Jump to content

Insanely cold Midwest weather


Recommended Posts

1 minute ago, sblfilms said:

 

Climate scientists aren’t experts on agriculture, health, engineering, urban planning, or even politics. They can describe the effects of climate change based on how things are today, and every paper I’ve ever read on the issue always has the caveat of “without additional adaptation”. And I think that is reasonable because you can’t know what scientific and technological advances we will have in the future.

 

But why don’t we think things like malaria will eventually have a vaccine with very high efficacy? Malaria concerns being one of the large drivers of expected deaths due to

onvreasing temperatures in Africa.

 

Why don’t we expect to see food science continue to improve the yields of crops in places that have been difficult to grow sustainable food sources? Food security being another driver of expected climate deaths.

 

Unless I’m reading the current climate reports wrong, we are basically past the point of no return. Things are going to continue to change, so why wouldn’t we put our resources into dealing with a changing world?

 

While we may be past a point of no return, I've also read that there is time to prevent it from getting any worse; why gamble on the premise that we will be able to minimize cost and casualties through adaptation? If the philosophy is 'prepare for the worst', then you attack the issue from both sides as opposed to throwing up your hands and hoping for the best.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Chris- said:

 

While we may be past a point of no return, I've also read that there is time to prevent it from getting any worse; why gamble on the premise that we will be able to minimize cost and casualties through adaptation? If the philosophy is 'prepare for the worst', then you attack the issue from both sides as opposed to throwing up your hands and hoping for the best.

 

I don’t see a lot of calls for doing both.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Chris- said:

 

Anyone who argues for immediate action is doing both; it's not like people calling for a carbon tax are saying, 'Also, cancel that malaria vaccine research.' 

 

When you say “if we don’t reduce emissions now, X will happen” you quite logically are not suggesting we make advances in those areas to diminish the effects.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

 

When you say “if we don’t reduce emissions now, X will happen” you quite logically are not suggesting we make advances in those areas to diminish the effects.

 

For one, the argument is backwards; it isn't 'if we don't reduce emissions now, X will happen', it's 'X will likely happen, we must reduce emissions to hopefully keep it from getting any worse'. Second, advances in those areas are independent and should be done in their own right; climate change gives added gravity to those advancements, but the importance of them is not solely derived from it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

 

When you say “if we don’t reduce emissions now, X will happen” you quite logically are not suggesting we make advances in those areas to diminish the effects.

Does every statement need to begin with cerita paribus When making statements about the probability of natural events when considering the effects of climate change?

 

The thing is we're making things so unstable, we can't really prepare for all scenarios. Like increased risk of drought and risks of extreme rainfall are both increasing under all climate scenarios in the short to medium term, with high probability

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

 

When you say “if we don’t reduce emissions now, X will happen” you quite logically are not suggesting we make advances in those areas to diminish the effects.

 

No that's not logically true. It implies, rather, that the person assumes we will not make advances. It does not imply that they would not support those advances if they were made.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

49 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

 

 

Climate scientists aren’t experts on agriculture, health, engineering, urban planning, or even politics. They can describe the effects of climate change based on how things are today, and every paper I’ve ever read on the issue always has the caveat of “without additional adaptation”. And I think that is reasonable because you can’t know what scientific and technological advances we will have in the future.

 

But why don’t we think things like malaria will eventually have a vaccine with very high efficacy? Malaria concerns being one of the large drivers of expected deaths due to

onvreasing temperatures in Africa.

 

Why don’t we expect to see food science continue to improve the yields of crops in places that have been difficult to grow sustainable food sources? Food security being another driver of expected climate deaths.

 

Unless I’m reading the current climate reports wrong, we are basically past the point of no return. Things are going to continue to change, so why wouldn’t we put our resources into dealing with a changing world?

 

You misunderstood. The tweet that started this dialogue was about a glacier that may cause immense sea level rise, and the article itself said the researchers believe this event will happen in 50 to 100 years. The issue isn’t how do we stop the glacier’s deterioration, it’s how do we deal with the sea levels rising in the future.

I didn't miss anything, he's wrong. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, PaladinSolo said:

I didn't miss anything, he's wrong. 

Yes, you did. The effect of the glacier, as stated in the article, is 50-100 years off. You are factually wrong.

 

40 minutes ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said:

Does every statement need to begin with cerita paribus When making statements about the probability of natural events when considering the effects of climate change?

 

The thing is we're making things so unstable, we can't really prepare for all scenarios. Like increased risk of drought and risks of extreme rainfall are both increasing under all climate scenarios in the short to medium term, with high probability

 

I think it’s a fair argument to say that the increasing instability makes it more difficult to adapt to a changing climate than to make reductions in emissions to lessen the effects.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, Jose said:

Celsius I hope? Lol

 

In that range it's basically same thing:

 

-40C is -40F

-50C is -58F

 

But we also get +40C in the summer (104F) sometimes, and +30C quite often (86F). We (along with North Dakota and Manitoba) have the highest temperature swings on the continent. It's one reason why our roads suck so much ass, they literally crumble each year from water expanding and contracting inside cracks.

 

To give some reference to Americans, a 90C swing is roughly a 145F swing each year:

 

odx67grzmvc21.png?width=960&crop=smart&a

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So a town in Russia has declared an emergency because climate change has driven 50 polar bears into the town to rummage for food, and its illegal to shoot them in Russia so they're sending experts to try to get them out of the town, but culling might be the only option.  It snowed in Minnesota though so we're good :(.

  • Sad 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
On 2/11/2019 at 9:38 AM, PaladinSolo said:

So a town in Russia has declared an emergency because climate change has driven 50 polar bears into the town to rummage for food, and its illegal to shoot them in Russia so they're sending experts to try to get them out of the town, but culling might be the only option.  It snowed in Minnesota though so we're good :(.

This sounds like the plot to a B horror movie

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/11/2019 at 12:38 PM, PaladinSolo said:

So a town in Russia has declared an emergency because climate change has driven 50 polar bears into the town to rummage for food, and its illegal to shoot them in Russia so they're sending experts to try to get them out of the town, but culling might be the only option.  It snowed in Minnesota though so we're good :(.

 

10 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

 

*woosh* sliders

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...