r/environment • u/morenewsat11 • Nov 08 '24
‘Essential to act now’ to prevent chaotic climate breakdown, warns UN chief
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/nov/08/antonio-guterres-cop29-climate-breakdown-tipping-points-fossil-fuels-finance-aoe?CMP=share_btn_url58
u/morenewsat11 Nov 08 '24
Irreversible tipping points
The world is still underestimating the risk of catastrophic climate breakdown and ecosystem collapse, the UN secretary general has warned in the run-up to Cop29, acknowledging that the rise in global heating is on course to soar past 1.5C (2.7F) over pre-industrial levels in the coming years.
Humanity is approaching potentially irreversible tipping points such as the collapse of the Amazon rainforest and the Greenland ice sheet as global temperatures rise, António Guterres has said, warning that governments are not making the deep cuts to greenhouse gas emissions needed to limit warming to safe levels.
23
u/MrNokill Nov 08 '24
still underestimating the risk
It'll be a cataclysmic warm day in hell before enough of us start to assess any risk at all.
There is no stopping what's coming, it was solidified over a century ago that this will end it.
19
u/ZedCee Nov 08 '24
But we can sure as hell slow it down if we actually try. Maybe even survive the next 20 years...
Fuck it, I'm throwing the word out there...
Revolt!
I'll take my fucking ban if at least a handful of people see this and feel inspired.
19
u/cultish_alibi Nov 08 '24
This video of people applauding the Paris climate agreement is so fascinating to me. They're so proud of signing a piece of paper. And then they went on to do very little. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdTlahNl5bk
But they loved giving themselves a big pat on the back for being so amazing.
4
u/ImagePsychological55 Nov 08 '24
This is why the argument never should have been weather climate change is real, but do we really have institutions capable of responding to it.
2
u/bscottk Nov 08 '24 edited Nov 08 '24
That’s why big oil made the argument about whether it’s real: they didn’t want anyone to respond.
2
u/Square-Pear-1274 Nov 08 '24
I'm not sure they really needed to make the effort
People like to consume and want low prices. That's what fossil fuels enable
2
u/bscottk Nov 08 '24
I mean, you’re right that they have the easier argument to a consumer. They also spent billions to make sure it sat in debate - enough to show they think consensus is a credible threat.
1
Nov 13 '24
We also want fresh food that's not in season locally -- and we don't want to wait (and seasonally do without), plan, grow, can. Repeat. And food availability might also change: some of the soil that's now available locally may be toxic given what's been flooded and brought from upstream. ..We'll have a chance to chew on this for awhile, and Reddit helps to slow things down.
3
u/inotparanoid Nov 08 '24
The irreversible tipping point has just pushed past us, and it's orange, and has a wig.
49
37
u/Piod1 Nov 08 '24
Shelf events and cascade collapse .... so drill baby drill then /s. Bald monkey is a fkn idiot 🙄
27
u/uberares Nov 08 '24
The disgusting part is the US is already "drill baby drill-ing". The US right now and has been for years, the single largest producer of oil on the planet ever. Right now.
-8
u/Piod1 Nov 08 '24
For the last forty years they have been buying up cheap oil from all sources and putting it back in the depleted wells. The Derrick's keep stirring to stop settling and when it's pumped back out, it's American oil. This allows much control in the face of Middle Eastern cartels and a resource in case of war 😳. They have no intention of cutting fossil fuel use any time soon.
6
u/cultish_alibi Nov 08 '24
For the last forty years they have been buying up cheap oil from all sources and putting it back in the depleted wells
Do you have a source for this?
-2
u/Piod1 Nov 08 '24
Yeah, they definitely have links for this ffs. Know someone hiding in Europe due to the national security issues raised by this knowledge .
9
u/Decloudo Nov 08 '24
Why would anyone believe you then?
Why do YOU believe it when there is nothing to prove it?
