Did Xi Just Save the World
?
foreignpolicy.com
In a little-noticed speech this week, China permanently changed the global fight against climate change.
  • WhatDoYouMeanPodcast [comrade/them]
    1·
    4 years ago

    I think 1.5C is story book catastrophe. 5C is to the Earth what Luke's torpedoes were to the death star. 8C is as incomprehensible as a billionaire's wealth.

    Edit: I might have misspoke, it looks like 1.5C is the target which, while still warm and damaging and causing catastrophe, isn't a storybook horror. I think I heard an off-the-cuff about how bad 3C is.

    • LibsEatPoop [any]
      ·
      4 years ago

      I have such a hard time understanding that but embarrassed to admit it. Could you explain or link to something that goes into why a few degrees matter so much?

      • WhatDoYouMeanPodcast [comrade/them]
        ·
        4 years ago

        https://xkcd.com/1732/

        This is the clearest and most concise I've ever seen it presented. I'll try to find the expert quote I heard about that 1.5C comment, one sec

        • WhatDoYouMeanPodcast [comrade/them]
          ·
          4 years ago

          Here's a digestable surface level news site talking about the significance of the half degree between 1.5 and 2 extolling the insanity of 5-8

          https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-45678338

          • LibsEatPoop [any]
            ·
            4 years ago

            thanks for the xkcd and the news article. damn that's scary.

            • WhatDoYouMeanPodcast [comrade/them]
              ·
              4 years ago

              Of course. I'm sorry I can't find anything salient about how terrible anything above 2C is. If anyone wants to help I'd be grateful, but I'm going to continue on from here.

              My gut tells me it was the citations needed episode 108 where I would have heard something like this - it's absolutely something everyone should check out as it is the official podcast of the Lemmy