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from the we-used-to-wish-for-warmer-weather dept.
Ocean temperatures hit record high as rate of heating accelerates:
The heat in the world's oceans reached a new record level in 2019, showing "irrefutable and accelerating" heating of the planet.
The world's oceans are the clearest measure of the climate emergency because they absorb more than 90% of the heat trapped by the greenhouse gases emitted by fossil fuel burning, forest destruction and other human activities.
The new analysis shows the past five years are the top five warmest years recorded in the ocean and the past 10 years are also the top 10 years on record. The amount of heat being added to the oceans is equivalent to every person on the planet running 100 microwave ovens all day and all night.
[...]"We found that 2019 was not only the warmest year on record, it displayed the largest single-year increase of the entire decade, a sobering reminder that human-caused heating of our planet continues unabated," said Prof Michael Mann, at Penn State University, US, and another team member.
Journal Reference:
Cheng, L., Abraham, J., Zhu, J. et al. Ocean Temperatures Hit Record High as Rate of Heating Accelerates Adv. Atmos. Sci. (2020) 37: 137. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-020-9283-7
(Score: 4, Interesting) by EJ on Wednesday January 15 2020, @01:13AM (4 children)
In the time this has happened, I have made the following changes:
1. Moved closer to work (I live half as far away as I did, and my commute is now 1/3 the duration)
2. Reduced the amount of yearly travel (vacations, etc.)
3. Vastly increased the efficiency of my house
4. Reduced the amount of non-work driving (I only go out on the weekends if critical, and I do most of my shopping on the way home from work, since I pass all important shops on my commute)
5. Still did not have any children***
I feel like there should be some MASSIVE reward for people who forego reproduction, since it's an exponential decrease in a person's lifetime carbon footprint. Mine is completely bounded.
Each child you have should cause a carbon-tax penalty for certain types of luxuries. Maybe you get a free credit for one or two kids, but anything beyond that should cause severe penalties.
Just like Bob Barker used to say on The Price is Right: "Spay and neuter your humans."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 15 2020, @03:38PM
Here's your sticker.
(Score: 2) by ilsa on Wednesday January 15 2020, @04:31PM
The problem is there are no rewards available for reducing your carbon footprint. The costs are externalized, and any attempt at all to internalize it (via, say, carbon credits), people have an epic meltdown over government cash grabs, etc.
My dad is like that. He has a total mental break every time there is the merest suggestion that something might cost him a little more, no matter how insignificant. He also resents the parasitic government stealing HIS money to waste on unimportant crap like... oh... schools, libraries, etc.
IMO that's the root of climate change denial. People who absolutely refuse to take responsibility for the situation, no matter how indirectly, and are resentful at the suggestion that they might be abusing their environment, no matter how inadvertently and unknowingly, and would rather the world burn (literally) than experience that mental discomfort.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday January 15 2020, @04:37PM
You've reduced emissions by 58.6 tons COe, per kid.
Want to fight climate change? Have fewer children [theguardian.com]
(as have we)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 15 2020, @07:27PM
No amount of individual responsibility will solve this problem. I commend your dedication. I have kids, and I love them more than anything, but if I had been thinking more clearly twenty years ago we would have adopted children instead of contributing to the population.
But 100 companies are responsible for 71% of global emissions. Short of voluntary human extinction, no mass movement by individuals will offset that kind of damage.
I posted up-thread: humanity consumes more than 113,000 TWh of power per year, equivalent to 32,000 times all of the explosive energy - including nukes - released in World War 2 or equivalent to 487 times the explosive power of the Mount Krakatoa eruption, the largest volcanic eruption in human history. That's per year, so we're affecting the planet like 487 colossal eruptions per year, every year. Skipping flights or going vegan ( https://get-green-now.com/vegan-lifestyle-carbon-footprint/ [get-green-now.com] ) aren't going to fix it. They're still worth doing, but don't consider the problem solved.
We are going to save our species with serious policy changes, or not at all.