Discussing the Climate Change

[Hunchman801]

Funnily enough, those arguments are probably used both by climate change deniers who want to keep burning fossil fuels and by extremist environmentalists and other degrowth fanatics who would rather send us back to the stone age. The same people who oppose nuclear energy when it's clearly the only short-term solution to climate change.

[PluMGMK]

So I've been reading about hydroelectricity lately, which everyone knows is a renewable energy source, which dates back much further than wind, solar, etc. But apparently, it's not actually emissions-free…

Basically, because the reservoirs are full of detritus, microbiological activity leads to the production of methane, which gets released into the atmosphere as the water levels fluctuate, and in particular as the turbines agitate water drawn in from the deepest levels. Seemingly this has only recently been figured out, so in most places it's not even being assessed and factored into emissions figures. It makes me wonder how many other emissions blind spots we have…

Seemingly it could be mitigated by reducing nutrient runoff upstream, ensuring the reservoirs are oxygenated, and drawing water into the turbines from shallower levels. These all sound really difficult changes to make to existing installations though. It's a pity there's no way to harvest the methane, since burning it would change it to just CO2, which is much less potent as a greenhouse gas, and could actually produce more power…

When I mentioned this to my mother, she suggested someone could do a study to figure out how much methane is emitted by Ireland's eight dams, and compare it with what would be emitted by additional cattle herds if farmland hadn't been flooded to create the dams' reservoirs, but instead developed in accordance with the country's questionable agriculture policies over the last few decades…

[Hunchman801]

It's quite an unfortunate coincidence that you bring up dams and three days later, one suffers a catastrophic failure in Ukraine!

[PluMGMK]

Yeah, that's absolutely awful I can scarcely believe they actually went and blew up the Kakhovka dam, it's just going to cause so many problems for absolutely everyone (including the Russians I'd say). Those poor people…

[PluMGMK]

Apparently Elon Musk now thinks that the only reason we need to stop using fossil fuels is that they will run out I remember I was once so naïve… But it should be obvious by now that we will run out before the fuels do Also Trump thinks rising sea levels will create more ocean-front property https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... -x-climate

[Greengoop]

Wow that’s not good for society, the pretty much tippety-top of the earths power system deny climate change Even professional climate scientists still deny it

[CosmicStrider]

I've been really worried about the straight 100F's we've been burning under. It's HOT. It's been sweltering for a while and I'm worried this'll become normal. And where I live, the weather's normally crazy, sun and storms and snow, but this...This is different. It's got me a bit concerned, and I'm used to wacky weather!

[dr_st]

Also Trump thinks rising sea levels will create more ocean-front property

Possibly at the expense of other ocean-front property.

Seriously, the question whether earth as an overall is better or worse with a 2C temperature rise, I think, is a valid ones. Some areas currently nice would get too hot, while other areas currently too cold could get nice (in terms of being able to support life, agriculture, etc.)

The concern, I think, is not that 2C, but whether we might be creating an unsustainable spiral that will bring us to the levels of Venus greenhouse effect.

With so much crap and politics in it, I must say, I have not been investigating the issue of 'climate change' (formerly known as 'global warming') in depth in recent years.

[The Jonster]

And then we have other areas that are already hot that will be at risk for heat stroke in summers

[dr_st]

And then we have other areas that are already hot that will be at risk for heat stroke in summers

That's what I'm going for today! (water park trip)

[The Jonster]

Good luck then! Try not to pass out and wear sunscreen and such!

Oh and have fun!

[dr_st]

Good luck then! Try not to pass out and wear sunscreen and such!

Oh and have fun!

Survived the water park, and it was quite fun too!

Now to see what I can make of the remaining part of record day.

[The Jonster]

Great, there’s still like 7 hours left!

[Cairnie]

Ok seriousness time:

For an idea on how very real climate change is, my family has been directly affected by a flood, and before that day in 2021 the area never had been struck so badly by one, it was where lots of parts of London were getting flash flooded. My sister still lives in this ground floor flat and it got flooded that year, I still have the pictures and messages my dad sent me on WhatsApp about it. They lost so much stuff, the girls lost most of their toys, and on the whole they had to live with my mum for a few months before they could safely inhabit the flat again. It was a council flat and my sister had since been able to buy it with the right to buy scheme and hopefully one day she can sell it and move into a house that actually has a garden.

I was so heartbroken for them. I would like to be able to get flood alerts but my postcode is at such low risk you can't even get alerts on your phone from the met office. Maybe I should consider that lucky, but who knows.

[NyaNyaLily]

The stock market :3

[PluMGMK]

Article advocating the use of solar panels and EVs by preppers https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng- ... wing-trump

[Giant Chicken]

...And you can now easily connect solar panels to batteries – some even come from that Nazi-adjacent billionaire Elon Musk (though there are also plenty of competitors now, in case you want non-fascist electron storage)...

Not gonna lie this made me chuckle.

[Greengoop]

Article advocating the use of solar panels and EVs by preppers https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng- ... wing-trump

Reminds me I got some solar panels installed recently, and I’m a big fan of them.

[PluMGMK]

...And you can now easily connect solar panels to batteries – some even come from that Nazi-adjacent billionaire Elon Musk (though there are also plenty of competitors now, in case you want non-fascist electron storage)...

Not gonna lie this made me chuckle.

Ugh, that reminds me that the author clearly doesn't know what an electron is. At another point it talks about "electrons falling on your roof" which obviously there aren't, or we'd all already be toast. Actually a couple of years ago I had a BSoD moment when I was working in a photon-detector company and realized that half the people around me hadn't a clue what the difference between a photon and an electron was

Article advocating the use of solar panels and EVs by preppers https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng- ... wing-trump

Reminds me I got some solar panels installed recently, and I’m a big fan of them.

Cool! We want to get them installed too, but shure it takes years to actually do anything on that scale in this house. We've been talking about getting the windows done for at least five years

[Greengoop]

Cool! We want to get them installed too, but shure it takes years to actually do anything on that scale in this house. We've been talking about getting the windows done for at least five years

Do you get the roof repaired frequently though? My mum didn’t think it was an issue until the solar panels, and lucky that because the tiles would’ve literally started sliding off this winter otherwise.