Artic Methane release ( best ignore it - eh ? )

[simonineaston]

I'll give us single-figure years once this lot gets going... Nice knowing you all.

[Carlton green]

Best ignore it? Well we normally do and it’s been OK so far ...

More seriously this concept is old news and this known issue has been waiting in the background to bit us for several years. Potentially massive changes ahead for humanity and as appears usual to me it’s mostly caused or led by smaller segments of society who choose to ignore the future and live for their today. The CV19 crisis is a good example of such stupidity, had we been really ferocious about stamping it out then it would be gone but instead we allowed commercial pressure and individual stupidity (partying and ignoring infection control measures) to rule. On one hand Mother Nature encourages and drives us to do all types of stupid things but on the other she’ll cull the population without even the remotest hint of mercy ... and in the meantime we have the challenges of day to day life with health hazards and a collapsing economy.

[pwa]

I first heard about man-made climate change and the theoretical danger of a positive feedback loop from the release of Arctic methane in about 1980, and in the four decades since then the doom and gloom prophecies have just solidified into grim reality. It is all happening, just as predicted. The key thing about the release of Arctic methane is that once it gets up to speed it will have such a great impact on the climate that our attempts to halt global warming by changing our ways may have little effect. Runaway global warming will be unstoppable.

[reohn2]

Best ignore it? Well we normally do and it’s been OK so far ...

More seriously this concept is old news and this known issue has been waiting in the background to bit us for several years. Potentially massive changes ahead for humanity and as appears usual to me it’s mostly caused or led by smaller segments of society who choose to ignore the future and live for their today. The CV19 crisis is a good example of such stupidity, had we been really ferocious about stamping it out then it would be gone but instead we allowed commercial pressure and individual stupidity (partying and ignoring infection control measures) to rule. On one hand Mother Nature encourages and drives us to do all types of stupid things but on the other she’ll cull the population without even the remotest hint of mercy ... and in the meantime we have the challenges of day to day life with health hazards and a collapsing economy.

I think that about sums it up,commercial pressure in the ever increasing 'market will decide' everything shortsighted global society is leading the planet to a place where the rich,so called first world,of man(un)kind will find it increasingly difficult to live comfortably as has been it's norm,and the third world will suffer devastation such as never known.
The unbridled neoliberal capitalist agenda I suspect will continue until and well after,such times as the species known as Homo Sapiens is reduced to a remnant with a much greater chance of war and famine.
Radical as that may seem,the great civilisations of history suffered the same outcome due to greed and corruption by the powerful few,the same thing is happening today in the modern world but on a global scale with far more devastating and far reaching consequences

[squeaker]

I'll give us single-figure years once this lot gets going... Nice knowing you all.

The perfect antidote to the film '2040' which I watched last evening

[Pebble]

I first heard about man-made climate change and the theoretical danger of a positive feedback loop from the release of Arctic methane in about 1980, and in the four decades since then the doom and gloom prophecies have just solidified into grim reality. It is all happening, just as predicted. The key thing about the release of Arctic methane is that once it gets up to speed it will have such a great impact on the climate that our attempts to halt global warming by changing our ways may have little effect. Runaway global warming will be unstoppable.

I think the only thing the scientists have got wrong is the timescale, everything is happening far sooner than was ever predicted, and everyone thought they were exaggerating and scaremongering.

I think the runaway train is now over the hill but probably a while till we start blowing that whistle.

Very sad to see the destruction of all the wonderful flora and fauna of our once amazing little planet by the stupid shortsighted greed by our species.

[Audax67]

Well, look on the bright side: the Permian extinction, also thought due to greenhouse gasses, only killed 95% of marine and 70% of land species. The biosphere should spring back all bright-toothed and scaly-tailed in a million years or so.

And probably form a Tory government.

[kwackers]

Well, look on the bright side: the Permian extinction, also thought due to greenhouse gasses, only killed 95% of marine and 70% of land species. The biosphere should spring back all bright-toothed and scaly-tailed in a million years or so.

And probably form a Tory government.

Yeah, we talk about destroying the planet but in the huge scale of previous events this is a tedious blip. It'll recover, it's just us and any large animals that'll die short term before the big stuff re-evolves.

We've had the age of giant rodents, then giant reptiles, giant birds and currently giant mammals.
Wonder who's turn it is next?

[Jdsk]

Are you sure about where the rodents came?

: - )

Jonathan

[Mike Sales]

We've had the age of giant rodents, then giant reptiles, giant birds and currently giant mammals.
Wonder who's turn it is next?

None of those were aware of what was coming, or knew that they were causing it.
(I don't mean that they were causing their own extinction, but if they were, maybe they would have had the sense to change their behaviour!)

[kwackers]

Are you sure about where the rodents came?

: - )

Jonathan

Not at all, I read a book "Evolution the Whole Story" by Steve Parker which was fascinating and steps through the various animals that evolved and the timelines.
So I know there was a period when rodents did well just wrote it down here (obvs turning my brain on it couldn't be placed where I put it )

Having said that it could have been Nick Lanes "The Vital Question" (another stonkingly good read).


I honestly wish I had a better memory and better vocabulary - I know what I want to say but can't remember the details nor turn it into written language in anything like the manner I'd like...

[kwackers]

We've had the age of giant rodents, then giant reptiles, giant birds and currently giant mammals.
Wonder who's turn it is next?

None of those were aware of what was coming, or knew that they were causing it.
(I don't mean that they were causing their own extinction.)

No, but the idea that intelligence gives us the ability to prevent what should be easily preventable is not only unproven but is looking to be proven false.

Turns out intelligence is mostly used to figure out arguments in support of ones viewpoint - even when that viewpoint is demonstrably wrong.


As an aside I reckon that's why there are no detectable alien civilisations.

Any creature that makes it to the top of its evolutionary ladder is probably a bit of a ****. Selfish and so prone to sowing the seeds of its own demise.
Throw in the sheer size of space, the cost of doing anything up there, the hostile and unforgiving environment, the timescales involved and the fragility of life and I reckon there'll pretty much zero chance of a civilisation arising that masters interstellar travel.

Out there in interstellar space are millions of bits of space junk with names like "Voyager" that species cast out to proclaim "We've arrived" before they promptly destroy themselves.

[Mike Sales]

Turns out intelligence is mostly used to figure out arguments in support of ones viewpoint - even when that viewpoint is demonstrably wrong.

We are not so much a reasoning animal as a rationalising animal?

[Jdsk]

First rodent was about 66 million years ago, and biggest* was about 3m. But there were lots of giant mammals in other groups, and quite recently.

Any creature that makes it to the top of its evolutionary ladder is probably a bit of a ****.

Ladders are a bit linear as an analogy. How about bushes... lots going in parallel, most branches die out, and you can't tell which is going to either grow or survive.

Jonathan

* And that includes The Princess Bride. : -)

[geocycle]

There’s lots of methane below Icelandic glaciers as well. As they retreat methane is released. Definitely one of those gases that amplifies change and more of a problem In some ways than CO2. Here is a commentary on a paper I was involved with https://e360.yale.edu/digest/scientists ... ic-glacier