> Natural dissipation of C02 would not occur for a millennium after fossil fuel combustion was markedly reduced.
This is the real problem. We haven't even begun to reduce the amount of CO2, and the greenhouse effect is going to continue until the CO2 dissipates. It's going to get worse, faster, until it stabilizes. The thing is, the process is slow. It started 250 years ago. It's going to keep going for at least another hundred years. I'll be dead and gone before average temperature is 3 degrees C above preindustrial levels, but it will happen before the end of this century -- and will keep going after that. We don't think in terms of millenia, or even centuries. 5 years is a long time. 20 years is a generation. 50 years is ancient history. I think mankind will move underground, but I'll bet it won't happen until half the current global population is dead.
Ta, Dok. I voted for Jimmy Carter twice, wished him happy birthday on the first of this month, and shall admire him always. I loathed and detested Ronnie Raygun, and wished I believed in the hell he deserves to be roasting in for all eternity.
Peter Gabriel, at his I/O Tour concert at Madison Square Garden this past Sept 18th, had everybody sing Happy Birthday to President Carter. He then closed the show with Biko.
The only time I voted Republican was for Ford and against Carter...I do not regret that. Ford was decent. Carter is a religious fanatic and not a great friend to those who do not believe in his beliefs
Just listened to a NYT Daily podcast on Mosquitos. Climate change is affecting the increased breeding opportunities for these most dangerous insects. Sounds trivial but it is not.
This is personal for me. I was an engineer working in a "beltway bandit" on a visionary solar energy energy demonstration program funded by the government in 1980. The very morning after the election, all thirty of us were told to clean out our desks. Although it would be months before Carter left office, this was a loss-leader for the company, and the managers knew there would be no further contracts in renewable energy for at least the next four years, and understandably decided to cut their losses. I was generously transferred to the military submarine cable testing division, which I abandoned after fulfilling my two weeks notice. I was so distraught, I did not pursue any work in solar energy . . . until today! I just completed the first day of a five day photovoltaic training course. I am near retirement, but I decided that I would rather end my career working in the field of my lifelong vision instead of what I have been doing.
Concerning Carter, even the most thoughtful people of that time did not recognize we would be running out of air before we ran out of fossil fuels, which is essentially what is causing this problem. And he was also the last president to have advanced education in a scientific field, something that we have otherwise been badly lacking.
So Russia invading Ukraine was a great blessing, except for the Ukrainians. Renewable energy development increased exponentially, lots of wind and solar and other energies. The people who will starve because Ukraine's crops are blocked also don't do so well, but non-fossil fuel energy is doing great!!
Even though climate change wasn’t his top priority, let’s give Carter credit for taking action to mitigate the impacts of coal. Without his leadership, we never would have had the Surface Mining and Reclamation Act or the Clean Air Act Amendments if 1977, which was the first serious effort to reduce acid rain
> Natural dissipation of C02 would not occur for a millennium after fossil fuel combustion was markedly reduced.
This is the real problem. We haven't even begun to reduce the amount of CO2, and the greenhouse effect is going to continue until the CO2 dissipates. It's going to get worse, faster, until it stabilizes. The thing is, the process is slow. It started 250 years ago. It's going to keep going for at least another hundred years. I'll be dead and gone before average temperature is 3 degrees C above preindustrial levels, but it will happen before the end of this century -- and will keep going after that. We don't think in terms of millenia, or even centuries. 5 years is a long time. 20 years is a generation. 50 years is ancient history. I think mankind will move underground, but I'll bet it won't happen until half the current global population is dead.
Jimmy Carter. The most moral man to ever hold the office.
What a lovely piece, Dok! Also tres informative. I was totally under the initial misapprehensions you've laid out.
I am not quite as sanguine as you about our transition to renewable energy (in time), however.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/5/2197624/-What-the-Hell-Just-Happened
Wonderful, Doc, thank you.
Ta, Dok. I voted for Jimmy Carter twice, wished him happy birthday on the first of this month, and shall admire him always. I loathed and detested Ronnie Raygun, and wished I believed in the hell he deserves to be roasting in for all eternity.
Peter Gabriel, at his I/O Tour concert at Madison Square Garden this past Sept 18th, had everybody sing Happy Birthday to President Carter. He then closed the show with Biko.
The only time I voted Republican was for Ford and against Carter...I do not regret that. Ford was decent. Carter is a religious fanatic and not a great friend to those who do not believe in his beliefs
and I fart in your general direction too
Just listened to a NYT Daily podcast on Mosquitos. Climate change is affecting the increased breeding opportunities for these most dangerous insects. Sounds trivial but it is not.
Not trivial AT ALL.
Ticks are also moving north in response to warming temps. And that's not trivial, either.
And stink bugs.
OMG, had one of those in the living room a couple of nights ago, and had forgotten how creepy they look. (I'm a bug fan, too.)
This is personal for me. I was an engineer working in a "beltway bandit" on a visionary solar energy energy demonstration program funded by the government in 1980. The very morning after the election, all thirty of us were told to clean out our desks. Although it would be months before Carter left office, this was a loss-leader for the company, and the managers knew there would be no further contracts in renewable energy for at least the next four years, and understandably decided to cut their losses. I was generously transferred to the military submarine cable testing division, which I abandoned after fulfilling my two weeks notice. I was so distraught, I did not pursue any work in solar energy . . . until today! I just completed the first day of a five day photovoltaic training course. I am near retirement, but I decided that I would rather end my career working in the field of my lifelong vision instead of what I have been doing.
Concerning Carter, even the most thoughtful people of that time did not recognize we would be running out of air before we ran out of fossil fuels, which is essentially what is causing this problem. And he was also the last president to have advanced education in a scientific field, something that we have otherwise been badly lacking.
Carter: Nuclear engineer
Clinton: Rhodes Scholar at Oxford
Obama: President of Harvard Law Review
Trump: Can distinguish drawings of an elephant and a camel
SNORT! :-)
Also too -
Trump: Can distinguish drawings of an elephant and a camel (barely)
We are all living in a real-life horror movie in which the people in charge refuse to listen to the scientists
Al Gore ran for President and America elected a corrupt trust fund rapist who lived off oil money.
“ (As any fan of alternative history knows, though, the result probably would be nuclear war or murderous giant spiders from outer space.)”
We got Donald Trump. We ARE in the bad timeline.
Well, like Dok said. Murderous giant spiders from outer space. ;-)
Wait. He's NOT?
The Cubs winning the World Series broke the timeline, everybody knows it
So Russia invading Ukraine was a great blessing, except for the Ukrainians. Renewable energy development increased exponentially, lots of wind and solar and other energies. The people who will starve because Ukraine's crops are blocked also don't do so well, but non-fossil fuel energy is doing great!!
i'm still pissed at the military!
Q. how many choppers do we need for the rescue?
A. two.
Q. should we send a spare, or two?
A. nah, those things never break down.
Hydrothermal/geothermal sure seems like a winning tech I hope it gets more attention.
I always wondered why geothermal wasn't used more. Couldn't Arkansas do a lot with their Hot Springs??
Don't talk about Sarah that way!
Fuckin’ Reagan.
Even though climate change wasn’t his top priority, let’s give Carter credit for taking action to mitigate the impacts of coal. Without his leadership, we never would have had the Surface Mining and Reclamation Act or the Clean Air Act Amendments if 1977, which was the first serious effort to reduce acid rain