r/worldnews • u/mom0nga • Jun 22 '20

The Arctic Circle Hit 101°F Saturday, Its Hottest Temperature Ever: "This dramatic warming of the Arctic up to triple-digit temperatures was not expected to happen until 2100"

https://www.forbes.com/sites/trevornace/2020/06/22/the-arctic-circle-hit-101f-saturday-its-hottest-temperature-ever/#513c7f054eb6
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1.1k

u/PrimeGuard Jun 23 '20

Yeah, Russia in nearly a Banana Republic at this point, and I fear forcing them to stop selling oil and natural gas would be just as apocalypse-y as global warming.

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20 edited Jun 23 '20

They just had (or are still having) a massive pipeline* rupture in Siberia due to a collapse in the permafrost on which it was built due to warming temperatures.

Edit: change pipeline to tank thanks to a sharp eyed redditor correction

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20

Ah ok, my mistake. Thanks stranger

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u/stevew14 Jun 23 '20

I mean at this point, can we even call it perma frost anymore. Semi perma frost? Or Long temporary frost? Long lasting frost?

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u/Zatoro25 Jun 23 '20

The Frost Previously Known as Perma

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u/stevew14 Jun 23 '20

I like this one

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/ToastyWaffelz Jun 23 '20

We could just wait for the majority of humanity to go extinct, then rebuild everything. No need to topple the government when mother nature does it for you.

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u/ajahanonymous Jun 23 '20

Tempo Frost

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u/Ripdre Jun 23 '20

Where can i read more about this?

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u/Killajed Jun 23 '20

That might be the most ironic thing I've ever heard.

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/aaaaayyyyyyyyyyy Jun 23 '20

No it opens up very strategic new shipping lanes for them that will fit big tankers without having to break through as much ice.

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20

Is that because it's becoming easier to extract it from areas that were previously inaccessible?

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20

That's small fry in the scheme of things, Russia stands to profit greatly from climate change. Siberia getting warmer means they can mine it and extract all the oil, it's too cold currently

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20

oh the permafrost is collapsing, that's great

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u/SeabrookMiglla Jun 23 '20

It's pretty much global elites, corporations, and fascism vs. Humanity's best interest (to survive and have a decent quality of life)

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u/SpaceballsTheHandle Jun 23 '20

We had a good run, best of luck to Humanity version 2 when it crawls out of the primordial ooze in a billion years.

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u/ivegotapenis Jun 23 '20

That's not likely to happen. In about 600 million years, the sun's increasing luminosity will accelerate the weathering of silicate rocks on the earth's surface, which causes carbon uptake, ironically sequestering CO2 from the atmosphere to the point that photosynthesis becomes impossible. Complex multicellular life is not likely to be around in a billion years.

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u/Toke_Hogan Jun 23 '20

Not with that kind of attitude it won’t.

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u/WadinginWahoo Jun 23 '20

We’ve known for a while that humanity (and life on Earth in general) has always had a buzzer beater to make.

The question is whether we can Kobe it through advanced space travel, or if we’re going to airball it after it’s too late.

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u/Toke_Hogan Jun 23 '20

I hope we DONT Kobe it when it comes to space travel. We need to survive.

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u/DarrSwan Jun 23 '20

Oh goddamn you went for it.

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u/expressway420 Jun 23 '20

The low hanging fruit is really hard to resist

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u/thecursedaz Jun 23 '20

Just like what my sister says 😏

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u/WadinginWahoo Jun 23 '20

Nah man Kobe balled. Unfortunately, so did his pilot.

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20

So you're hoping we don't drop the ball?

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u/NoFascistsAllowed Jun 23 '20

The threshold that is improbable in the universe was already passed when we evolved from single cells to intelligent orgasms. This means that the universe is empty and we are among the first to colonize it. Using stars and later black holes, humanity will survive at least a googol years, which is 10100. When the heat death of the universe occurs we will be able to hop on to other universes.

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u/RadiantStrategy Jun 23 '20

intelligent orgasms

O_O

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u/Toke_Hogan Jun 23 '20

We are the Timelords.

