‘Climate change is here’: Experts warn environmental crisis is decades ahead of forecasts Drought, heatwaves, hurricanes, and wildfires are arriving sooner than we imagined according to scientists

1227 points by Sciantifa a month ago on reddit | 82 comments

dantevonlocke | a month ago

What? You mean it's not supposed to go from 30 to 60 to 30 to 50 to 20 with thunderstorms mixed in, in a week in January?

psyched-but-bright | a month ago

Ya Michigan has been like this too. It was 30 then 50 then 10 and snowstorms the 40 than 20 it’s been insane this year and past few years.

Salute-Major-Echidna | a month ago

And we've been predicting this since the 60s.

PerfectReflection155 | a month ago

Don’t worry BP coined the term carbon footprint to ensure we all take personal responsibility for this.

Risley | a month ago

And those predictions were UNDERESTIMATES.

We’re fucked.

Kossimer | a month ago

Oregon too. Day before yesterday I was thinking I need to a bring a heavier coat to work and now I'm tempted to turn the AC at home on.

PhD_Pwnology | a month ago

its been so warm this winter i'm afraid for summer.

Ok_Act_5321 | a month ago

don't worry it will come when you least expect it

StarShineHllo | a month ago

'Supposed to' ? Earth does what Earth does.

4n0m4l7 | a month ago

People interested in the topic have known this for years… yet nobody seems to listen or care for that matter… it’s almost if… if a force is our there that wants us to go extinct…

kazak9999 | a month ago

It's called "quarterly profit"

VoldemortsHorcrux | a month ago

The shareholder

VardisFisher | a month ago

Insurance companies acknowledge climate change invest accordingly.

LoudNoises89 | a month ago

Doesn’t help President Pedofiles says it doesn’t exist and ppl just listen to him. I’m in Texas. It was in the 80s last week. Usually at this time last year we were freezing cold with ice. No one can deny this anymore. Along with the more extreme weather around the earth. This should be one of the if not the top priority in the world right now.

4n0m4l7 | a month ago

While they lie to the public they are building private bunkers and underground cities… And once everyone realizes what happened they’ll have advanced AI and Robots…

Risley | a month ago

I’m hoping these private bunkers have all their locations leaked.

There is no escape for climate change.  So no one should escape it.  Including in some stupid bunker.

[OP] Sciantifa | a month ago

The environmental movement had the wind in its sails until 2020, just before the pandemic. Then, numerous crises multiplied, including inflation, the cost of living, deteriorating mental health, and people spending far too much time on the internet, relegating the environmental cause to the bottom of the list. And now, unfortunately, it remains there.

Ironically, if there is one cause that will worsen inflation, the cost of living, mental health deterioration, and much more, it is the environmental crisis.

oroborus68 | a month ago

How can we make it worse? Asks our ignorant leaders.

Hungover994 | a month ago

They haven’t a clue what to do. The rich are cutting their losses with the bunkers so at least their children survive

4n0m4l7 | a month ago

Instead of protests and blocking highways they could organize massive cleanups to.. I am cleaning up my city and being laughed, which i don’t mind but it’s sad to see i am just one of very few…

ThisWillPass | a month ago

Great effort, but in the scheme of things, you’re just keeping an addict a little more healthy so they can use again.

ColdHistorical485 | a month ago

The end truly is nigh

4n0m4l7 | a month ago

Remember when we used to make fun of these guys with this signs…

Universeintheflesh | a month ago

Yeah I'm pretty sure we were aware in the 1960's but ya know, money.

memcjo | a month ago

Jimmy Carter talked about it in the 70s and was laughed at. We've known about this for years, yet $$$ continues to drive everything. We are fucked.

paulsteinway | a month ago

Remember we were going to limit warming to 2 degrees Celsius increase by 2030? 4 years from now? Don't know why we're not going to make it?

We set inadequate targets and missed them anyway. And fascist dictators threw out all targets and purposely worked to reverse any climate legislation while pushing oil and coal as hard as they could.

cloudystateofmind | a month ago

Brought to us by Republicans and the Christian right.

VardisFisher | a month ago

Christian Reich.

MaizeWarrior | a month ago

Didn't really see the radical change we need from the Democrats either. It's more than one political party in one country pushing against progress here

briank2112 | a month ago

Not from a lack of trying. Republican obstruction at every turn didn’t help either…

MaizeWarrior | a month ago

Democrats did what exactly? The multiple times they held majority control of all branches of government?

briank2112 | a month ago

2010 cap and trade, didn’t even make it to a vote thanks to republicans.

Clean Power Act during Obama was blocked by a Republican congressional review act that disapproved of the plan. Obama vetoed but congressional opposition by republicans prevented implementation and future standards.

The Inflation Reduction Act would’ve invested hundreds of billions into clean energy projects… blocked by republicans.

