We seem incapable of doing even small things.........folks of all ages still happily sit in parked vehicles whilst leaving their engines running. Not even the rise in fuel prices seems to make a difference.
"It's only climate modelling" is a pretty standard shrug reponse in the playbook of people who aren't very fussed and plan to make no changes to their own lives.
I'm not denying that climate change is happening, I'm questioning what degree of change (pardon the pun) is happening. At the opposite ends of the spectrum and the 'woe, woe and thrice woe' merchants claiming we're all doomed, and the 'nah, nothing to worry about, just enjoy the warm summers' brigade. The impact individuals can make is infinitesimably small but that doesn' mean that if most made an effort it would have no effect. However, the reality is that unless countries such as the USA, China and India make massive changes very quickly, whatever is happening isn't going to reduce in effect. Are those countries going to damage their own economies? Answers on a postcard.
Reading the New Scientist article, I am left with the impression that this is almost totally guess work. Yes, it will be a disaster if it happens, but we really have no idea how likely it is, and if we are honest, we are probably past the point where we can do anything about it.
As individuals, we can only do so much. We know climate change has wreaked havoc on our seasons and I think the suggestion is that AMOC weakening and possibly collapsing will make things a whole lot worse. I worry about food security among other things.
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I'm no scientist and don't pretend to understand the ins and outs of this argument but I have watched a you tube video by the German Physicist Sabine Hossenfelder where she seems to to say that the collapse of the Gulf Stream is an impossibility. If you care to check her youtube channel out you can search for Sabine Hossenfelder, Climate change won't stop the gulf stream. Here's why.
I think AMOC is not the Gulf Stream. The Gulf Stream is part of AMOC. Thanks for the info on S. Hossenfelder.
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The big problem with the climate change discussion is that everybody has their own theory, and agenda, about its likely effects. Some have a doomsday scenario whilst others say there obviously is a change in the climate but how bad it will be is not known, or knowable.
Climate models are put together by people, and people put in the data which the models work on. Just last week on the BBC Weather, two very different scenarios were shown for the weather pattern just a few days hence. If the models can't agree on the very short term, the long term really is just a guess.
Maybe they can't agree on a timescale or exactly how bad things are, but I think the scientists are in broad agreement.
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I was wondering if anyone is planning to make any changes in gardening, e.g. not 'throwing all eggs in one basket' and trying things like zoning their gardens/allotments, or diversifying what they grow, so that all might not be lost.
It is a tall order though, we now seem to get too much heat, cold, precipitation, dryness, etc at the wrong times in the growing cycle.
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I'm not a scientist, so I'm not in a position to be able to judge the veracity of the many scientific papers on the issue of climate change. However, the overall message is that things are going in the wrong direction ... fast.
Now I could take the attitude that by the time it gets really bad I'll be too old for it to have that much impact on the rest of my life. But, as the generation with the most responsibility for making this mess of the planet, I want to try my best to make amends.
So I've made some major changes to how I now live. Yes, I could do more, and I will as funds allow. It's a cop out to just see this as someone else's problem.
Bee x
Gardener and beekeeper in beautiful Scottish Borders
A single bee creates just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime
@clematisdorset Apart from the more obvious changes in gardening ( dealing with non peat based compost, more home composting where possible, etc. ) I think most gardeners are already adapting "to suit" and have been doing so for quite a while. For those of us lucky enough to have a garden, it is becoming more of a challenge with the weather extremes . What will grow well this year, what can I plant which will provide me with some food, how can I make my garden more attractive to wildlife, how can I avoid solid landscaping in flood prone areas, how to reduce power but still be able to raise things from seed. Finally of course, how can I enjoy my garden space but still make the effort to improve the life around me. A tall order as you say but re education and awareness ( plus political input ) could help. We are already past a certain point according to science but at least we can try not to make things worse. Bit unlikely I'll admit.
As someone permanently wanting to move from my current house, future climate change gives me great pause in thinking about where I would go.
I think my current plant selection is pretty tough; much would survive down to -15C and if not, I would change it, maybe go non-"ornamental" all together. I currently live on a hill and am sheltered, not in immediate danger of flooding from rivers or sea levels rising (I chose said house in this spot, part for those reasons) but I am in the Thames Basin, so, who knows. I can imagine solid wood fencing could well become an expensive liability if regular big storms here become a thing. I follow east coast Canadian gardeners and would take their lead in what willl do well with cold winters.
I think it's good to take none of what we have for granted. Don't look away. Don't assume technologists will fix it. And, yes, AMOC collapse is a complicated business, but that is no reason to dismiss it as worthy of close investigation.
Posts
I was wondering if anyone is planning to make any changes in gardening, e.g. not 'throwing all eggs in one basket' and trying things like zoning their gardens/allotments, or diversifying what they grow, so that all might not be lost.
It is a tall order though, we now seem to get too much heat, cold, precipitation, dryness, etc at the wrong times in the growing cycle.
However, the overall message is that things are going in the wrong direction ... fast.
Now I could take the attitude that by the time it gets really bad I'll be too old for it to have that much impact on the rest of my life. But, as the generation with the most responsibility for making this mess of the planet, I want to try my best to make amends.
So I've made some major changes to how I now live. Yes, I could do more, and I will as funds allow.
It's a cop out to just see this as someone else's problem.
Bee x
A single bee creates just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime
For those of us lucky enough to have a garden, it is becoming more of a challenge with the weather extremes . What will grow well this year, what can I plant which will provide me with some food, how can I make my garden more attractive to wildlife, how can I avoid solid landscaping in flood prone areas, how to reduce power but still be able to raise things from seed. Finally of course, how can I enjoy my garden space but still make the effort to improve the life around me.
A tall order as you say but re education and awareness ( plus political input ) could help. We are already past a certain point according to science but at least we can try not to make things worse. Bit unlikely I'll admit.