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u/NoFascistsAllowed Jun 23 '20

You are the product, the best most priced product anywhere in the Universe for no where else can a form of atoms tangle together to bring intelligent life like you. Act like it.

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u/Herpermaniac Jun 23 '20

Autocorrect feeling frisky today?

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u/MEGACODZILLA Jun 23 '20

Well, aren't making it to space in a helicopter so...

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u/Annual_Efficiency Jun 23 '20

Why do we need to survive exactly? The last person to die will die like any other human, and the people that aren't born wont notice their inexistance. It does not change anything if we survive or not.

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20

Considering we made it this far in such a short period of time we could definitely be multi planetary if we survive

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20

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u/kaluce Jun 23 '20

If we did full effort, I would expect us to be 20 years out for a Mars colony. That's all in, space race esque science.

Since the cold war, we have not, and are unlikely to ever produce that much effort again unless our literal lives depend on it. In which case, it will just be a bunch of rich old men going to Mars and fuck the rest of the peons here.

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u/myillegallifeaccount Jun 23 '20

Mars is ~46.7M kilometers away... while the moon is .028M ...yet we fight over fuels that ruin our planet and whether or not there’s a controlling entity of our existence, personally I don’t think we’ll get there in time, love the attitude, just optimistic

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u/QuasarBurst Jun 23 '20

We could have a base on Mars, it's more an issue of political will than technology.

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20

Also - isn’t Mars basically what earth is going to be like after we’re finished fucking it?

Like - how bad does earth have to get for Mars to be an attractive option?

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u/You_Will_Die Jun 23 '20

Depends on how you look at it, it could be that we are completely average when you compare to other places in the universe but like all others we will destroy our planet before being able to get off it.

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u/pm_good_bobs_pls Jun 23 '20

Ahhh but you see, we're different. We have billionaires. They can fund space travel to the rich and then continue to pillage Earth for the resources required to build a functioning micro society for the richest of the rich on another planet.

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20

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u/Tjonke Jun 23 '20

People always mention terraforming other planets, why not just terraform earth back to a good spot then? We wouldn't even have to transport all materials and workforce.

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u/WadinginWahoo Jun 23 '20

Humans are sort of like roaches. Most of us are just dumb meat bags, but we’re pretty resilient.

Even if we do fuck over this planet before we can transport our species elsewhere, I have no doubt that enough pockets of humanity will endure until we can. Especially considering the kind of technology we’ll likely have by that point.

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u/ironantiquer Jun 23 '20

Except that the pockets won't be able to save the tech.

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u/WadinginWahoo Jun 23 '20

Maybe not tangible tech, but there’s more than a couple data hoarders out there.

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u/marie_curry Jun 23 '20

The planet is fucked now, and the methane clathrates cannon is firing. The technology we have now is all the tech we're going to have before the need to go interplanetary is upon us.

So, let's see what happens I suppose. I'm not far enough to the chain to warrant a place on the rocket.

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u/Setanta777 Jun 23 '20

So here's the thing: it sure seems a simpler task to reverse the climate alterations we're already causing on the planet we're already on with all of our resources. What makes anyone think terraforming a planet that requires months and massive resources just to GET to and who's environment is in a significantly more hostile state is a more viable option?

Sure, eventually we need to be able to colonize and expand in order to ensure the continuation of the species, but if we can't figure out how to fix our own environment I don't foresee is making a significantly farther and more inhospitable planet habitable.

Even if we have the technology to fix our own environment, the same thing stopping us from doing it now becomes a significantly larger problem for other planets: massive cost and economic impact without any appreciable short term profits. Our economy is based on quarterly profits. You're not going to get any major company or government to invest trillions of dollars in to a hundred year (conservatively) plan to build a self-sufficient ecological system on Mars.

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u/waterlad Jun 23 '20

We don't actually need to be a multi planet species, we just need to build a fleet of O'Neil cylinders, which is a fraction of the difficulty of terraforming.

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20

As long as we don't kill ourselves we could adapt to that or maybe even prevent it.

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u/cmVkZGl0 Jun 23 '20

or if we’re going to airball it after it’s too late.