And that’s just to name a few things. They’ve also been rabid about rolling back of climate incentives and funding, limiting climate change litigation, and spreading misinformation by banning the words, climate change or anything to that effect, from being used in any government studies or reports.

Mitch and his goons spent a couple decades championing an obstructionist agenda, which continues to this day.

The Republican Party is a dead weight that is holding us back from real progress in battling climate change. They are nothing but a pox, and if left to continue, may just end up causing the death of us all.

Risley | a month ago

Dems thought some people could be reasoned with using science.  It was a ridiculous belief and it’s proven that if we do get a President that believes in climate change, he needs to just go ham on obliterating pollution and related policies.  Regardless of what it does to communities that choose to deny it.  Period.

loztriforce | a month ago

I've lived in Washington state for over 40 years and have felt the changes.

Back in the day, the use of AC was quite rare, but after the heat domes we had, it's more a necessity to at least have a portable unit.

It was like 105F and 113F in the house at one point, we had a portable unit running full blast to just a single room and we still couldn't get to a comfortable temp.

Our normally pristine air is becoming more regularly clouded by wildfire smoke from Canada/our own wildfires, seems we'll be dealing with it more often. No one is raking the fucking forest!

Sea-Louse | a month ago

Every second of every day is a climate catastrophe…

Herschel_Wallace | a month ago

If you reference the best case scenarios they've run on climate change you get what they were expecting, if you reference the worst case scenarios they've run you get where we're actually heading. If you didn't know, they have a ton of different scenarios run with different inputs; they present the best ones so they can downplay the severity.

psyched-but-bright | a month ago

Can you elaborate

JustJustinInTime | a month ago

When we talk about climate change, we typically will check against multiple “emissions scenarios” since we’re unsure how emissions will change in the 21st century and how it will affect global average temperature. So multiple estimates are made, some where the world uses more emissions, some where they use less, so we can see a “best case scenario” and a “worst case scenario” and things inbetween.

This typically leads to people who want to downplay climate change to always use the best case scenario, since it requires the least amount of change, but we’ve basically blown through most “points of no return” already.

Relevant link

Cosmanaught | a month ago

That and the models do not do a good job of accounting for positive feedback loops, like methane from melting permafrost, which are beginning to take effect.

No_Delivery_329 | a month ago

We need to invest in infrastructure. Where I live they had to turn off power due to wind. It’s only gonna get worse

Montexe | a month ago

And where i live we don't have waste segregation, solar is not available, people burn their trash in their yards, because local landfills are full. I don't think it's solvable as long as 80% of the world lives in poverty.

No_Delivery_329 | a month ago

Oh yeah we’ve definitely fucked ourselves as a species. I don’t even wanna know what it looks like in 100, 200 years. Could be the 6th mass extinction event.

Ok_Possibility_4354 | a month ago

We currently are in the 6th mass extinction event… not 100-200 years from now— now.

Outrageous-Dog-2668 | a month ago

Glaciers are disappearing at an alarming rate as well. We are completely screwed.

laser50 | a month ago

Ruin planet > get more forest fires > more CO2 enters atmosphere > Even more planet ruining

I bet eventually the whole process will just boost itself along, especially with the gigantic pieces of forests that are being taken out too :/

Risley | a month ago

Yep.  Well get some positive feedback loops kick in and all of a sudden we will hear all the crying about oh poor us why is this happening.

Brother_Clovis | a month ago

Surely now the government will get serious and finally do what needs to be done, right?

LoudNoises89 | a month ago

How dare you! They are dealing with very important issues right now like giving a man with a micro penis his confidence back by giving him fake awards.

puterTDI | a month ago

lol

Sir-Kyle-Of-Reddit | a month ago

lmao

Isaiah_The_Bun | a month ago

why would they? you have a bunch of people, the vast majority, still think climate change is only going to affect their grandkids. Then those people voted in their leaders agree with and support their beliefs. So why the hell or do we have anything different than what we have now?

Also, no one's willing to pay for climate change mitigations or adaptations.

haverchuck22 | a month ago

lol and the right still thinks its a hoax. We are so cooked….literally

mooky1977 | a month ago

Winter as a sustained season is over! Even in Canada, we get wild temperature changes now I never experienced as a kid growing up in the late 70's through early 90's.

People keep saying how the weather is going to be awesome when they see +5C to +10C for a sustained 4-6 day stretch .. I'm like "no, that's fucking horrible, we live in Canada, its supposed to be sustained around -15C to -5C from November though the end of February with the odd chinook bringing it to +5C for a few days now and again and some stretches far colder as well" (that's my local area historically)

People are boiling slowly and this doesn't seem to phase them.

Outrageous-Dog-2668 | a month ago

Down Under: We had a week of summer temps recently, of 20c or 68f above normal. Then a few days of very scary storms with a once in 500 years deluge.

mi2h_N0t-r34l_ | a month ago

Paint rooftops white/green or a color lighter than or equal to light gray.

