Global temperature rise expected to reach 3.1 degrees this century

If we don’t do something around climate change immigration will really become a problem with vast areas of Africa becoming uninhabitable. It’ll make ‘small boats’ a drop in the ocean.

 

Just to combine your 2 points. 400 million Chinese people live in areas that are now borderline for human life in the summer.

Then again, 3 million people live in the UK in areas that could end up under the sea. These are among those most likely to vote against climate change measures.

 

That's great. They still produce 35% of all Earth's Carbon emissions.

 

It may or may not be too late already. People on the whole are not bothered about the environment. Only their habitat, a nice place for them to live.in personally. So until that's Impacted I doubt their will be the political will for real change.
Which is very depressing. This however is human nature. History shows us this repeatedly.

While in this country we can all vote it tends to make very little difference due to the nature of our political system.
No government ever wants to reform the system that put them in power so round and round we go.
In the USA (another huge contributitor to emissions) they essentially have a choice between two parties who if we cut through all the crap have very similar policies.
To be clear I'm not really disagreeing with you main point and I'm not trying to engage in wahtaboutary.
We still have wars going on where the masses involved are motived by their particular sky fairy.
We have wars over land and political posturing.
I'm just too cynical to see us pausing climate change. Not through cooperation and reason anyway.

Meanwhile the energy companies make billions in profit.

 

I completely agree, and ties in with my original comment that we just don't have it in us to change to save ourselves.

I think there's a significant chance in my lifetime we'll have evidence of an irreversible shift that will fundamentally change our lives.

And it also wouldn't surprise me if in that time we see a first war based purely on trying to occupy habitable land, as some areas become unliveable down to climate change.

Floods, wildfires and extended periods of adverse weather are already common. And this is at 1.2 degrees.

 

I agree some things are too late to reverse but the planet will not overheat to that extent in under a century.

 

Do you know what the temperatures of Venus are?

The species will survive climate change. It might be unpleasant and for many devastating (so still a terrible thing) but it won't end life all life on Earth

 

For me the only hope i can see is that some very intelligent people engineer a scientific solution.
The progress made in science in the the last 100 years is incredible. Another 100 years and who knows.

 

I think this in part is the problem. We think we're so clever we can find ways out of problems that we've created... Generally from thinking we're so clever in the first place.

But even if we clicked our fingers and made magic carbon extraction devices... We'll then decimate more natural habitat and kill more wildlife as the 'excuse' to change will be eliminated.

We've had opportunity to take steps for decades. The Paris accord is now nine years old. Given we won't take the necessary actions, mother nature will.

 

We made great progress in reducing energy usage over the last 20 years around the world, only for bitcoin mining to use more energy than we saved.

We made great progress in renewables, only for AI to use resources at an increasing rate.

 

Greed and hubris. I find it extraordinary that electricity usage is going to rise at crazy rates and we're still building structures that aren't efficient, still run off fossil fuels and don't have good enough insulation. Let alone that greener energy solutions aren't mandatory. Then you consider grids can't even connect up with some schemes and you just have to wonder why we're not seeing the urgency of this after what, 50 years or so?

 

I've lost count of the number of conversations I've had where the other person has said something like "nothing I can do will make any difference when (insert other country here) is burning millions of tons of coal and oil". We CAN all make a difference however small.

 

Carbon emissions of richest 1 percent more than double the emissions of the poorest half of humanity.

https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-rele...ssions-poorest-half-humanity?origin=serp_auto

 

they are a developing industrial economy. If we had done the same when we were in their position the planet would be much healthier.

 

They are. But it doesn't mean deforestation, pollution, killing of wildlife, and emissions from the poorest is fine. We're extremely good as a species of pointing the finger at everyone else.

The rich emit and destroy through vanity, ego and selfishness. The poor for necessity and existence. It's the fault of everyone. The solution has to be everyone.

 

Both true.
But shows how other things take priority for governments/nations.

 

Is there a method by which we can localise the temperature rise so it's all limited to one specific area? And, if so, can I suggest it be put in my flat, I'm bloody freezing, and I'm having a devil of a time trying to dry the washing.

 

Banks are still offering mortgages for seafront properties the world over...we've been told over and over again since the 80's that "in 10 years' time, x place will be underwater.." look at the map, nowhere has disappeared, erosion happens, sure. But taxing me and billions like me isn't "fixing" anything, and never will. The Climate has always, and will always fluctuate, sometimes it will fluctuate more rapidly than at other times.

CO2 accounts for 0.04% of the atmosphere. Humans, in the round, are believed to have contributed around 3% of that 0.04%....no way on God's green....soon to be blue apparently....Earth is that "Humans destroying the planet".

As a collective, we absolutely should be cleaning up our industrial processes, and not polluting water courses and pumping out harmful toxic fumes, but CO2 is not an issue. It's a vehicle used by politicians to eek more taxation from an already taxed-to-death public.

And before anyone starts saying things along the lines of "well 97% of scientists think humans are causing it"...those papers were contrived and skewed from the very beginning. These people were asked, 'do you believe that humans have had an impact on the Climate?' of course the answer, almost totally, was 'yes'. Of course we've had an impact, it would be crazy to suggest otherwise. But we're not having an impact to the point where the Climate is changing as a result.

 

Frightening.