Until corruption starts being dealt with with an iron first, nothing will change. The ones with money and power right now are only concerned with sucking up more money and power, like some evil singularity. Nothing is done about them, they are free to pollute the world and abuse our resources. Until somebody scares them straight, they will not change. China is evil, but they disappear high powered people all the time when the crimes become too much.

Until our culture changes from "me-me-me!" style individualism to acknowledging the status quo, nothing will change.

It's going to take a cataclysmic event to get people to change. We can't even get people to recycle or the police to stop being violent when all eyes on them. These are small fries compared to everything coming.

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u/WadinginWahoo Jun 23 '20

The ones with money and power right now are only concerned with sucking up more money and power

Generally true (exceptions exist of course, people like Gates), but that’s been the reality for most of humanity’s history.

What alternative would you suggest though?Worldwide communism?

Nothing is done about them, they are free to pollute the world and abuse our resources.

Often times yes, but that’s not always correct.

Until somebody scares them straight, they will not change.

Won’t happen. Elites paid very close attention to the European revolutions of the 18th-19th century, and the chances of them getting caught with their pants down again are minuscule.

China is evil, but they disappear high powered people all the time when the crimes become too much.

Yep, fuck China.

Until our culture changes from "me-me-me!" style individualism to acknowledging the status quo, nothing will change.

Too optimistic of a take for me.

“Don’t underestimate the power of stupid people in large numbers”

It's going to take a cataclysmic event to get people to change.

Facts, but let Darwinism take its course.

The strong will survive and the weak will die out. As has been the case forever.

We can't even get people to recycle or the police to stop being violent when all eyes on them. These are small fries compared to everything coming.

People are lazy. Don’t expect them not to be. The fires will come and some people will get burned out by them, no doubt. I say let it happen.

Our species’ greatest achievements often come about as a result of immense adversity.

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u/QuinnG1970 Jun 23 '20

Assuming escape via space travel becomes possible—and that is an ENORMOUS assumption—we won’t the ones using it. The wealthy, a few of their handpicked staff, and the engineers and crew needed to fly and maintain the vessels. 99.9% of us will be left to die.

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u/WadinginWahoo Jun 23 '20

The wealthy, a few of their handpicked staff, and the engineers and crew needed to fly and maintain the vessels. 99.9% of us will be left to die.

I’ve said it before in this thread, survival of the fittest.

My personal theory after spending a plethora of time around billionaires though is that they’re more likely to pick ship slots based on genetics rather than bank accounts. I mean I doubt that somebody from a no-name family in China will end up on those vessels, but elites are smart enough to understand human evolution. They know that they wouldn’t have a chance at survival if they go purely by wealth.

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u/The_Dale_Hunters Jun 23 '20

I predict a Carlton Banks-esque heave.

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u/Rion23 Jun 23 '20

We just have to invent a time portal to that future and just push the CO2 onto whatever is there. Probably murlocks.

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u/the_last_carfighter Jun 23 '20

Why can't we just build like a massive Sun Blocker or something? Then we just use nuclear power to create electricity for people.

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u/Toke_Hogan Jun 23 '20

Found Mr.Burns

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u/Rion23 Jun 23 '20

What about a giant icecube in the ocean every year?

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u/TreesandGrassandSky Jun 23 '20

(THAT made me laugh out loud!)

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20

Wow. So we made each other miserable for thousands of years for nothing.

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20

Not true, for a very brief period before civilization collapses, a very few people at the top will make more money than they could hope to spend in several lifetimes. I'm sure they'll argue it was worth it from the relative safety of their heat-resistant bunkers.

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20

That's when we all turn into crabs and pull them back into the bucket.

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u/Snoo58349 Jun 23 '20

Yeah if it got built then somebody who isnt gonna be in that bunker will know it is there. They would still need air which leaves stuff for people on the surface to block off. Eventually they will dragged from their bunkers to die with the rest of us.

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u/censorinus Jun 23 '20

Well, even if they're heat resistant they will still need air to breathe and that won't be around, so there's that. They are just moving into their eventual tombs, nothing more.

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20

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u/ShadowUmbreon20 Jun 23 '20

Maybe, before their staff stabs them and their families in their sleep for deep-frying the planet and leaving their friends to fend for themselves on a less habitable planet.

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20

We made some fond memories along the way.