Can't tell if you're serious or not, but I did go down the rabbit hole a while ago researching if painting rooftops with a highly reflective paint all over the world would make any difference to Earth's albedo and help alleviate climate change. Short answer: no.

Kahnza | a month ago

Green is the worst next to black. Think about why plants are green.

FrozenWebs | a month ago

I get your train of thought, but you actually have things a little backwards.

Plants being green means they're reflecting green light instead of absorbing it, but green is actually the most powerful part of our sun's spectrum of light radiation. So by being green, plants are actually rejecting a large slice of the energy that our sun is offering. Plants would actually absorb more energy if they were red or purple or whatever (and, of course, the most energy would come by being black).

So why do plants reject the most powerful frequencies of the sun's radiation? Because that intense green light is damaging to their internal chemistry; it's simply too much. So they filter out the harsh green light with reflection, and keep most everything from the other colors of light.

In short, green is actually the best hue, next to white, for reflecting light from our particular sun back into space.

Kahnza | a month ago

Then why am I hot as fuck wearing a green shirt in the summer? It's almost like wearing black for heat. Light yellow/pink/white seemed the coolest.

FrozenWebs | a month ago

The material of the shirt will matter more, and it will matter whether it's a light or dark green. To compare apples to apples, you'd want a light/pastel green shirt of similar brightness and the same material as your light yellow/pink shirts. Light/pastel green isn't a common color for clothing though.

Sir-Kyle-Of-Reddit | a month ago

I really hope you meant this to be a joke/sarcasm

rocket_beer | a month ago

Hey man, this is a science sub.

At least try to learn before you cast doubt…

Sir-Kyle-Of-Reddit | a month ago

I thought I knew what was happening here but I clearly don’t, what am I missing?

rocket_beer | a month ago

The person above said correct information

Sir-Kyle-Of-Reddit | a month ago

Is the purpose of the comment they replied to paint buildings a color that reflect light? My understanding is that green is very good at reflecting light, which is why plants are green, which makes what they said about green the worst second to black confusing, which is why I thought it was joke/sarcasm.

LamoTheGreat | a month ago

Am I crazy or is every single person in this single comment thread wrong? Green isn’t best for reflecting or absorbing. It’s just kinda in the middle ish. This is apparently the order, I just learned. If I’m wrong, tell me how. I don’t know anything, I just read this comment thread and then typed it into AI:

Most Light Reflected

White

Yellow

Orange

Red

GREEN

Blue

Purple/Violet

Black

Most Light Absorbed

Sir-Kyle-Of-Reddit | a month ago

Idk bro, these comments and up/down votes have made me question the fabric of reality itself

LamoTheGreat | a month ago

This has to be all bots. I’ve never known how I could notice a bot, but this is it. These accounts must be bots. Just arguing in a science post.

Kahnza | a month ago

Plants are green because green absorbs more light from our sun.

buyerofthings | a month ago

So the green is absorbing light? Why are we seeing green then?

Ltrain86 | a month ago

Different colours absorb and reflect different amounts of light, but they all absorb and reflect some degree of light, with the exception of black which reflects none, and white which absorbs none.

Busterlimes | a month ago

I have a theory that the tipping point was 2012 and it takes a VERY LONG TIME for the earth to die.

AFetaWorseThanDeath | a month ago

The earth isn't going to 'die.'

A whole, WHOLE lot of the creatures living on it will die, though.

Mars_Volcanoes | a month ago

Montreal city. Summer are hotter. Here it’s humides so not easy.

Climate change is showing and the extra bad management of the city shows a lot in winters. Montreal receive many rain episode / tawing since 1975. Potholes so you have to zigzag when driving. Worse, they are not really repairing. They use soft asphalt. Shoot. It gets bigger huge deep potholes in days/weeks. Never hold.

My humour. The potholes here are so big and deep that it feel like black holes to other universe.

And the regulation is so nice. Impossible to claim for broken suspension.

yallapapi | a month ago

Wait until they find out most of the pollution that leads to climate change comes from Asia

Ok_Possibility_4354 | a month ago

Oh yeah pointing fingers will totally fix this

LubaUnderfoot | a month ago

Is this a fucking joke? No shit. Jesus christ. Post Journalism fucking sucks.

hpygilmr | a month ago

Quick, how many billions of dollars can we throw at it to make it reverse 🤦🏽‍♂️ Climate change is cyclical and there is 10’s of thousands of years of ice samples to prove it, and nothing mankind does can change it. All the ice in Antarctica was supposed to have been melted by now and yet there was record ice formation last year. Coastlines were supposed to be underwater by now, and yet billionaires are still buying beach houses and insurance companies are still insuring them. Quit with the doom and gloom headlines

Failed-Astronaut | a month ago

You are so uneducated about this topic and it shows

Please exit the thread and do not return