Anthropogenic Climate Change

I think that hyperthermia is not an automatically lethal condition. Also, you can still reduce your temperature if there is a nearby water source that is well below ambient.

It's fundamentally unhealthy, though, 'specially for elderly and working people. And I don't think the heatwaves this severe would leave water bodies cold enough.

There is not much a seasonal heat wave can do about ocean temperatures, aquifers or rivers.

Oh, it can do something about rivers alright. Seen that in Switzerland a number of times. 'sides, you can't spend your time half a day - or more - or so in a river. Or an aquifer. Or the sea. Assuming that they are even close enough.

Speaking of Switzerland, we are currently having the warmest December in recorded temperature history, with a maximum temperature of 21 degrees centigrade and minimums not falling under 0 in some locations in southern Switzerland. And a severe drought as well.

So much that two large forest fires have started a day ago and forced the shutdown of one of the major roads crossing the Alps in Switzerland. And they are still expanding and threatening towns in the area. Apparently one was started by teenagers who made a fire in the woods that then went out of control.

I kind of feel sorry for those idiots. The collateral damage of their escapade practically guarantees them never living it down wherever they move to: somebody from back home is always going to make sure to spill the beans publicly wherever they go. :/

Switzerland... only slightly less efficient at community shaming than East Asian cultures.

edited 31st Dec '16 4:17:14 AM by Euodiachloris

They will become that rarest of creatures: a migrant Swiss.

In other news, Carbon emissions have remained flat for three years in a row, and solar has become cheaper than wind.

edited 31st Dec '16 6:12:12 AM by TheHandle

Well, seems like the fires are now under control. I don't know anything about whether Never Live It Down will apply, although I must say that Swiss migrants are/were fairly common - my family moved to Germany for quite a while for example.

Wonder how long CO₂ emissions will stagnate. Cynical me says not for long.

edited 31st Dec '16 8:59:56 AM by SeptimusHeap

Every so often I mention things like the Antarctic Ice Shelves and the resulting sea rise to my mom and today I finally got the results of doing so:

"If you think things are going to be so bad, I'm surprised you haven't killed yourself by now. Hell, you saying that stuff makes ME want to jump off a cliff".

So much for "engaging with my community".

That's weird. I doubt most people will live to see cataclysmic climate change, but "kill yourself early" seems to be...an unintelligent position.

I wonder about not seeing the worst effects. The acidification in the ocean is killing the reefs, and that will really screw over the fish population. We could mitigate it and buy time, but now it seems like all the Western governments are actively rooting to make it worse.

Not just the governments. Populism seems to be driving a wave of conservatives into office. Who in turn are then on the side of economy over environment. The whole thing seems backwards to me.

And I don't just mean the misguided idea that environmentalism hurts the economy.

So an iceberg roughly the size of Delaware is about to break off the Antarctic ice sheet

The crack in the ice grew by 11 miles in the last month (which represents a significant acceleration), and there's only 12 miles to go until it breaks off completely. When it does there's a chance the entire Larsen C iceshelf^note on the east side of the Antarctic peninsula will start coming apart.

...I kind of hope that it breaks off on January 20th. That would be a good day for a major global warming-related event.

edited 7th Jan '17 8:34:58 AM by Falrinn

Bye, Nature and Science. Research has a new journal of reference.

Is that satire? Because in today's climate, you can't tell.

Arctic sea ice is off to the weakest start of the past 28 years, seems like: http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/charctic-interactive-sea-ice-graph/

Thankfully, climate warming is only 2-4 degrees. Quite a bit of clearance before the "magic number 14".

Folks may recall that a while ago I said in this thread that the 2015-2016 transition may be a time of change in climate. Seems like it is indeed the case.

(German) Antarctic: Dramatic shrinking of the sea ice. Seems like the Antarctic sea ice, which has been expanding slowly over the last decades, may now be entering into a shrinking trend.

Donald Trump: the Twenty-First Century Schizoid Scar.

Looking at the NSIDC data, the Antarctic has actually set a new record low for daily sea ice coverage every day since early November. And it started setting 38-year record lows every day since the 13th.

I should mention that in the average year, Antarctic Sea Ice hits it's minimum on Feburary 23rd. So we probably have at least another week before it will bottom out.

So according to https://polar-news.com/antarctic/climate/173-east-antarctic-ice-sheet-unstable-in-high-carbon-world a carbon dioxide concentration of just 600 ppm would destabilize the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, which hitherto was considered fairly stable. Old article but really scary considering what an unimaginable catastrophe a complete meltdown of that sheet would be.

Al Gore: Climate change could render holiest cities of Islam uninhabitable

edited 16th Feb '17 9:22:53 AM by CenturyEye

I highly doubt Trumpets will consider this a problem.

They'll care if the Gulf Coast assumes the same climatic properties. Or if irate Muslims find a better way than terrorism to hit back, but that's less likely.

Incidentally, part of the speech was a prediction that a much worse refugee crisis was on the way. No food/water anywhere and instant hyperthermia are good motivators for moving too.

Doubly so because if starvation/dehydration/heatstroke are your alternatives, being shot by a border guard/dying in the desert/drowning is a risk worth taking.