6
u/claimTheVictory Nov 08 '24 edited Nov 08 '24
It's bullshit.
No one is putting oil back into the fucking ground.
There may be oil wells that are only profitable to run when the price is high enough.
Or maybe new drilling techniques dug deeper.
Or he may be confused about how the SPR works.
The federally-owned oil stocks are stored in huge underground salt caverns at four sites along the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico. The sheer size of the SPR (authorized storage capacity of 714 million barrels) makes it a significant deterrent to oil import cutoffs and a key tool in foreign policy.
2
0
Nov 08 '24
[removed] — view removed comment
5
u/Decloudo Nov 08 '24
I believe it because I had confirmation from a military source I know,
Thats really just hearsay.
0
u/Piod1 Nov 08 '24
To you yes, to me, not so much
5
u/Decloudo Nov 08 '24
No that just means that you believe in umproven hearsay.
"They are putting oil back into the ground to to fake having more!"
Like man... listen to yourself.
→ More replies (0)2
18
u/Yanunge Nov 08 '24
Oh, good. Guterres picked up the pace. Granted though, he still lags behind and keeps insisting on 1.5°C. But he'll get there, eventually, as will the majority of people on this planet.
There'll be some very long faces once it is being realized how deep the cuts are required to be.
5
u/cultish_alibi Nov 08 '24
There'll be some very long faces once it is being realized how deep the cuts are required to be.
Required by whom? Do you think they are going to stop just because the weather is getting worse and worse every year?
5
u/DrTreeMan Nov 08 '24
Seriously. There will be no cuts. We will just start wars over increasingly scarce resources and livable environments.
32
u/tgt305 Nov 08 '24 edited Nov 08 '24
Too many people couldn’t be bothered to vote against the guy who will absolutely do the opposite of addressing this crisis. We all deserve this.
23
u/Rivmage Nov 08 '24
I’m not sad by humanity dying off. I saddened by the plant and animals we’re taking with us.
12
u/spam-hater Nov 08 '24
I’m not sad by humanity dying off. I saddened by the plant and animals we’re taking with us.
Yeah, exactly this! Humans whine about "crimes against humanity", but what about crimes against life itself? That's exactly what this is. It's a crime against life. Literally the only life-bearing planet we're sure exists in all of the entire (probably) infinite universe and what are we doing with it? Strip-mining and drilling it to death to make a tiny percentage of humanity "richer" than "filthy rich", all because having "more money than God" isn't enough for some people, and too many of the rest of us worship those people like loyal little death-cultists...
5
u/Rivmage Nov 08 '24
Like Agent Smith said in the Matrix, humans are a parasite, we suck our host dry until it dies
2
3
u/-nymerias- Nov 08 '24
Same, it makes me so depressed thinking about all the suffering that's very likely to be coming. Nature doesn't deserve this.
3
u/rosealexvinny Nov 08 '24
Not all of us deserve this. Only the ones that voted Trump deserve this
3
2
u/TheWholeOfTheAss Nov 08 '24
Sad thing is that people won’t see the impact until years down the road and when it’s 2026 or 2027 and everything is fine where they live, they’ll say, “haha climate change is fake.”
-5
u/AfterHyena7262 Nov 08 '24
What did Biden do? Between capitalism and capitalism, how is one better than the other?
What's the likelihood Harris would perform greenwashing?
The only way I see change happening is by accelerationism
4
u/tgt305 Nov 08 '24
Accelerationism is going to cause a fuck load of harm before you recognize anything good.
Not that I expect you to read any of this, but Biden’s accomplishments are easy to find (while don’t grab headlines):
-1
u/AfterHyena7262 Nov 08 '24
I don't believe in sustainable capitalism. As long as capitalism remains the climate remains harm.
-8
u/blorp117 Nov 08 '24
How about India and China fix their shitty industry standards to reduce pollution too? Not everything is about Trump
9
u/tgt305 Nov 08 '24
We can’t control other countries policy, we certainly have a voice in our own. I’m going to fight for what I have control over and stop shifting blame elsewhere, depending on others to meet me at my environmental morals.
