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Harmonic_Flatulence t1_j8po66l wrote

Reply to comment by thewwwyzzardd in Warm water melts weak spots on Antarctica's 'Doomsday Glacier', say scientists by cynicalaa22

Perhaps. But "Doomsday Glacier" is extreme hyperbole, and too easy to shoot holes in, for my taste.

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thewwwyzzardd t1_j8pp06p wrote

Its really not, 2 feet of sea level rise will be a disaster of a level never before seen in recorded history. How is calling it a doomsday glacier extreme hyperbole?

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Harmonic_Flatulence t1_j8ppy4q wrote

Disastrous? Absolutely!! People all across the globe will be displaced and losing fertile farmland. And worst of all, the poorest will be the most affected.

The end of civilization? "Doomsday"??? Far from it.

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thewwwyzzardd t1_j8prlwl wrote

Ok. I disagree with your assement but thats fine.

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Harmonic_Flatulence t1_j8pt5xw wrote

I am curious what you disagree with. Do you believe the melting of this glacier will in fact be the end of civilization?

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Wu-kandaForever t1_j8pxj03 wrote

Displacement of hundreds of millions of people will spark war on a global scale.

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Harmonic_Flatulence t1_j8q03pb wrote

I will be very, very bad, indeed. Displaced and hungry poor people; refugees moving upland and seeking out wealthy countries. Millions of desperate people seeking refuge all around the world.

However, what would the source of this fighting be? Poor refugees dont have a lot of weapons, and we've seen many people in power willing to sacrifice the poor masses...

Climate change is very, very bad for the poor nations of the world, but the wealthy perpetrators of climate change will use their power and wealth to insulate themselves from the effects they created...

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Wu-kandaForever t1_j8q3lsf wrote

For some reason you don’t think there is coastline in wealthy countries? What are you talking about? Not to mention every catastrophic effect a rising sea level has on every nation that has the ability to wage war.

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Harmonic_Flatulence t1_j8qemmh wrote

Oh, there is plenty of coastline in wealthy countries. But as I said, the poor will unfortunately be the refugees. The wealthy countries will likely be able to absorb their refugees, while the poor countries suffer...

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if_i_was_a_folkstar t1_j8rrklx wrote

40% of people live on or near a coastline

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Harmonic_Flatulence t1_j8s4dql wrote

But how many live within 3m of sea-level? I live on the coast, the shipping ports are 300m from my home, but we are 30m above sea-level.

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if_i_was_a_folkstar t1_j8wjmpt wrote

We are talking about over a billion climate refugees by 2050, what % of those people will be from the coastline idk but we are talking about an 1/8th of the worlds population being displaced. Being 30m above sea level is not gonna be enough to escape the environmental and social consequences, even if your property is fine. I don’t think sea level rise will be the end of civilization, climate change however very possible.

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Harmonic_Flatulence t1_j8wt09g wrote

>I don’t think sea level rise will be the end of civilization, climate change however very possible.

On this point, we agree. Climate change (as a whole) could bring about dramatic changes to the human landscape. And we should be doing everything we can to convince people we need to change our fossil fuel focus.

And I feel calling this glacier "the Doomsday Glacier" is unnecessary hyperbole.

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if_i_was_a_folkstar t1_j8wtv5k wrote

Given the stakes I don’t really think it’s hyperbole but we can agree to disagree, at this point climate alarmism can’t hurt. I personally feel like scientists often fail to communicate the severity of climate change to the public. “Doomsday glacier” is snappy and has a better chance at remaining in the public consciousness and having people understand the stakes

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thewwwyzzardd t1_j8qaplk wrote

I do think that it will be the end of what we currently know as normal, how much the new world that emerges resembles our current civilization is a big unknown to me. Drougts, storms, famine, war tend to change things regionally but on a global scale and occuring simultaneously? Sounds like the makings of what could be a new "fall of rome" but with much larger scale and more severe. I do not think it bodes well for civilization. One thing is certain, if we continue down this path now we will need massive changes in the ever closer future to make things work.

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Harmonic_Flatulence t1_j8qm8ds wrote

All those things you described are the effects of climate change in general, not this glacier. I agree that climate change will ultimately change our society, in many ways that are difficult to predict.

We need to people on board with correcting our course, and serving up hyperbole to shock people will work about as well as DARE did in the 80-90's.

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thewwwyzzardd t1_j8qqkie wrote

You asked a question, i answered it. We don't agree.

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Harmonic_Flatulence t1_j8qr18z wrote

Fair enough.

Let's agree to push for less fossil fuel consumption, more solar power options, and other strategies for reducing the impacts of climate chang.

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