My dad told me a few weeks ago, our local ski resort used to regularly have 24 feet of snowpack when he was a kid.
This winter, it barely had 24 INCHES.
I can stand on our porch and look at that mountain in the summer, and not only does it look so NAKED, brown dirt exposed all the way to the top, even from twenty miles away it's mighty obvious the big glacier on its northeastern flank is maybe HALF the size it used to be. Glaciers like that aren't supposed to fucking shrink visibly on a human timescale!!
I was maybe 10 when we went for one of our regular hikes up around the alpine lakes and the frogs were just GONE. A place that always used to have so many thousands the whole edge of the water was black with tadpoles in a band at least 3' all the way around the lake, and so many adult frogs it was impossible to walk without stepping on some-- gone. I've seen this coming my whole life, any actual scientists who study anything related to this for a living and somehow still manage to be surprised have been living with their heads jammed WAY up their own asses.
@violetmadder @DoomsdaysCW @rmblaber1956
I think the "stuns scientists" is, you know, a headline. Not a true statement. Maybe "stunned" in the sense that seeing the reality of it is still terrible, even if it was expected, but I doubt many climatologists are surprised by this as such.
Or as the end of the article puts it,
"'It is heartbreaking to see it all playing out as we have predicted for so long,' [a climatologist] said. 'The changes we have teed up for ourselves are going to be catastrophic.'”
@aearo @violetmadder @DoomsdaysCW @rmblaber1956 I'm tired of pointing out that "The Limits to Growth" predicted this, in 1972.
Arrrgh.
No, not yet.
I have my doubts that humans pull their heads out of their collective asses in enough time.
I hear you, @c_merriweather . And we all know that BAU (Business As Usual) is accelerating the "doomsday" scenario. Let's hope it's not too late!
@c_merriweather @DoomsdaysCW @violetmadder @rmblaber1956
There *are* things being done, and there are tons of people who care.
What stands in the way is a few powerful people who stand more to lose than to gain from doing anything about it, and a lot of misinformation and disorganization and hopelessness.
But there's always hope.
@aearo @c_merriweather @DoomsdaysCW @rmblaber1956
Solutions exist.
Some of them really aren't that difficult, either.
The scale of what's possible is staggering.
I post some heavy shit. But there's a very good reason I have so little patience with the horrible crap going on all around us: Solutions exist. All of the energy and resources being poured into endless war right now, need to be aimed instead towards projects like this. It is possible to rehabilitate large-scale ecosystems. Enough carbon could be sequestered this way, to actually return us to pre-Industrial levels. I grew up with my father, an engineer, constantly explaining in detail the short-sighted flaws in how many things are done all around us, and how it could be fixed by people willing to do things the right way. This is why I'm so fired up. We can do so much better than the pathetic fate we're expected to resign ourselves to. The Paris Accords don't come close. The oh-so-greenwashed infrastructure act and inflation reduction act are laughable next to the scale of what needs to be done. People who promote net zero scams and blather about tech miracles are dodging the issue and wasting our time. They think 3C increase is acceptable. They will let us burn. They are liars who want you to believe I'm trying to discourage you by pointing out the flaws in what's happening. The opposite is true. Solutions exist. There is hope. Corporate toadies of the fossil fuel industry don't want us to realize it-- nothing else is so dangerous to the tyranny of the status quo, as the realization that solutions exist. It's an enormous job, but we CAN do it if enough resources are directed the right way. And every little bit counts. Your yard, your neighbor's yard, the median, the ditch, empty lots-- anywhere. Everywhere. Build topsoil. Like our lives depend on it. They do. Build connections, trust, friendships. Repair things. Find people with good hearts, people who are building something real. People who talk about work like this: https://youtube.com/watch?v=bLdNhZ6kAzo