Climate change

[Cold]

It looks like we’re going from one thing to another. Massive heat waves at the moment and I think the polar region is hitting record summer highs this year. It always seems that North America has the most severe weather (or maybe they’re just good at creating news around it) and also one of the largest if not largest producers of CO2. Little ol Ireland isn’t a big player in all of this and we don’t seem to be massively impacted so far.

But anyhow… maybe it’s time to take it seriously. Are we/you?

[Eoin]

It looks like we’re going from one thing to another. Massive heat waves at the moment and I think the polar region is hitting record summer highs this year. It always seems that North America has the most severe weather (or maybe they’re just good at creating news around it) and also one of the largest if not largest producers of CO2. Little ol Ireland isn’t a big player in all of this and we don’t seem to be massively impacted so far.

But anyhow… maybe it’s time to take it seriously. Are we/you?

Like how do you take it seriously? Buy a feckin Tesla and go vegan while Chine builds hundreds of coal power plants?

[Mark2]

The highest temperature ever recorded in Ireland was 33.3 °C at Kilkenny Castle, on 26 June 1887. The lowest temperature was -19.1 °C at Markree Castle on 16 January 1881.

According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the highest temperature ever recorded was 56.7 °C (134.1 °F) on 10 July 1913 in Furnace Creek

[Bazg2]

What’s life like on Mars?? Or maybe we could just plant a few more fcuking trees! Concrete jungles do not help! Actually I’m not sure if there was any truth to a Discovery Channel show I watched a while back but the world can literally be turned on it’s head if China keeps building.... apparently it will destabilise the worlds’ axis and that won’t be good, unless of course their plan is to make America a frozen wasteland....it’s all topsy-turvey....

[colm89]

The highest temperature ever recorded in Ireland was 33.3 °C at Kilkenny Castle, on 26 June 1887. The lowest temperature was -19.1 °C at Markree Castle on 16 January 1881.

According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the highest temperature ever recorded was 56.7 °C (134.1 °F) on 10 July 1913 in Furnace Creek

Not really sure what you’re implying with this post, you think climate change doesn’t exist?

It’s easy to look at the big offenders, consider Ireland a drop in the ocean, and give up hope, I agree, but if everyone made a conscious effort to make one environmentally friendly change in your day to day it’d probably have a pretty large cumulative impact.

Me personally, I drive a 2.5 litre manual petrol car, but it’s nearly 14 years old and probably closer to carbon neutral than a brand new Tesla, and even then if I can walk or cycle, then I do that before grabbing the keys. I was vegetarian for 8 years, and now I eat meat maybe once a week. I’ve cut out buying anything from Amazon since I moved back to Ireland 12 months ago, and I buy all my clothes from sustainable brands like patagonia, and send them back for free repair when they get damaged. We’re all clocking up a lot less air miles which is good for the planet.

There are plenty of things I could do better but I’m not the worst, and like I said even if you just cut meat out one day a week, or walked to the shop instead of taking a car, it all adds up.

[Cold]

It’ll be interesting to see if Covid-19 has changed CO2 outputs permanently. The fact that oil is rising steadily would suggest not but of course a few parameters to that as well. Eventually economic/human activity requires energy.

A semi-related thing occurred to me over the weekend and that is that cities are basically the most efficient way for humans to live and consequently also the wealth generators. I’m sure nobody can argue with that. And Covid-19 has changed the appeal of cities and having your plot of land and a couple of cars is where it’s at. Metropolitan public transport systems are going broke everywhere. Which to me smells of trouble.

I have incidentally not bought anything from Amazon in like a year. Not because of environmental impact but… actually not sure why. I guess if you can’t actually do anything then buying stuff is a bit meaningless. But I’m not buying anything now either so not sure. Maybe habits have changed.

[Mark2]

Not really sure what you’re implying with this post, you think climate change doesn’t exist?

It’s easy to look at the big offenders, consider Ireland a drop in the ocean, and give up hope, I agree, but if everyone made a conscious effort to make one environmentally friendly change in your day to day it’d probably have a pretty large cumulative impact.