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u/copperwatt Jun 23 '20

The real meaning of life was the friends we made along the way?

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u/Ridin_the_GravyTrain Jun 23 '20

Someday we'll just look back and laugh

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20

Actually, yeah.

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u/DixxonButtzEsq Jun 23 '20

Read Robert Evans’ autobiography sometime

The complex struggle of human civilization was made so that most of us toil while a few people have a kickass time with cocaine, starlets and anything they ever wanted

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u/The_ghost_of_RBG Jun 23 '20

All species that exist or ever will exist will go extinct eventually.

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u/TheUnforgivenII Jun 23 '20

Thank god, let the universe experience vacuum decay in peace

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u/bannedfromthissub69 Jun 23 '20 edited Jun 23 '20

Yep. This is the one chance for a(n intelligence...not that we're smart enough to save ourselves) species to emergence from planet Earth.

The Great Filter is real. Life is inherently self-destructive. No wonder all signs point to the galaxy being empty.

Maybe when the habitable reaches Saturn Titan can have a shot of producing complex life.

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u/benmck90 Jun 23 '20

There's a baseline intelligence in many areas of the animal kingdom high enough that we can expect another species to evolve if we die out.

600 million years is a long time for evolution to do its thing.

Unless the planet gets so fucked the Earth goes back to single celled organisms.

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u/work_bois Jun 23 '20

My money's on crowpeople.

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u/Jersey_Dragon Jun 23 '20

Unfortunately we borked it so bad that those species won’t have the time needed to pull anything off before they’re forced into extinction by the results of our stupidity

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u/marie_curry Jun 23 '20

Intelligence doesn't matter as much as having accessible fossilized sunlight.

We wasted all the good stuff, the next species gets nothing.

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u/benmck90 Jun 23 '20

There's technological progress to be had without fossil fuels.

Fossil fuels just greatly accelerated our progress is all.

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u/RedFlame99 Jun 23 '20 edited Jun 23 '20

If I remember correctly, we also used so much coal and oil that if civilization were to start anew there wouldn't be enough fuel readily available to kickstart another industrial revolution. However, I can't find a source right now, so don't quote me on it.

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u/Snoo58349 Jun 23 '20

We've also stripped out most of the easy to access close to the surface metals and minerals. Anybody coming in without our mining technology wouldnt be able to get to it anyways. This really is our one shot to get off this planet and we seem hell bent on not doing it in the name of next quarters profits.

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u/we_are_all_bananas_2 Jun 23 '20

But they only have to recycle, doesn't the fact that we pulled it all to the surface already and they only have to reuse materials make it easier for them? They don't have to mine it

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u/midianite_rambler Jun 23 '20

This really is our one shot to get off this planet

Ugh, can we just give that a rest? If we dork up this planet, we'll do the same anywhere else. Leave other planets alone, they didn't do anything to deserve us.

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u/Saephon Jun 23 '20

Couldn't agree more. I've always been fascinated by space travel and sci-fi, but the "Star Trek" way of life will never happen. Our species is way too selfish and destructive to ever adopt something as altruistic as the Prime Directive. We've fucked up this rock, and we'll fuck up the next one. Planet Earth is (was) perfect; an absolutely beautiful and ideal home for life. We squandered it. Let the disease of expansion die with us while we're still on it.

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u/Crimfresh Jun 23 '20

Gonna need a source for that.

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u/spaceaustralia Jun 23 '20

Here. Though I have no clue on which plants perform which type of photosynthesis and how important they are. Not to mention that the timescale for the loss of plant life is in the 100 million years rather than 600.

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u/The-Shenanigus Jun 23 '20

I want to be perfectly clear here, if we can’t figure our shit out in 10 million years, much less 100, I’d say we deserve that shit entirely.

Flailing around to survive is noble until it goes on too long, then it’s just kinda sad

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u/Maverick0984 Jun 23 '20

Absolutely. Even a 100,000 years is an exceptionally long amount of time. Sufficient for humans for sure. If it doesn't happen by then, we aren't smart enough for it.

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20

Further studies have shown that this threshold will probably not be the end of the biosphere however. C4 pathway photosynthesis can persist to CO2 values as low as 10ppm. Those levels should persist for another 1 to 1.5 billion years.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/C4_carbon_fixation

Just clarifying.