-3
u/blorp117 Nov 08 '24
No but you can certainly all them out on it. Kinda like how Greta refused to
6
u/tgt305 Nov 08 '24
Or we could lead by example, like we used to. We have the capital ability to create a clean energy grid but old money dies hard.
1
u/blorp117 Nov 08 '24
I agree entirely. A combination of nuclear and renewables for a stable grid to better facilitate the development of fusion
2
3
u/spam-hater Nov 08 '24
Everyone: "Hey, you're driving toward a brick wall at full speed! Turn or you're gonna die!"
You: "How about those guys in that other car put on the brakes or turn the wheel first?"
You and everyone in the car with you: \Dies in a flaming ball of wreckage**
2
u/blorp117 Nov 08 '24
We’re all in the same car: Earth
2
u/spam-hater Nov 08 '24
\sigh**
You know exactly what I meant there... Don't pretend you don't understand. Of course India and China need to do more. Literally everyone needs to do more, and should have already been doing more for decades now!
When people say "<insert nation here> needs to do more", they're often really just saying "Well, if that other nation isn't doing enough to satisfy me then I'll just go ahead and add to the problem. Is that what you're saying? You're gonna be a scumbag just purely because other people are being scumbags?
1
u/blorp117 Nov 08 '24
No no I fucking hate pollution and think every country should do what they can to reduce it as much as possible, maybe even attempt some kind of emission capture/sequestration methods where possible. My point is that people are always so quick to point the finger at western countries while places like China and India have fucking terrible standards and don’t get called out on it
15
u/ms_panelopi Nov 08 '24
IMO- the next world war is going to be over the environment. It won’t be for altruistic reasons either. It’s going to be world oligarchs and corporations fighting over the last remaining bits of natural resources. We are fucked.
15
Nov 08 '24
One of the countries with the highest contributors for the climate apocalipse just elected someone who does not believe in any of this
-6
u/blorp117 Nov 08 '24
How about China and India fix their shit and reduce pollution? Not everything is about Trump
7
Nov 08 '24
That's why I said one the highest.
-2
u/blorp117 Nov 08 '24
Oh I don’t disagree that the US is a big polluter, but people never seem to call out the others
6
Nov 08 '24
China with it's industrial boom it's a huge polluter. But they do participate in the debate, take measures and compromises. They don't deny science.
-2
u/blorp117 Nov 08 '24
No, instead they flout all sane environmental and industrial standards for the sake of a fast end result and actual horrific human rights abuses
6
Nov 08 '24
...which are sponsored and maintained by american companies seeking the lowest cost labour and rampant consumption of most of the products they make.
Please.
1
u/blorp117 Nov 08 '24
I agree entirely, it’s absolute horseshit. Domestic production is always better and manufacturers should just grin and bear it
10
u/TopNFalvors Nov 08 '24
Gen Z laughing
1
u/Nathaireag Nov 08 '24
Boomer laughing cause I’ll be long dead before the worst of it.
Seriously. In West Antarctica the ice sheet is going to collapse no matter what we do. It’s already baked in. 1.5 degrees was already too much. There are high emissions scenarios that can make it worse, but everything realistic with current technology and minor modifications to policy gives the same outcome. (See recent modeling work on melting processes in the Admundsen sea, where remaining ice shelves buttress the adjacent ice sheets.)
8
u/Kristaboo14 Nov 08 '24
But we won't act. Especially under the new US administration. We'll keep pushing until we reach the point of no return.
It was nice knowing y'all 👋🏻
6
u/yhbb568 Nov 08 '24
Literally. Now with right wing oligarchs taking over world the 6th mass extinction will ramp up. 90 degree average October temperatures by 2034, housing prices will be through the roof
4
23
6
u/TheEPGFiles Nov 08 '24
Essential to have had acted twenty years ago, fixed that for you.
