(not my OC nor my OP, just helping spread the message around:-)
this post was submitted on 15 Feb 2025
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There’s a clear difference between being in big trouble and being completely screwed. If we can avoid the extinction of humanity and go with catastrophic disasters and famine that eradicates vast majority of the population, we should totally do it.
Ideally, we would avoid all that, and go back to the good old days. Every small step towards that goal is worth it, although taking longer steps is highly encouraged.
Is climate change an extinction level threat? I've never heard that.
I think we're firmly in "catastrophic disasters and famine that eradicates vast majority of the population" territory.
It's a question, as you said, of how severe the disasters and famine will be.
I read somewhere before that the release of methane from the melting ice caps (?) could create a knock on effect of global warming turning the Earth into another Venus
How much of that is actually true I never looked further into.
The planet has previously been 15C above current levels due to flood volcanism so earth turning into a Venus just straight up isn't happening. It is potentially mechanically possible but we're talking conditions so extreme that we couldn't make it happen even if we wanted too with our current level of technology.
This is highly speculative, because climate science is fiendishly complex, and the error bars in these estimates are as wide as the solar system. However, there is a concept called the “runaway greenhouse effect”, in which the global average temperature spirals out of control, roasting the entire plant. Not exactly the kind of concept you want to think about too much.
Actually, level of warming that could directly wipe humanity is technically possible, even the hopium dealers among climate scientists admit that (notably Michael E. Mann). But even if it doesn't kill all of us directly, it will likely generate a domino effect for other existential threats.