[Suntzu]

Amen!

[Pants-of-dog]

Al Gore is a non-issue.

Republican supporters always bring up some “bad” Democrat to change the subject. It is as if pointing out the failings of a Democrat somehow excuses the fact that Republicans are (like the Democrats)the worst enablers of polluting industries.

[Suntzu]

We could make a massive step to reduce carbon emissions by generating all electricity by nukes.

[Pants-of-dog]

We could make a massive step to reduce carbon emissions by generating all electricity by nukes.

Sure. From an environmentalist standpoint, there is no problem with that.

And I would love to see the developing world be able to defend itself from the US with WMDs.

[Suntzu]

Sure. From an environmentalist standpoint, there is no problem with that.

And I would love to see the developing world be able to defend itself from the US with WMDs.

I'm gonna agree with you. An armed society is a polite society.

[Pants-of-dog]

Not necessarily. The US, for example, disproves that notion entirely.

[Sivad]

We could make a massive step to reduce carbon emissions by generating all electricity by nukes.

That's another obvious solution. If establishment elites really believed it was this massive threat to their interests all the major economies would have already converted to nuclear power, so what gives?

[Suntzu]

Not necessarily. The US, for example, disproves that notion entirely.

No it doesn't. There are around 200 nation on Earth. Only about 8 have nuclear weapons.

[Pants-of-dog]

No it doesn't. There are around 200 nation on Earth. Only about 8 have nuclear weapons.

Oh. You did not understand my post.

Anyway, global warming debates are pointless. The science is clear on one side of the debate, and no matter what the scientists say, the politicians will still do nothing.

[Truth To Power]

Even if everything is exactly as you say, which is hard to verify,

Huh? Just make your own graph using the same temperature record sources.

it still does not support your claim that the adjustments are somehow improper.

Yes, actually, it does. It shows a systematic bias in adjustment.

[Pants-of-dog]

A systematic bias would be one possible explanation, but not the only one.

[anarchist23]

Concentrations of CO2 in the Earth's atmosphere surged to a record high in 2016, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

Last year's increase was 50% higher than the average of the past 10 years.
Researchers say a combination of human activities and the El Niño weather phenomenon drove CO2 to a level not seen in 800,000 years.
Scientists say this risks making global temperature targets largely unattainable.
This year's greenhouse gas bulletin produced by the WMO, is based on measurements taken in 51 countries. Research stations dotted around the globe measure concentrations of warming gases including carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide.
The figures published by the WMO are what's left in the atmosphere after significant amounts are absorbed by the Earth's "sinks", which include the oceans and the biosphere.
Climate change: a guide
2016 saw average concentrations of CO2 hit 403.3 parts per million, up from 400ppm in 2015.
"It is the largest increase we have ever seen in the 30 years we have had this network," Dr Oksana Tarasova, chief of WMO's global atmosphere watch programme, told BBC News.
"The largest increase was in the previous El Niño, in 1997-1998 and it was 2.7ppm and now it is 3.3ppm, it is also 50% higher than the average of the last ten years."
El Niño impacts the amount of carbon in the atmosphere by causing droughts that limit the uptake of CO2 by plants and trees.
Emissions from human sources have slowed down in the last couple of years according to research, but according to Dr Tarasova, it is the cumulative total in the atmosphere that really matters as CO2 stays aloft and active for centuries.
Over the past 70 years, says the report, the increase in CO2 in the atmosphere is nearly 100 times larger than it was at the end of the last ice age.
Rapidly increasing atmospheric levels of CO2 and other gases have the potential, according to the study to "initiate unpredictable changes in the climate system... leading to severe ecological and economic disruptions."
The study notes that since 1990 there has been a 40% increase in total radiative forcing, that's the warming effect on our climate of all greenhouse gases.
"Geological-wise, it is like an injection of a huge amount of heat," said Dr Tarasova.
"The changes will not take ten thousand years like they used to take before, they will happen fast - we don't have the knowledge of the system in this state, that is a bit worrisome!"
According to experts, the last time the Earth experienced a comparable concentration of CO2 was three to five million years ago, in the mid-Pliocene era. The climate then was 2-3C warmer, and sea levels were 10-20m higher due to the melting of Greenland and the West Antarctic ice sheets.
Other experts in the field of atmospheric research agreed that the WMO findings were a cause for concern.
"The 3ppm CO2 growth rate in 2015 and 2016 is extreme - double the growth rate in the 1990-2000 decade," Prof Euan Nisbet from Royal Holloway University of London told BBC News.
"It is urgent that we follow the Paris agreement and switch rapidly away from fossil fuels: there are signs this is beginning to happen, but so far the air is not yet recording the change."
Another concern in the report is the continuing, mysterious rise of methane levels in the atmosphere, which were also larger than the average over the past ten years. Prof Nisbet says there is a fear of a vicious cycle, where methane drives up temperatures which in turn releases more methane from natural sources.
"The rapid increase in methane since 2007, especially in 2014, 2015, and 2016, is different. This was not expected in the Paris agreement. Methane growth is strongest in the tropics and sub-tropics. The carbon isotopes in the methane show that growth is not being driven by fossil fuels. We do not understand why methane is rising. It may be a climate change feedback. It is very worrying."
The implications of these new atmospheric measurements for the targets agreed under the Paris climate pact, are quite negative, say observers.
"The numbers don't lie. We are still emitting far too much and this needs to be reversed," said Erik Solheim, head of UN Environment.
"We have many of the solutions already to address this challenge. What we need now is global political will and a new sense of urgency."
The report has been issued just a week ahead of the next instalment of UN climate talks, in Bonn. Despite the declaration by President Trump that he intends to take the US out of the deal, negotiators meeting in Germany will be aiming to advance and clarify the rulebook of the Paris agreement.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-41778089