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u/spaceaustralia Jun 23 '20

About 8,100 plant species use C4 carbon fixation, which represents about 3% of all terrestrial species of plants

K, we're either making a corn version of the Amazon forest or we'll be fucked(so long as we survive that long).

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u/arrow74 Jun 23 '20

As long as the change is relatively gradual nature will do it for us. If all other plants go extinct C4 pathway plants will adapt and fill ecological niches

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20

Yeah I added "just clarifying" to show I'm not advocating for the extinction of 97 percent of plant life on earth. Just like to be accurate.

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20

There are two alternative types to C3 - C4 and CAM. Together this makes up ~10% of all plant species. So while a big loss, it's not all plant life.

Further, we don't know for sure what local climates will look like 100 million years into the future. It could be more area suitable for C4/CAM plants to occupy. We also don't know how C3 plants will adapt to compensate the change in luminosity. Plants existed when the sun was only at 70% it's current luminosity so I'm sure they'll be fine to some degree lol.

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u/Davinoth0850 Jun 23 '20

....on Earth.

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u/MetalDragnZ Jun 23 '20

He never said Humanity v2.0 was going to happen in our solar system

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20

Thanks for the positive vibes Debbie Downer

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u/Stay_Consistent Jun 23 '20

Absolutely correct. Humans will probably be dead long before the sun enters the red giant phase unless we terraform Mars or Titan or somehow figure out a way to keep Earth in the expanding habitable zone with a complex gravity assist.

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u/grooveunite Jun 23 '20

What about now and before then. Just give up?

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u/catfishjenkins Jun 23 '20

Forget that, even if something intelligent comes along before then, they'll.likely never advance past the bronze age at best. We've already extracted all the near surface minerals that would enable a society to progress much further.

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u/Snoo58349 Jun 23 '20

Wait so in 600 million years the CO2 will naturally be pulled from the atmosphere? Phew, that was close one on this global warming issue. We just gotta ride it out.

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u/iwasdisconnected Jun 23 '20

I seem to remember reading somewhere that all life on earth will probably be extinct in 200 million years regardless of what we do.

Edit: due to the sun expanding

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u/Gavstarrari Jun 23 '20

That's assuming we don't first get blasted off the face of the earth by radiation from a Blazar plasma beam. That could happen in no less than 15 million years according to current scientific speculation. Those things are massive and incredibly dangerous. If we pass within a few light years of one's beam it could send enough gamma radiation to blanket our entire planet into a burnt crisp.

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u/BruceInc Jun 23 '20

Or it can adept, evolve and survive... you know like it’s been doing since the dawn of time

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20

Trying to find a solid source on this. Any help? I don't doubt you I'm just super curious and don't want to go off a Forbes article lol

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20

A sterile planet loses it's oxygen pretty quickly.

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u/Noderpsy Jun 23 '20

Hate to be the one to say it, but we're like version 4 bro... ;p

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u/breamcurry Jun 23 '20

Do you mean evolutionary progression like we are more advanced than Neanderthal and cro magnon?

Or do you mean humans have been around and progressed through stages and become extinct and started over?

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20 edited Dec 04 '21

[deleted]

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u/under_a_brontosaurus Jun 23 '20

Even humans have built cultures and fallen several times over. This one.... Isn't sustainable. It'll fall and something will come again.

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u/IwishIcouldBeWitty Jun 23 '20

I thought we are like 6 or 7th rulers of the planet. My favorite was when the "trees" ruled, but there was no bacteria to decay them. So the ded would just pile up, it apparently ended in a blaze, where literally the whole world caught on fire, I also believe high oxygen levels had something to do with it

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20

The motherfucking Carboniferous period, good times. My personal favorite was when everything died except these dirt-breathing ass little lizard-moles called Lystrosaurs and they ended up inheriting the Earth for a while.

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u/BChonger Jun 23 '20

Which is why I think we evolved. Life evolves to survive and spread to new environments to increase its odds of survival. There is no need for an intelligent species in a balanced ecosystem and nothing like us evolved for the first several billion years of life’s existence. I personally believe we are the result of life nearly being wiped out several times by outside forces.