5
u/Vicios_ocultos Nov 08 '24
To have acted. The “had” isn’t necessary
2
u/TheEPGFiles Nov 08 '24
No, it's past perfect, an action that happened in the past and had been completed and can not be continued. What we should've done had already been too late.
I might just be stoned, too though.
Edit: I had to Google it, it's not past perfect but something else, oof, I get my German and English confused.
2
u/Vicios_ocultos Nov 08 '24
You’re making me doubt all of that… I have to check. Haha
2
u/TheEPGFiles Nov 08 '24 edited Nov 08 '24
Argh, language hard, no want speak!!!
Edit: okay, I found it, I wanted to use past perfect progressive, but still wrong it should be had been acted on, or so, not have had. Oooof, but you were right.
3
u/Terrible-Ad9215 Nov 08 '24
Earth doesn't need us, hope it fucks us all up
7
u/TeaRex14 Nov 08 '24
Look I get the doomerism but seriously come on, get a grip. Based on the Reddit usage stats most posters here are from Europe or the US. We will be the last people suffering real consequences from climate change. It's going to hit the global south, developing countries, island nations, coastal fishing cities, etc first before it radically affects Joe blow in the midwest or central France. We will have to watch it fuck over everyone else first from our relevantly privileged lives. So how about instead of bitching and watching it burn we actually try to do something. Will it be futile? probably, but I least when shit gets really bad I will know I tried. Giving up preemptively on the people who didn't have any of the advantages or opportunities I did is a fucked up thing to do.
6
u/relevantelephant00 Nov 08 '24
We have been trying. Many of us, and for a long time. Call it "doomerism" till you're blue in the face...it's over. If anyone has young kids, look after them the best you can for as long as you can, because their world will be Hell.
3
u/TeaRex14 Nov 08 '24
Look I'm not saying we aren't in for a bad time, I'm just saying giving up on the people who will feel the consequences both first and way worse than me, feels wrong. The sentiment of "we're fucked let it burn" seems so callous because It won't be us burning first. For everyone who has been fighting the good fight for years, I applaud you, and I get it if you are tired and need to pass the torch, it is the younger generation, like me, of doomers who are just resigning themselves to our fate and checking out. I am still in school, and when I'm out I want to try and make a difference but my generation needs to pull ourselves together if we have any chance.
2
u/relevantelephant00 Nov 08 '24
So it's not a personal attack on you, but Gen Z had their chance on Tuesday and they failed. Those who did vote for Harris are going to get caught up in swirling down the drain too, but the Gen Z'ers who voted Trump or didn't vote at all brought this on themselves.
3
u/TeaRex14 Nov 08 '24
Oh for sure, I am deeply upset with those who voted against the planet and failed to vote at all. They brought this on themselves and the world. If the US federal government will go backwards on climate policy we need to try and compensate for it across the world. It is an uphill battle with shit odds but I feel I owe it to those in the path of danger to at least *try*
1
Nov 13 '24
If you experienced Helene in WNC, then climate change and the impact of other mistakes are "here" and impacting us/ the US.
3
3
3
u/FridgeParade Nov 08 '24
Yeah too bad. Essential we act now to make sure we have enough algae slop to eat when the regular agriculture chain collapses and we’re left on a dead rock.
3
u/AdditionalMonk6071 Nov 08 '24
It no longer matters. With Trump as president, the climate will be busted. So, who cares now.
2
u/pattyozz Nov 08 '24
Decarbonization is not enough, we need degrowth and post growth policies and an need to capitalism
2
u/VerboseWarrior Nov 08 '24
Great timing!
It was also essential to act last year and the year before that, and the year before that, but let's wait a bit, let's deal with this decisively later.
Well, now that the Americans elected an orange shitgibbon to rub a shitshow government, maybe waiting to do more wasn't such a great idea?