Me personally, I drive a 2.5 litre manual petrol car, but it’s nearly 14 years old and probably closer to carbon neutral than a brand new Tesla, and even then if I can walk or cycle, then I do that before grabbing the keys. I was vegetarian for 8 years, and now I eat meat maybe once a week. I’ve cut out buying anything from Amazon since I moved back to Ireland 12 months ago, and I buy all my clothes from sustainable brands like patagonia, and send them back for free repair when they get damaged. We’re all clocking up a lot less air miles which is good for the planet.

There are plenty of things I could do better but I’m not the worst, and like I said even if you just cut meat out one day a week, or walked to the shop instead of taking a car, it all adds up.

not at all, i wrote a piece to go with that, and didnt realise it didnt post ! Briefly what i said was temperature has been fluctuating since the start of time, before we had any engines/factories/planes etc etc.
People seen to concentrate on the temperature, jeez its snowing in march........ah thats climate change for ya.... spikes in weather mean nothing really.

the real damage is when you look towards the ice caps, the oceans, and wildlife who cant adapt as quick as us. my issue is the big offenders are doing nothing and are not accountable?

Globally though, we are still concentrating on small things that ca be taxed, and profited from. Cars make f**k all difference especially the way they are now. The mining and susequent disposal process of HV batteries is an absolute catastrophy, yet Mr. il grab a coffee in my EV thinks hes saving the planet. Not his fault though, we're being fed the BS that all these small things matter while China pumps more chemicals into the atmosphere than you could ever imagine, cruise ships tootle around are take one look at flight radar (pre covid) to see the millions of planes in the sky.

[El Kabong!]

A lot of small changes can lead to big changes. I'm doing my bit. Hopefully others will take not and it'll spread.
There were people doing their bit in the 60s and 70s and were seen as nutcases, but it's acceptable now.

When enough individuals do their bit and care about it and voice their opinion, then politicians sit up an notice and react. That will lead to policy change on the "big" things.

[colm89]

not at all, i wrote a piece to go with that, and didnt realise it didnt post ! Briefly what i said was temperature has been fluctuating since the start of time, before we had any engines/factories/planes etc etc.
People seen to concentrate on the temperature, jeez its snowing in march........ah thats climate change for ya.... spikes in weather mean nothing really.

the real damage is when you look towards the ice caps, the oceans, and wildlife who cant adapt as quick as us. my issue is the big offenders are doing nothing and are not accountable?

Globally though, we are still concentrating on small things that ca be taxed, and profited from. Cars make f**k all difference especially the way they are now. The mining and susequent disposal process of HV batteries is an absolute catastrophy, yet Mr. il grab a coffee in my EV thinks hes saving the planet. Not his fault though, we're being fed the BS that all these small things matter while China pumps more chemicals into the atmosphere than you could ever imagine, cruise ships tootle around are take one look at flight radar (pre covid) to see the millions of planes in the sky.

Glad you followed up with that

Conversely it’s the people least responsible for climate change that are suffering the most; small farmers in Africa experiencing more frequent drought, and when the rainy season does come its longer and wetter than the ground can cope with and farms are washed away. Islands in the pacific are being swallowed up. My BIL knows a lot of the fishermen around where we were, he was chatting to one last week who was up around the Shetland Islands a couple of weeks back and a huge iceberg floated by him, likely from the Arctic ice pack.

Biggest problem with the caps melting is that it accelerates global warming. The big white caps at either end of the globe reflect back high levels of UV, but as they disappear the sea is now soaking up more of that heat and temperature increase will accelerate. We’ll probably start to see mass movement of populations from areas that become uninhabitable due to temperature rise, drought, and unpredictable seasons.

Small changes now will make a massive difference for future generations for sure. It’s absolutely tragic that pilots, flight attendants and ship crew are being forced to rethink their career choices, I really do feel for them, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing that COVID halted air travel and cruises. The carbon footprint of those big cruise ships from manufacture alone must be astronomical.

