this post was submitted on 02 Dec 2023
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Climate - truthful information about climate, related activism and politics.

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Discussion of climate, how it is changing, activism around that, the politics, and the energy systems change we need in order to stabilize things.

As a starting point, the burning of fossil fuels, and to a lesser extent deforestation and release of methane are responsible for the warming in recent decades: Graph of temperature as observed with significant warming, and simulated without added greenhouse gases and other anthropogentic changes, which shows no significant warming

How much each change to the atmosphere has warmed the world: IPCC AR6 Figure 2 - Thee bar charts: first chart: how much each gas has warmed the world.  About 1C of total warming.  Second chart:  about 1.5C of total warming from well-mixed greenhouse gases, offset by 0.4C of cooling from aerosols and negligible influence from changes to solar output, volcanoes, and internal variability.  Third chart: about 1.25C of warming from CO2, 0.5C from methane, and a bunch more in small quantities from other gases.  About 0.5C of cooling with large error bars from SO2.

Recommended actions to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the near future:

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Unfortunately that's a rather idealised view of the way American politics work. In reality, we already know from long experience that American politico-capitalism runs towards exploitation and greed when left to its own devices, as we saw with the monopolies, the robber barons, the horrific exploitation of immigrant labor as seen in the meatpacking industry and mining fields, etc, etc.

Yes, I do hear what you're saying, but reality is reality. However the system was 'supposed' to work as an ideal, in fact it left us in a horrible situation, one in which the primary difference makers were ourselves. Let's also not forget that if the system is 'rigged' the way it is, and we carelessly buy in to it ourselves as consumers, then not only are we failing to hold politicians accountable, but we're also the ones cooperating in feeding the impending catastrophe of unsustainability... across a range of issues stacked on top of CC.

There's also the fact that with America endorsing a pro-big business / wealthy scoundrel such as Nixon, leading to an even worse scoundrel in Reagan, and then failing to recognise the wheels in motion resultant from all that in the 50+yrs since, why then, there's another way the body of American people have essentially failed to make a critical difference.