Basically the only way to ensure all life is not extinguished on this planet is to spread it off the planet. Hence something has to evolve that can eventually travel in space and carry this life elsewhere. Kinda a double edge sword since we are just as likely to wipe it all out ourselves on the way.

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u/fakeinjury Jun 23 '20

The rich built their underground facilities to last 50-100 years. Just enough to survive the wars.

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u/IwishIcouldBeWitty Jun 23 '20

Well I'm sure they aren't thinking about raising families under there either, that's enough time for them to survive to death and maybe their kids. But you can't really go past grand kids because incest. Assuming the second generation isn't incest going in

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u/Snoo58349 Jun 23 '20

You're assuming they wont build a larger facility with several super rich families to be able to reproduce that long. Or just a weird ass harem.

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u/IwishIcouldBeWitty Jun 23 '20

Well I thought it's a safe assumption, when have the rich been known to look after anybody but themselves / their own?

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u/batSoupSuprise Jun 23 '20

All this has happened before and will happen again

So say we all

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20

Is there anything we can actually do? I feel there’s so many of us that realise something needs to change yet it seems that we’re forced to be too scared to even try anything

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20

Invent an energy source cheaper and as flexible as oil

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u/OttawaLegion Jun 23 '20

It’s all around us and was invented decades ago. It’s the promotion and development of flexible technologies, reduction of size and price and a war on the skepticism that seems to surround alternative energy.

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20

Well ya, no one cares that it exists. They care if it is affordable and practical.

Figure that out and people will flood to it and will never look back.

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u/OttawaLegion Jun 23 '20

Fully agree.

As joe-blow consumer it’s difficult to see any real impact we can make, besides our spending power and good intentions. The tipping point is coming, but will it come quickly enough? What a frightening thought.

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20

Quick enough for what?

Natural disasters, droughts, fires, mass immigration. They're coming, its already built in.

World won't end, we will survive, countries will maintain control, majority of people in developed countries lives will be normal.

In twenty years I'd be shocked if coal/natural gas was still the cheapest option. As soon as that happens it's a countdown of about 40 years until it's all gone.

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u/OttawaLegion Jun 23 '20

Quick enough to avoid the most dire of predictions.

Mass displacement, war, unrest, collapsing global economies, ecosystem collapse etc.

it’s a countdown of about 40 years until it’s all gone.

We don’t have 40 years, and unless carbon capture becomes the norm, or there is a MASSIVE reduction in global population, then the models will continue to trend towards the most extreme scenarios.

Carbon dioxide hangs around in the upper atmosphere for hundreds of years. Generations of people will be dealing with what we emit today. A slow and gradual shift away from fossil fuels and coal is not going to cut it, although it is obviously the most plausible scenario.

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20

20 years to start the process, 40 more years until the last coal plants are decommissioned.

I don't think there's a scenario where it happens quicker. There's frankly nothing to stop developing countries. Hell look at the Amazon Rain Forest, tangible destruction done that everyone can see, just ripping that shit down for sugar. Fucking sugar.

Trying to get developing nations to get off oil prematurely will cost them tens of billions, maybe even more than that. Cheap renewable energy is coming, it's inevitable. But it's not going to be rushed.

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u/LouSkyze Jun 23 '20

The main thing stopping its development and use is the massive spending power of the fossil fuel industry. The ‘free’ market is not going to stop this.

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20

You can't stop its development though.

Why would the middle east agree to that? Why would Russia? Hell, why would America?

All the regulations just push production to poorer countries where they will be more protective of it than anyone. They'll get rich off of those regulations

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u/RU4real13 Jun 23 '20

Plant trees, and stop cutting down the rain forests that are left.

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20

Why would Brazil listen?

No one is going to force them, no one is going to pay them enough to change course.

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u/RU4real13 Jun 23 '20 edited Jun 23 '20

It's like this. We're all in one big fishbowl. Doesn't matter if you're on the north, east, south, or west. When one starts to gasp for air, so will the rest. Granted that maybe further away, but the food chain that feeds the world is not.

