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:

Anti-science, inactivism, and unsupported conspiracy theories are not ok here.

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If you’re a US citizen, no matter where in the world, start by making sure you’re registered to vote. Many districts are gerrymandered, so you’ll want to register as the party that’s likely to win congressional and/or state legislative districts where you live, and vote in that party’s primary.

In addition to voting, you’ll want to influence politics beyond that. Your local races are a good place to start; cities and states control local land use and things like building codes.

To affect Congress, you’ll want to pick swing house districts or swing senate seats. Volunteer for a Democrat and donate accordingly.

For President, the reality is that the Biden/Harris administration has done far more than Trump would even consider, starting with the Inflation Reduction Act, for which Harris cast the tiebreaking vote in the Senate, and continuing through numerous executive actions. Getting involved in this race means volunteering, ideally for a climate-focused event like the Tuesday & Thursday phonebanking and if you can, donating to the Harris Victory Fund. If you’re giving really large amounts of money, and the logistics of it work, go to an in-person event and talk to the candidate or other official about climate:

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"This should be the final nail in the coffin for the false narrative that LNG was somehow a climate solution”

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submitted 52 minutes ago* (last edited 52 minutes ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 
 

"This should be the final nail in the coffin for the false narrative that LNG was somehow a climate solution”

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Two environmental activists who glued themselves to a J.M.W. Turner painting at Manchester Art Gallery in July 2022 were acquitted today in a Manchester court. The pair affixed themselves to the frame of Tomson’s Aeolian Harp (1809) by Turner and sprayed “No New Oil” and the Just Stop Oil logo on the floor with chalk...

... “The district judge found that the action was proportionate in view of the climate crisis,” a Just Stop Oil statement says. "By contrast Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland received sentences of 24 months and 20 months respectively from Judge Hehir at Southwark Crown Court last week for throwing cans of soup on the glass cover of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers in 2022.”

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Lake Superior is known for its pristine waters, but a combination of nutrient additions from increasing human activity (including farming and development), warming temperatures and stormy conditions have resulted in more frequent blooms of potentially harmful algae...

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"A warming world combined with deforestation has made for a dire drought situation in Brazil. Latin America's largest country is enduring its most intense and widespread drought in history.

What's happening?

Brazil's worst drought on record has helped fuel wildfires in the Amazon rainforest. The Pantanal, a region that encompasses the world's largest tropical wetland area, in August experienced a 3,901% increase in its fires compared to August 2023, Greenpeace noted, based on reporting by the country's National Institute for Space Research.

Smoke from wildfires made Sāo Paulo, one of the world's most populous cities with over 11 million residents and a metro area of 21 million, one of the top 10 most polluted major cities in the world in early September. According to Igarapé Institute authorities, over 50,000 wildfires were active in early September, per ABC News.

One of the factors behind Brazil's crisis is an overheating planet that just had its 15th straight month of record-breaking global temperatures. Deforestation in the Cerrado region, an expansive tropical and subtropical biome that covers over 20% of the country, is making matters worse. Trees help hold moisture in forest soil. A study published in Nature showed a direct link between deforestation and droughts.

Brazil relies on cascading moisture recycling for rainfall. CMR "describes moisture transport between two locations on the continent that involves re-evaporation cycles along the way," according to a paper published by the European Geosciences Union. This hydrological cycle is breaking down because of deforestation.

"You can put this in capital letters," said Luciana Gatti, a climate researcher at the space research facility, per The Washington Post. "It will get worse and worse. We are heading toward an apocalyptical situation, and unfortunately we only wake up at the last minute"...

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Wildfires are burning through the carbon budget that humans have allocated themselves to limit global heating, a study shows.

The authors said this accelerating trend was approaching – and may have already breached – a “critical temperature threshold” after which fires cause significant shifts in tree cover and carbon storage.

“Alarmingly, the latest temperature at which, globally, these impacts become pronounced is 1.34C – close to current levels of warming [above preindustrial levels],” said the UK Met Office, which led the research...

... Climatologists say the already dire situation will deteriorate until humankind, particularly in the wealthy global north, stops burning fossil fuels.

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Archived copies of the article:

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Climate change is making outdoor sport harder

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Access options:

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A research group at the Finnish Museum of Natural History is investigating the adaptive potential of plant species amid a warming climate. Their recent study investigates the Siberian primrose, a plant species that occurs on the coasts of the Bothnian Bay and Arctic Ocean. Climate change is threatening the viability of the species...

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