[Mark2]

Glad you followed up with that

Conversely it’s the people least responsible for climate change that are suffering the most; small farmers in Africa experiencing more frequent drought, and when the rainy season does come its longer and wetter than the ground can cope with and farms are washed away. Islands in the pacific are being swallowed up. My BIL knows a lot of the fishermen around where we were, he was chatting to one last week who was up around the Shetland Islands a couple of weeks back and a huge iceberg floated by him, likely from the Arctic ice pack.

Biggest problem with the caps melting is that it accelerates global warming. The big white caps at either end of the globe reflect back high levels of UV, but as they disappear the sea is now soaking up more of that heat and temperature increase will accelerate. We’ll probably start to see mass movement of populations from areas that become uninhabitable due to temperature rise, drought, and unpredictable seasons.

Small changes now will make a massive difference for future generations for sure. It’s absolutely tragic that pilots, flight attendants and ship crew are being forced to rethink their career choices, I really do feel for them, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing that COVID halted air travel and cruises. The carbon footprint of those big cruise ships from manufacture alone must be astronomical.

A large cruise ship costs on average 2M dollars A DAY to run.... let than sink in. (excuse the pun) thats about 85 grand worth of (marine diesel) an hour.

And we are being taxed to the hilt on a 320d? ...... Please

Probably all the EV merchants filling the ship too

[Cold]

There is no magic bullet, is there? Less of everything is the only way to get there. And I'm pretty sure we're not taxed to the hilt on 320d's.

[SJ]

To answer the OP, yes I take it very seriously.

Simply put, if you take all of the CO2 and other greenhouse gases that have been buried in the earth over 100,000 years, and burn them in 150 years, of course it will have a substantial effect on the climate. We need to sort that out.

As others point out, there is a lot of confused thinking around climate, and a lot of dodgy data too. My current pet hate is paper straws - they completely ruin my mocha frappuccino, and I'm pretty sure they're not going to save the planet.

However there are real things that individuals can do. Eat less meat being my big one but also it's time for pointless air travel to meetings in anonymous hotels or business parks to go remote.

[colm89]

Big shift to remote working must be relatively environmentally friendly too, with reduced commuting and powering office blocks.

Covid has been rotten but Mother Nature knows how to put a halt to the damage we’re doing!

[8~)]

Question - what's the reason for not buying from Amazon? Is buying stuff you need from some big central warehouse and having it delivered more environmentally damaging than getting in to your car and driving around to several shops to find the same item?

Problem - us humans. Stating the obvious, in the western world at least, pretty much everything is based on consumption and bigger is 'better'. Economies are built on making more, buying more, travelling more, experiencing more, eating more and doing pointless things - like stopping at a garage to buy a coffee in a paper cup with a plastic lid or to buy a plastic bottle of water, when really it's as easy to drink coffee before leaving home and to fill a bottle of water at home and bring it along.

[marcos_94]

I work in the renewable energy industry, and while I originally got in because offshore wind turbines interested me (mechanical engineer), I was more interested in the climate change aspect as I was exposed to more and more information on the issue. The one thing I have learned is that time is not on our hands, so we must decarbonise efficiently and effectively, and the best way of doing this is electrifying everything where possible. We have gotten comfortable accepting inefficient processes limited by thermodynamics when electric alternatives are more efficient.

I think it is easy to single out China/India/developing countries, but the realities are that these countries are building power stations to provide power to their people and industry, no different to what the western world did a hundred years ago. I would also add, that while China for example is still building coal plants, they are the global leaders with regards to solar as well as gathering huge momentum in wind energy. Last year China alone installed 72 GW of wind power. To put this figure into context, Europe has a total installed wind capacity of about 225 GW.

I dont understand this ingrained hatred of EVs and their owners but the realities are that we are not going to be able to change people wanting new cars, and the studies show that EVs emit less over their life span: https://www.transportenvironment.org...-electric-cars. Road transport represents about 15% of total emissions, so there is a significant difference. I try to walk/cycle where possible now and save the m3 for other occasions.