Mastodawn

assassin_aragorn Jul 31, 2023

Don't overstate 1.5 degrees C threat, new IPCC head says

Don't overstate 1.5 degrees C threat, new IPCC head says - Lemmy.world

In short, we aren’t on track to an apocalyptic extinction, and the new head is concerned that rhetoric that we are is making people apathetic and paralyzes them from making beneficial actions. He makes it clear too that this doesn’t mean things are perfectly fine. The world is becoming and will be more dangerous with respect to climate. We’re going to still have serious problems to deal with. The problems just aren’t insurmountable and extinction level.

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HWK_290 Jul 31, 2023

Well by all means, let’s make it seem less serious than it is! That’ll get people moving

Signed, an actual fucking climate scientist

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MostlyBirds Jul 31, 2023

He’s technically right, though; climate change isn’t going to drive us to extinction. Yes, it’s going to cause the total collapse of modern society in our lifetimes and more death and sufferring than any other event in recorded history, but there will almost certainly be tens or hundreds of millions of survivors. Maybe even billions.

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freo3579 Jul 31, 2023

Yes, technically it’s not really about the planet or the environment, or society. It is about finding a solution of an optimum between money spent and living conditions for the majority of people. I actually think we should start talking about it more from that angle.

We could go to almost zero emissions tomorrow but it wreak absolute havoc and billions of people would die. We could go full zero carbon emissions in our energy grid, but it would cost an absolute shitton, which means the living conditions go down. More realistic is a mix of investments between avoidance and adaptation. And I don’t think there is any realistic chance without nuclear energy.

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Corkyskog Jul 31, 2023

Why would living conditions have to go down?

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freo3579

Because it costs money. It’s not just “jobs”, it’s actual time and effort that we can’t spend on other things, which ultimately increases prices and means fewer people can afford things. And while in the West that means maybe cutting back a little, in other regions it can mean a life in poverty and premature death.