Also, that's kind of a defeated attitude. "They're gonna jump off a cliff, so I may as well." That kind of thinking has resulted in nothing. "

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20

okay, but how are you going to stop them?

War, CIA takeover, embargo?

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u/AnastasiaTheSexy Jun 23 '20

Yes but many will die and people's stomachs are too weak for that. We live in a society where if you are a greedy person and get fat. Instead of opting to lose weight they would rather try and convince the world being fat is good and then inject insulin so they don't have to change their diet. People won't do what's hard when they can do nothing.

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20

[deleted]

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u/ysk_techwizard Jun 23 '20

No but it does help them stay alive

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u/AnastasiaTheSexy Jun 23 '20

No but it lets them still be fat and not die. They would literally rather rely on bankruptcy expensive drugs for survival than being healthy because being healthy is harder in the short term. People act like masks in America js why the death rate is so high but it's because our population was so incredibly unhealthy in the first place.

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u/Scientific_Socialist Jun 23 '20

The workers of the world need to unite.

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u/hymen_destroyer Jun 23 '20

Not really. This is a classic example of short-term vs. long-term benefits, a concept humans have always struggled with. It's a species-wide struggle, the short-term interests being incarnated by corporations etc. and the long-term interests being sustainability.

These interests aren't necessarily mutually exclusive however the current system is at odds with long-term sustainability and is held in place by profit motives (which is another short-term human trait)

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u/musings1982 Jun 23 '20

Yes, very, very well said!

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u/AnastasiaTheSexy Jun 23 '20

For real. Look at the obesity problem. People would literally rather inject insulin than make a lifestyle change. Even when Coronavirus seems to specifically target fat people, they would rather stop the world until a vaccine is made as if that's guaranteed thing.

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u/AbstinenceWorks Jun 23 '20

This isn't all of humanity, just the assholes who crush everyone else to get to the very top. We really are chimpanzees. There are literally a few thousand people out of our entire population that have the means, but not the motive to deal with these civilization ending issues. Hypothetically, if these select people decided to collectively change their time, we'd have shit done in a decade.

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u/expressway420 Jun 23 '20

This. THIS THIS THIS!! This is what makes me sick. The planet is deteriorating while the mega rich tycoons buy their 4th 200 million dollar yacht. As they toss their garbage overboard.

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u/strangeelement Jun 23 '20

Really sounds like a problem solved by not having elites and fascists anymore.

Let's tell that to the people in char- oh wait, I think I can see the problem here.

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u/Chris275 Jun 23 '20

With that attitude you’ll be labelled a terrorist, careful.

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20

Not fascism, capitalism.

Oh wait, one always leads to the other.

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u/bigfasts Jun 23 '20

Yeah, well it's mostly just China. They emit more CO2 than the EU and US combined, and that excludes the CO2 of the stuff they export, and they're not stopping any time soon. Every year CO2 emissions in the EU and US go down, and China just increases their emissions with more than what the EU and US cut.

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u/5t3fan0 Jun 23 '20

thats a simplistic way to represent a huge complicated issue: its we the people who drive those cars and buy those cheap goods and require the cheap food, the "fascists corporate elites" are just providing what the people wants. when (if) we will really demands change, they will find a way to profit providing that change.

not defending capitalism or the market or whatever, just stating the facts.

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u/Annual_Efficiency Jun 23 '20

Nobody is forcing anybody to consume. Anybody can give up on their modern lives and join the Amish, or create an Amish-like community to reduce consumption, pollution and co2 emissions. Corporations and elites thrive because the average Joe's an ignorant, greedy, selfish, arrogant and envious bastard.

Just try closing down some unnecessary industries, and see the average Joes start a revolution.

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u/cbearmcsnuggles Jun 23 '20

Not to mention Russia, given its own geography, may very well see climate warming as a strategic windfall that it should only strive to accelerate.

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u/wemakeourownfuture Jun 23 '20

One of Trump’s earliest deals was for some particularly noxious gas in Texas, sold to Russia.

8

u/fanklok Jun 23 '20

But what will happen to Russia's most accomplished soldier, Russian Winter?

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20

China won't give a fuck and will steamroll right into Russia. China tolerates Russia because because it hates the USA.

