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399 points gmays | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.206s | source
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jmyeet ◴[] No.42166284[source]
Call me pessimistic but I don't think anything is going to change and a lot of people are going to die due to climate-forced migration.

That being said, it's a difficult topic to discuss rationally. Part of the issue is deciding on what your baseline is. Looking at the last 200 years tells a pretty limited view. Consider around 100,000 years ago when global temperatures were similar [1].

That raises some questions about what caused that spike but, more importantly, what caused it to lower. You can say "an ice age" but what really triggers an ice age?

My point here is that doomsday predictions of Venus-like runaway inflation I think are both unrealistic and unhelpful in actually motivating people about an otherwise very real problem. We really have no idea of the mechanics in place.

But like I say, we're going to do absolutely nothing about it anyway.

[1]: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/analysis-is-it-actually...

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pavlov ◴[] No.42166419[source]
The rate of temperature change happening currently is much greater than anything in the geologic record.

What use it is to ponder about what has triggered an ice age in the past, when that mechanism can’t possibly counteract what’s happening now?

It’s like thinking about starting blood pressure medication when you’re having a heart attack right now.

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1. yobbo ◴[] No.42166505[source]
I don't think ice-core measurements give year-by-year resolution good enough to determine this, but it would be interesting to know if someone proved it.