Floods, Fires, and Heat Domes (the climate change thread) (Part 1)

How bad would that be? For starters, the plan to open up the Amazon would mean Brazil has absolutely no chance of meeting its Paris commitments. A group of Brazilian scientists has estimated that between 2021 and 2030, Bolsonaro’s deforestation would release the equivalent of 13.12 gigatons of carbon. Last year, the United States emitted about five gigatons. This means that this one policy would have between two and three times the annual carbon impact of the entire American economy, with all of its airplanes and automobiles and coal plants. The world’s worst emitter, by far, is China; the country was responsible for 9.1 gigatons of emissions in 2017. This means Bolsonaro’s policy is the equivalent of adding, if just for a year, a whole second China to the planet’s fossil-fuel problem — and, on top of that, a whole second United States. This is not a climate that can tolerate another China; according to the U.N.’s recent IPCC report, we may not even be able to tolerate the one we have for 12 more years. Bolsanaro’s single policy would fully eat up 20 percent of a stable climate’s total remaining carbon budget. As Emily Atkin put it at The New Republic , “The livability of the entire planet is at stake.”

But wait! There’s more!

But the problem is bigger than that extra carbon, believe it or not. The Amazon, alone, produces 20 percent of the world’s oxygen. A smaller, degraded rainforest won’t threaten our breathing air — there is just way too much oxygen around for us to ever worry about that. But the figure does signal just how prolific the Amazon is as a photosynthesizing force, which is critical because it produces all that oxygen out of carbon, which it sucks out of the air. And not just a little: The trees of the Amazon take in a quarter of all the carbon absorbed by the planet’s land each year. This is what makes it what scientists call a “carbon sink,” taking in large stores of CO2 that would otherwise be warming the planet even more drastically…

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“With Democrats now in control of the House, leadership of the House Science Committee is likely to fall Texas Democrat Eddie Bernice Johnson. Johnson, who became the committee’s first African American and first female ranking member in 2010, is a strong advocate for funding STEM education and expanding educational opportunities for minorities, in particular. She’s also a solidly pro-environment politician, according to her League of Conservation Voters scorecard.”

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“When the new Congress starts Jan. 3, Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee will, for the first time since Zinke took office in March 2017, have the authority to compel him and others at the Interior Department to testify and provide records.”

giphy%20(85)

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Let the fun begin, except it will not be fun at all. It will be angering in the extreme. And the right will not understand why all the fuss.

I mean, hurricanes, floods, coastal erosion, heatwaves, droughts, those are hard to notice I guess :thinking:

“Well how can we really know these things are happening? I heard on InfoWars that it is all a liberal plot!”

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“I cast Summon Category 5 Hurricane”

“You killed everything in the dungeon”

If only :grin:

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Diplomatic skills on display. :+1:

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And if the decisions are being made by old men whose fortunes are their one and only priority, and who are very well aware that they will not personally have to face any of the consequences of their choices, we (and more importantly, our children and grandchildren) are totally fucked.

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Holy fuck, that is terrifying! And the mascot thing is pretty scary too.

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black-butler-grell

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That is truly fascinating

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https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/15/brazil-foreign-minister-ernesto-araujo-climate-change-marxist-plot?__twitter_impression=true

Say goodbye to the Amazon…

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No change then, it was already being cut down alarmingly fast. This is a confirmation of the status quo, nothing more.