Environment

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Environmental and ecological discussion, particularly of things like weather and other natural phenomena (especially if they're not breaking news).

See also our Nature and Gardening community for discussion centered around things like hiking, animals in their natural habitat, and gardening (urban or rural).

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Trying to reverse climate change won’t save us, scientists warn (www.theverge.com)

submitted 3 weeks ago by remington@beehaw.org to c/environment@beehaw.org

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[–] Rhaedas@fedia.io 3 points 3 weeks ago

the geophysical need for a preventive carbon dioxide removal capacity of several hundred gigatonnes.

I think it's much more than that really, but yes, that is the only way to slam the brakes on things, and even with that some feedbacks might be already too far into play.

Yet, technical, economic and sustainability considerations may limit the realization of carbon dioxide removal deployment at such scales

And there is why even knowing what might have a chance doesn't matter. This isn't a "we should give up" viewpoint, but simply doing the math and physics. Because of what it takes energy-wise and logistics to remove that much carbon permanently from the cycle using zero emission energy sources (that we don't have), it's simply not going to happen. The "don't give up" attitude isn't to look for a fix, as even stopping all emissions right now won't do that. It's to realize that we have a harsh future ahead and to plan for just that, mitigate the damage as best we can and prepare for the worst. Anyone promising anything more than that is either ignorant of the facts, or is trying to sell you something while you'll still buy.