Re: Global Warming
Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2024 4:37 pm
After you take the deeper dive, do you expect to see a consensus of opinion in the scientific community?
As per 'tipping points', there's some slim possibilities of events that could alter the trajectory of the climate change.
One (not pretty) possibility is a nuclear war and the potential 'nuclear winter' that could follow.
Another could be a massive eruption of the sort that robbed the planet of summer while its air-born ash obscured the sunlight.
A third might be some sort of geo-engineering, which gets tossed around by scientists. So far, cautious heads prevail, but there might come a point wherein anything is worth a shot.
(Can hardly believe that our Ms Di Wundrin isn't here for her anti-disaster porn outlook.)
The seemingly delicate parameters for 'advanced' and 'diverse' eco-systems, such as the one humans are dependent on, might be analogous to our own, rather strict, operating temperature. A few degrees above normal (98.6 F) and we're in trouble.
As for life in genera, it's hard to imagine anything we can do that's bad enough to end it. Some of that deep sea life may not even 'notice' our most devastating actions. Various extremeophiles will likely continue existence in their remote niches. ^The chemosynthesis that takes place in the realm of deep sea vents should give us adequate relief if we're concerned that humans might end life on this planet. Likewise, such discoveries give more credence to the possibility (inevitability?) of life on other planets.
I wonder how long the thrill would last, should we discover something like a tube worm, living below the ice on one of Jupiter's moons?
Or must it be 'intelligent ' life to provide titillation? A basic anthropomorphic entity as depicted in so much sci-fi, must have a face with eyes and appendages, arranged in basic bi-lateral symmetry, before we get too excited.
Where i live, which is where Sam Clemens would flee to for the apocalypse (because it's ten years behind the times) things seem about the same as usual, before climate change became a thing. The hi and low temps for various months are not shocking. Rainfall remains well distributed; forests appear intact; no radical change is visually obvious. A deeper analyses is needed to become aware of the extreme alterations that are manifesting, which haven't (yet) been reflected in average temperature charts and graphs. If i had no knowledge of global occurrences, and could only observe my immediate surroundings, I'd have this to share:
Something has happened to the 'specialist' species. They're essentially gone. There's an up-tick in the generalist species, filling in the spaces once occupied by specialists. This is the apparent case with fauna and flora. I could make a long list of such observations...which, oddly enough, might not even be noticed by peers in the same eco-zone. Very few people take notice of that which doesn't have immediate impact on their lives. Why should they care if jewel weed is gone or if cabbage moths are so few that gardeners needn't defend their brocoli like they had been?
The canary in the coal mine, though, expired years ago.
As per 'tipping points', there's some slim possibilities of events that could alter the trajectory of the climate change.
One (not pretty) possibility is a nuclear war and the potential 'nuclear winter' that could follow.
Another could be a massive eruption of the sort that robbed the planet of summer while its air-born ash obscured the sunlight.
A third might be some sort of geo-engineering, which gets tossed around by scientists. So far, cautious heads prevail, but there might come a point wherein anything is worth a shot.
(Can hardly believe that our Ms Di Wundrin isn't here for her anti-disaster porn outlook.)
The seemingly delicate parameters for 'advanced' and 'diverse' eco-systems, such as the one humans are dependent on, might be analogous to our own, rather strict, operating temperature. A few degrees above normal (98.6 F) and we're in trouble.
As for life in genera, it's hard to imagine anything we can do that's bad enough to end it. Some of that deep sea life may not even 'notice' our most devastating actions. Various extremeophiles will likely continue existence in their remote niches. ^The chemosynthesis that takes place in the realm of deep sea vents should give us adequate relief if we're concerned that humans might end life on this planet. Likewise, such discoveries give more credence to the possibility (inevitability?) of life on other planets.
I wonder how long the thrill would last, should we discover something like a tube worm, living below the ice on one of Jupiter's moons?
Or must it be 'intelligent ' life to provide titillation? A basic anthropomorphic entity as depicted in so much sci-fi, must have a face with eyes and appendages, arranged in basic bi-lateral symmetry, before we get too excited.
Where i live, which is where Sam Clemens would flee to for the apocalypse (because it's ten years behind the times) things seem about the same as usual, before climate change became a thing. The hi and low temps for various months are not shocking. Rainfall remains well distributed; forests appear intact; no radical change is visually obvious. A deeper analyses is needed to become aware of the extreme alterations that are manifesting, which haven't (yet) been reflected in average temperature charts and graphs. If i had no knowledge of global occurrences, and could only observe my immediate surroundings, I'd have this to share:
Something has happened to the 'specialist' species. They're essentially gone. There's an up-tick in the generalist species, filling in the spaces once occupied by specialists. This is the apparent case with fauna and flora. I could make a long list of such observations...which, oddly enough, might not even be noticed by peers in the same eco-zone. Very few people take notice of that which doesn't have immediate impact on their lives. Why should they care if jewel weed is gone or if cabbage moths are so few that gardeners needn't defend their brocoli like they had been?
The canary in the coal mine, though, expired years ago.
