Climate Change and the History of Our Species

[nsacpi]

This niche within climate science is something I've been interested in for a while. It is only tangentially related to the current policy debate regarding climate change. But I think having some historical perspective on this is actually helpful. Among other things it suggests maybe we are focusing too much on prevention and too little on mitigation. I'm a bit of a climate change fatalist (perhaps informed by the historical record). It's going to happen. It's probably too late to avoid. There is a lot of uncertainty about how much warming we will get and how effective the proposed policy measures will be. Our species has a long history of adapting to climate change.

I hope everyone will enjoy today's reading assignments:

http://mentalfloss.com/article/86470...ion-out-africa

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6314818/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4.2_kiloyear_event

[Julio3000]

I’m also a bit of a fatalist about it, in that I think the horse is pretty much out of the barn, and mitigation is going to be necessary. On the other hand, I think it’s worth exercising some caution on that score, as it’s easy for people to use that view as justification to just go balls-out on extractive industries.

[nsacpi]

I’m also a bit of a fatalist about it, in that I think the horse is pretty much out of the barn, and mitigation is going to be necessary. On the other hand, I think it’s worth exercising some caution on that score, as it’s easy for people to use that view as justification to just go balls-out on extractive industries.

taxing fossil fuels at a higher rate is good policy on other grounds (and will allow us to reduce other taxes) and as an ancillary benefit will help some on climate change...so there are some things I think should be done...but the alarmism is something that I find objectionable for a variety of reasons...

but to return to the topic of this thread...how about that century long drought that wiped out the Ancient Kingdom of Egypt and other civilizations

[cajunrevenge]

I dont believe in wrecking the economy to fight climate change but we should be doing everything possible to switch to renewable energy. We desperately need to get away from gasoline vehicles. It should be treated as a national security issue because we end up financing our enemies for oil.

[sturg33]

[mqt]

The video this clip came from is in the tweet thread and is pretty good overall, but damn this clip killed me.

[sturg33]

The video this clip came from is in the tweet thread and is pretty good overall, but damn this clip killed me.

I'm confused why we're not seeing price changes in real estate that reflect this reality

[Julio3000]

I think we are, though.

[57Brave]

Sheldon Whitehouse
‏Verified account @SenWhitehouse

Totally bogus. All this Koch crap begins and ends with climate denial,

to protect their license to pollute for free and have us pick up the tab.

The rest is all window dressing for suckers.

[thethe]

I think we are, though.

Not on Long Island. Key word here....Island.

[57Brave]

land value in Santa Barbara - Malibu with the risk of fire and earthquake continues to rise
the Gulf Coast of Florida / Alabama as well

measuring climate change / environmental damage by real estate markets seems a fools errand
and is besides the point

[Julio3000]

I think that developers and big investors are starting to price in risk in the most vulnerable areas. I also think, capital being capital, they’re also banking that a big chunk of that risk will be socialized. And those most vulnerable areas have seen, according a couple of university studies, about a 7% depression in prices compared to similar but less cc-exposed properties. So it is happening, albeit slowly.

My—admittedly spitballed—take is that individuals’ real-estate choices aren’t necessarily rational, banks aren’t ready to give up easy money (and banks never **cough2007cough** make mistakes in this area), big investors see themselves passing the bag before the **** hits the fan, and the federal government is not helping accurate risk-pricing with its poorly deployed flood insurance program.

[sturg33]

The climate cult is real, people

[sturg33]

It is normal and healthy to make sure a new mom is told her baby will soon be dead thanks to climate change

[sturg33]

Lol this thread

[sturg33]

It's legit unfortunate that people are actually thinking this