a lot worse before such a worldwide effort begins.

 

[Possumowner]

Breaks into song "And now...the end is near..it's time to face the final curtain"

 

[mcz117chief]

My favourite part of Earth's ancient history will begin again, Paleozoic!

"The earliest two periods, the Ordovician and Silurian, were warm greenhouse periods, with the highest sea levels of the Paleozoic (200 m above today's)."

 

[Ecotic]

While we absolutely need to cut back on the causes of global warming, making things worse more slowly isn't a solution in itself. At some point we are going to have to pull it out of the atmosphere. Given how poorly the UN functions things will probably have to get a lot worse before such a worldwide effort begins.

Yeah that's my thought process. We need to do everything we can to arrest and mitigate global warming, but at some point when the technology is capable we're going to have to pull it out of the atmosphere by the billions of tons. 100 years from now I can see a future where companies mine carbon out of the atmosphere the way oil companies mine it out of the ground today.

 

[Melon Husk]

We're not in the darkest timeline so to speak, at least China is taking it seriously. India and USA are the biggest obstacles from a global perspective.

My favourite part of Earth's ancient history will begin again, Paleozoic!

"The earliest two periods, the Ordovician and Silurian, were warm greenhouse periods, with the highest sea levels of the Paleozoic (200 m above today's)."

That's one helluva swamp to drain

 

[mcz117chief]

That's one helluva swamp to drain

If you do that then where will the 80cm big dragonflies live?


Just you wait, guys, Yellowstone will explode sooner or later and we will have an ice age on our hands.

 

[Always-honest]

I've seriously cut down how meat I eat. I'll usually get a chicken or fish burger instead of a hamburger now.

lol....

Anyone here willing to drive less, eat less meat, use less AC or buy less stuff in general?

Doing all of those. But you're right. Most people aren't. There need to be waaaay more drastic changes though.

 

[Machina]

The ship has sailed.

Speaking of which, anybody got a spare boat?

 

[HarryHengst]

Look, I may not show it much, but I'm just as terrified as the rest of you when I read news like this. I just watched that video in the OP and I'm even more terrified now.

It makes me question why I continue to work or pursue an education. It makes me question my very existence.

I'm young. I know people who love and care about me and I love and care about them. I want to believe that they and their children will grow up to have good futures. The prospect that me and they might not horrifies me to my very core.

I believe in hope because it's what keeps me going. When I see people telling other people to give up hope and "not have kids", I see it as an attack on one of my reasons to live. That's why I get angry and spout my "mindless" hope.

I don't want to fall into a depressed state where I would end up alienating the people around me. That's why I choose to believe. Believe in carbon capture technology. Believe in the growth of renewable energy. Believe that a solution may one day be found.

Because otherwise, what is honestly the point in me living? How can I honestly live with myself and others just sitting down and accepting that the lives of the ones I love are all going to head to disaster because of climate change?

I can't accept that. I just CAN'T. No matter what people say the probable outcome is, I can't accept it.

For my sake and the ones that I love.

They wont. Or at least not as good as the one you have had so far. Just deal with it, because what you are doing is sticking your fingers in your ears screaming ''i cant hear you''. You are in full-on denial mode and it doesnt help you, because it causes you to strike out in anger when people tell you things you dont want to hear.

Everything that is happening with the climate today? That is caused by emissions from several decades ago. The worst, from the 80s up till now, has yet to come, and it will come in the coming decades. Even if we stopped 100% of all emissions TODAY the climate will still heat up for centuries to come. Shit will still hit the fan.

That war in Syria? Caused in part (not fully) by climate change. That is just the beginning. It will only get worse in the coming decades. Living in America might mean you are sheltered form the very worst. Due to its connection to Asia and Africa Europe is way more vulnerable and i am fully counting on Eastern European nations rebuilding some form of the Iron Curtain to keep out refugees that will put Trump's wall to shame.

And you know what? Even if we managed to capture the hundreds of billions of tons of CO2 from the atmosphere, we are still living in a capitalist society that can only function with unlimited growth based on unlimited resources. Which we dont have. So even if your hypothetical kids will not have to deal with climate change, they will live in a world that will tear itself apart over resources.

 

[ClosingADoor]

The problem of power and resources is going to solve itself due to the economics involved. It might take a few years yet but you will see a spectacular downward trend in CO2 and fossil fuel in 5 years. In 10 years it'll be more so. Tech is moving unbelievably fast to secure a cheap democratic solution.

The issue isn't so much if we will be able to replace fossil fuels with renewables. That is going to happen, plain and simple. The issue is: will it be in time.

Anyone here willing to drive less, eat less meat, use less AC or buy less stuff in general?

While all this has an impact on the personal level and should be done, it also wouldn't be an issue of your AC is powered by solar, and your car runs on batteries. Top down solutions are needed, look for example at environmental fixes like charging for plastic bags. 70% drop in plastic bags because the government imposed it. You don't get those results by just leaving it to people to choose for themselves.

 

[BAW]

You all just didn't want to settle for mid-tier GPUs, did you?

 

[Theonik]

Yeah, they're called "plants". Google them.

Plants don't live it the high atmosphere which is the problem. Basically we can slow further accumulation but reversal also requires us to remove the amount we've already dumped in the higher atmosphere somehow.

 

[mcz117chief]

Plants don't live it the high atmosphere which is the problem. Basically we can slow further accumulation but reversal also requires us to remove the amount we've already dumped in the higher atmosphere somehow.

Isn't CO2 lighter than air? It should eventually fall down to the ground and be absorbed by the flora.

 

[Summer Haze]

Bring on warmer/longer UK summers. Whooo

 

[SolidusDave]

People think I'm fucking nuts that I don't want to put any more kids on this planet....Why make them suffer through the shit of our mistakes?

This nihilistic angle aside, no, it's not crazy to not add to the exponential growth of the human population.


It depends on where you live (i.e. all first world countries basically, in particular the US), but each child you are not having lowers your personal CO2 footprint 20 (!) times more than whatever green life choices you are making in your life (no car etc.).
http://oregonstate.edu/ua/ncs/archives/2009/jul/family-planning-major-environmental-emphasis


Now do both and maybe not as many people and animals will have to die needlessly as with current projections.
There's your hope

 

[weremichael]

Isn't CO2 lighter than air? It should eventually fall down to the ground and be absorbed by the flora.

CO2 is more dense than O2; however, if you're really curious about this, go read up on convection and diffusion.

 

[iRAWRasaurus]

Anyone here willing to drive less, eat less meat, use less AC or buy less stuff in general?

Haha nope.

 

[Timedog]

2.5% increase in 3 years? We're so fucked.