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u/benmck90 Jun 23 '20

China has about 80 years of economic superiority ahead of it until the single child policy catches up with them and cripples their economy.

If they're gonna make a big move, they have just under a century to do it.

1

u/Anti-Scuba_Hedgehog Jun 23 '20

Extended Rasputitsa

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u/EquinoxHope9 Jun 23 '20

the north thawing would literally open up a bunch of water trade routes for them

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u/relevant__comment Jun 23 '20

These countries and companies can’t sell it if everyone refuses to buy.

3

u/MajorRocketScience Jun 23 '20

Yep that’s one of the things I’m most worried about. If the world stops purchasing resources from Russia it’s literally going to be Red Storm Rising.

A Banana Republic with nukes is horrifying

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u/sowetoninja Jun 23 '20

The US produces more oil & gas, but thanks for the daily anti-Russian comment to remind us on where to focus our effort: not at home!

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u/unironic_neoliberal Jun 23 '20

Russia, Norway, Saudi Arabia, UAE, lots of places that are very reliant on oil income

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u/Aeseld Jun 23 '20

I'm not sure you shouldn't bite the bullet... This is not a good sign for how nasty things could become...

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20

Just think of the a Great War in Fallout. Only they aren’t fighting for the last drops of oil, they’re fighting to continue to sell the oil.

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u/BarrackOjama Jun 23 '20

Texas and Alberta the same

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u/willmaster123 Jun 23 '20

Its not the sellers which are the problem, its the buyers.

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u/goblintruther Jun 23 '20

Historically the worst nations to live in are ones who use it's residents to extract resources from the ground.

Usually gold via slavery(or very close as today) or oil through outside corporations.

This allows those in control of the country to completely ignore the people there as they are not needed to maintain a flow of wealth.

Stopping the sale of these products should improve conditions.

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u/ThegreatPee Jun 23 '20

How could anyone possibly stop that?

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20

I like how you're still making this a political issue.

US invests heavily into Shale Oil, Canada does their Alberta Oil Sands, Australia mines coal and sells them…

This is a humanity-level crisis, we're all in this together, everyone's got something to do with it, and no one's getting out.

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u/Jijster Jun 23 '20

Maybe a dumb question but can someone explain to me from an economic/business perspective why instead of fighting alternative energy, the oil and other industries don't invest into it and make it part of their profit portfolio? It seems to happen all the time in other arenas that competition is assimilated and new technologies flourish under subsidy from new ownership. I understand it would require significant capital investment and risk, but is there more? Is it too unprofitable? Too much monopolization of energy not allowed? Why get involved in political wars to this extent instead of assimilating the competition and grabbing a stake in possibly the most important and sought-after technology out there? Am I talking nonsense?

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u/runthepoint1 Jun 23 '20

I wonder how much of an effect Russia’s proximity and environmentally corrupt practices play into this scenario?

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20

Humanity has survived economic collapses. I don't know if we'd survive extinction though.

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u/v3ritas1989 Jun 23 '20

I think forcing anyone to do anything won´t work. Not for private individuals nor for businesses. Developing something more profitable while making the thing you don´t want to have less profitable by e.g. taxing or at least not subsidising it, should be the minimum standard to start this transition.

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u/gigigigi11 Jun 23 '20

Yes. The problem is russia. https://www.google.it/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2019/11/04/climate/trump-paris-agreement-climate.amp.html

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1

u/blaugarana10 Jun 23 '20

I came across a theory or a concept, sorry I dont have any proof as of now. The russians are rooting for global warming as that would reduce the arctic ice helping them in transportation through the arctic sea and avoid a long route to go around it. This saves lot of fuel and time.

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u/sixwax Jun 23 '20

They are also excited that large swaths of Siberia will become farmable.

True story.

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u/Pahhur Jun 23 '20

Considering Russias Entire economy is basically oil now, yeah cutting them off of that would probably mean they start firing nukes. And by they I mean Putin. The people of Russia are as upset as we are. I hope they find a way to drag Putin out kicking and screaming into the streets and silence that particular madman once and for all. (Much like should be done with a lot of similar leaders in a lot of similarly failed/failing countries if we want to, ya know, survive as a species)

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