this post was submitted on 15 Feb 2025

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The planet is ‘on the brink of an irreversible climate disaster,’ scientists warn (yaleclimateconnections.org)

submitted 4 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

We’re screwed — until bird flu takes a chunk out of the population and/or forces everyone to isolate again.

The current US administration does not give a shit about the environment. and EVs and solar panels cannot catch on quickly enough. I’m honestly surprised either haven’t been outlawed by our lawmakers yet.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago (2 children)

I don't think it's as much tied to human populations anymore - like if it's let's say crypto mining operations then even removing half the people on the planet would do little to halt the progression?

Tbf even if it's no longer tied as much to the population, it's not entirely "not" tied to it though. The truth is surely in between somewhere.

Also, if it were like heating and cooling of a household, but then one out of every three people were removed from that household, would the heating and cooling effect diminish in the slightest in that case? Car trips likewise might diminish but not by a 1:1 ratio with people, as e.g. there may be fewer trips to the grocery store with one rather than two people but not fully halved.

Tldr: if 99% of the pollution is being done by 0.1% of the people, then even removing 99% of the population won't have much effect.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

Tldr: if 99% of the pollution is being done by 0.1% of the people, then even removing 99% of the population won’t have much effect.

99% of the pollution isn't being done by the 0.1% though, I think that was a silly article that was like: all the pollution from cars comes from oil which is refined by this company but is dug out the ground by this oil extraction company, therefore all the pollution is actually done by the oil extraction company! ... I don't buy it tbh

For me it's silly thinking there will be some bird flu or asteroid impact, the reality is this:

Get yourself some solar panels, a solar battery, a heat pump for your hot water and an EV (if you have a petrol car and need one) + vote for political parties that are pushing for more renewables to be installed and you've done 99% of what you need to do, it's that simple

Energy for heating/cooling and road transport are the biggest and easiest for the average person to tackle and can make the biggest dent in co2 emissions

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

More than pushing for an EV, push for walkable and bikeable cities and good public transit.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

Indeed the facts should matter there, and that's a convincing graph:-)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

The 0.1% are polluting off the money from the 99%.

You got me thinking on the 1:1 ratio. We need to reduce population even more than I had thought.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago

I walked to the grocery store today. Eliminating some people does next to nothing or at least has far less effect, due to the uneven distribution.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 4 days ago

we're already getting a taste of it

[–] [email protected] 15 points 4 days ago

I'm pretty despairing about this in 2025. Not only is nothing being done to mitigate climate change, but there doesn't seem to be any will nor support for climate change mitigation.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Like yep, we know. Our government keeps telling us to vote but...

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

The time to vote was like the 90s. The time to make drastic life changes to save a large slice of civilization was like 15 years ago. Now we either

keep kicking the can until its literally impossible to ignore the planet dying around us.
Accept our fate and worship the sun while we bake like Venus.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

The way things are going, shattering of the post war world order, with nuclear states in the middle, Trump is going to kill us off way way waaaaaaay before the planet can even get a little piece

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago

We're never gonna be cold. We're in the bad place.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 days ago

I called it a decade ago. No one will be here to prove I'm wrong in 2030.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 4 days ago

It’s a race to see what kills us first, Climate Change or AI.

My bet is on AI, mostly because the time horizon is a bit closer