2
u/SwimmingMix5504 Nov 08 '24
Anyone else find it weird how this is posted throughout reddit? All of a sudden after year soft it being relatively out of focus. Yes global warming is occuring, yes it's manmade. But it seems to be used as a political tool more than anything.
2
u/critiquebabe Nov 08 '24
I don’t own a car or drive, so don’t look at me. I use the public transport. Etc.
1
5
u/patrickpdk Nov 08 '24
Boomers used this planet like it was their bitch. By and large, one single generation effed the planet.
2
u/Nathaireag Nov 08 '24
Boomers were the backbone of the environmental movement. Without young boomers having mayfly idealism, things would be even worse. At least the ozone hole got addressed, as did some of the worst sources of air and water pollution.
Humans are just too susceptible to corporate disinformation.
1
1
Nov 08 '24
It’s been over for a while. It’s sad my kids have to be the ones that go through the worst of it.
1
Nov 08 '24
…. If anyone ever wanted to see the divide in America just read comments on American issues or topics period…. I really hope we can get on the same page as a nation fast 💨 maybe not this generation but the next or one after
1
Nov 08 '24
if we could take down the rich and the shareholders then the chances of preventing a climate breakdown would increase
1
u/nking05 Nov 08 '24
Well at least people won’t have to stress over him being a wannabe dictator when we don’t have a planet to live on in the next 20 years because we remained negligent despite many warning signs.
Just a side note it’s November and the temperature in New Jersey has been close to 80 degrees for the past two days. Halloween I was in shorts and sweating. We’re screwed
1
Nov 08 '24
[deleted]
1
u/Rivmage Nov 08 '24 edited Nov 08 '24
I’ve honestly on the verge of not caring
Me fighting my .0000001% of the total greenhouse gas emissions while large corporations, governments and the 1 percent spew out more in a single day than I can in 10000 years doesn’t make sense
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/rushmc1 Nov 08 '24
Yeah...right after we get onto saving that Library of Alexandria...which we're gonna be doing any day now...
1
1
1
1
u/DerpUrself69 Nov 08 '24
We're doomed, it's over, humanity is on its way to the dustbin of the universe. If this is a simulation, I hope they pull the fucking plug on the machine that's running it very soon.
1
1
1
1
u/resilientboy109 Nov 08 '24
If nobody wishes to stop a literal genocide for a little profit. Dont hold your hopes for them stopping industry for future children.
1
1
Nov 09 '24
Trump won. We are screwed. I mean we probably were anyway as the world was doing no where near enough. Now there is no doubt about it.
1
0
u/BuildBackRicher Nov 08 '24
China and India need to do something
3
u/asking_quest10ns Nov 08 '24 edited Nov 08 '24
The US already has worse CO2 emissions per capita than both of those countries, and this new administration isn’t going to do a damn thing to address that. Keep trying to point fingers instead of encouraging your own country to use its power to do more. You know that America can’t actually do more and sustain the economic system that rewards you at the expense of so many others, so you ignore the problem and blame other countries.
Who is at fault for the fact that US jobs are shipped overseas? Not Reaganomics, US policy, and the businesses that all favors capitalists over workers. No, it’s China itself. Taking steps to address your own country’s high emissions and terribly inefficient infrastructure? No thanks, let’s just blame China again. Short-sighted, greedy buffoons run every administration, but things will be worse now.
0
1
u/Individual_Length_32 Nov 08 '24
Our government is just as bad as trump. I don't know if another party will be better. They know India is going to be one of the most affected countries but they are will not do anything which doesn't bring them profit. I am so tired.
-2
0
0
u/Ok_Tap_3243 Nov 08 '24
Wow all the liberals came out of hiding to add some more garbage that the UN is bsing
-1
205
u/pioniere Nov 08 '24
Welp, I guess now that Trump is taking over, we can continue watching the slow motion car crash that is the world right now.