[ingliz]

Concentrations of CO2 in the Earth's atmosphere surged to a record high in 2016

I will be dead soon enough (old and knackered), so you could say I've no skin in the game. But that said, why would you bother doing anything when an overdue ICME is set to destroy the power grid, wiping out almost 80% of the human population in the ensuing chaos.

Massive Solar Superstorm Narrowly Missed Blasting The Earth Back Into The Dark Ages

Your problems solve themselves.

[Suntzu]

A few more years of global warming a Canada will be habitable!

[Prosthetic Conscience]

I will be dead soon enough (old and knackered), so you could say I've no skin in the game. But that said, why would you bother doing anything when an overdue ICME is set to destroy the power grid, wiping out almost 80% of the human population in the ensuing chaos.

Massive Solar Superstorm Narrowly Missed Blasting The Earth Back Into The Dark Ages

Your problems solve themselves.

"Dark Ages" is silly hyperbole. If an event did hit the Earth now, we have some satellites that give a bit of warning, which means power companies have a chance to disconnect systems and limit the damage. It would cause a lot of problems, but "wiping out almost 80% of the human population" is a figure pulled out of ... where the sun don't shine.

[ingliz]

which means power companies have a chance to disconnect systems and limit the damage

Possibly.

However, magnetic field strength and orientation of incoming plasma – key ingredients in forecasting Earth impacts, can only be measured with a lead time of 15-30 minutes. Additionally, these satellites are all past their mission lives, and replacements are essential for monitoring solar activity in the near future. Improvement in forecasting Earth impacts will only be made by funding research targeted at predicting and continued investment in the infrastructure necessary to measure impulsive solar wind events.

46 minutes, according to a US Congressional report.

a figure pulled out of ... where the sun don't shine.

Outages, in the best of circumstances, will last from 6 months - 2 years. Long enough for a society reliant on electricity to collapse.

[Hindsite]

I will be dead soon enough (old and knackered), so you could say I've no skin in the game. But that said, why would you bother doing anything when an overdue ICME is set to destroy the power grid, wiping out almost 80% of the human population in the ensuing chaos.

Massive Solar Superstorm Narrowly Missed Blasting The Earth Back Into The Dark Ages

Your problems solve themselves.

Considering everything, climate change is a minor problem and even if it were a major problem, we could do little if anything about it.

[Godstud]

Climate change is only a minor problem if you are an uneducated moron. Otherwise it's a problem that will plague our children. It's something that we need to mitigate, immediately.

Mitigate means: make less severe, serious, or painful.

[Suntzu]

We could all abandon our cars, turn off our AC and start living like we were in the 19th century. You first!

[Godstud]

You really don't understand English do you?

To repeat: Mitigate: make less severe, serious, or painful.

Get an A/C unit that uses inverter technology... get a more fuel efficient car... etc.