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Climate Change - Veritasium

bcglorf says...

Kudos, I'd just like to really highlight two of the good points you make.

First, Tesla motors is huge. When I said electric cars, I didn't mention them by name but was thinking specifically of them. They have proven that electric cars are the future and are coming quickly.

The second is as Tyson pointed out, the most important metric is energy coming into the planet compared to energy going out. Temperatures fluctuate to many other variables. Particularly if the oceans are absorbing or releasing energy, temperatures as we experience them will shift on that and muddy the perception of what's actually happening to the overall planet's energy balance and long term change. In the late 80's we started measuring the energy in and out of the atmosphere with satellites. There was an observed increase between late 80's and late 90's in the energy imbalance. That means not only was more energy coming in than going out over that time, but the excess staying in was getting higher. With increasing CO2 emissions, that is exactly what we expect. An increased overall greenhouse effect should see the energy imbalance growing quite steadily as the effect gets stronger and stronger. Now, the IPCC's fifth assessment report has the the longer term data from those same and new satellites. The data shows that since 2001 there is strong agreement that the data shows NO TREND. That doesn't mean the energy in the planet hasn't been increasing. It means the rate of extra energy coming in hasn't gone up or down statistically since 2001. It means the overall greenhouse effect has been entirely stagnant for a little more than the last decade. Things are warming, but no faster than they were ten years ago.

I hope that's not to technical, but it paints a non-catastrophic picture. It also gives a superb metric to measure climate models against going forward. The models universally are projected on a steadily accelerating greenhouse effect as CO2 emissions rise. If the measured results of the last decade continue to not reflect that much longer, we have more reassessing to do. As noted in the IPCC, the effect of water vapor and clouds to increasing temperature is poorly modelled right now. If we are lucky the uncertainty of the sign on it as feedback is resolved to find it is a negative feedback. Meaning, as things warm, more clouds appear and reflect more energy back out. As things cool, less clouds appear and more energy comes in. And yeah, that's my own hope, and it is not the majority opinion within the scientific community as represented by the IPCC. They do acknowledge it as a possibility, but a less likely one. That said, the models they base that opinion on do not match the satellite energy measurements, and that one uncertainty would explain it rather well. My fingers are still crossed. More reasons for my optimism is the IPCC projections through 2100. If you look close, the actual temperature plotted against the projections has the actual following the very coolest of projections so far. Again, that lends hope that something like water vapor is either working for us, or not as badly against us as is currently modelled.

MilkmanDan said:

I used to be a pretty strong "doubter", if not a denier. I made a gradual shift away from that, but one strong instance of shift was when Neil Degrasse Tyson presented it as a (relatively) simple physics problem in his new Cosmos series. Before we started burning fossil fuels, x% of the sun's energy was reflected back into space. Now, with a higher concentration of CO2, x is a smaller number. That energy has to go somewhere, and at least some of that is going to be heat energy.

Still, I don't think that anything on the level of "average individual citizen/household of an industrial country" is really where anything needs to happen. Yes, collectively, normal people in their daily lives contribute to Climate Change. But the vast majority of us, even as a collective single unit, contribute less than industrial / government / infrastructure sources.

Fossil fuels have been a great source of energy that has massively contributed to global advances in the past century. BUT, although we didn't know it in the beginning, they have this associated cost/downside. Fossil fuels also have a weakness in that they are not by any means inexhaustible, and costs rise as that becomes more and more obvious. In turn, that tends to favor the status quo in terms of the hierarchy of industrial nations versus developing or 3rd world countries -- we've already got the money and infrastructure in place to use fossil fuels, developing countries can't afford the costs.

All of this makes me think that 2 things need to happen:
A) Governments need to encourage the development of energy sources etc. that move us away from using fossil fuels. Tax breaks to Tesla Motors, tax incentives to buyers of solar cells for their homes, etc. etc.
B) If scientists/pundits/whoever really want people to stop using fossil fuels (or just cut down), they need to develop realistic alternatives. I'll bring up Tesla Motors again for deserving huge kudos in this area. Americans (and in general citizens of developed countries) have certain expectations about how a car should perform. Electric cars have traditionally been greatly inferior to a car burning fossil fuels in terms of living up to those expectations, but Tesla threw all that out the window and made a car that car people actually like to drive. It isn't just "vaguely functional if you really want to brag about how green you are", it is actually competitive with or superior to a gas-engine car for most users/consumers (some caveats for people who need to drive long distances in a single day).

We need to get more companies / inventors / whoever developing superior, functional alternatives to fossil fuel technologies. We need governments to encourage and enable those developments, NOT to cave to lobbyist pressure from big oil etc. and do the opposite. Prices will start high (like Tesla), but if you really are making a superior product, economy of scale will eventually kick in and normalize that out.

Outside of the consumer level, the same thing goes for actual power production. Even if we did nothing (which I would certainly not advocate), eventually scarcity and increased difficulty in obtaining fossil fuels (kinda sad that the past 2 decades of pointless wars 95% driven by oil haven't taught us this lesson yet, but there it is) will make the more "green" alternatives (solar, wind, tidal, nuclear, whatever) more economically practical. That tipping point will be when we see the real change begin.

Video Game Emulator Bird

Ambition - Sci-Fi Short w/ Aidan Gillen (GoT's Littlefinger)

Retroboy says...

I love mind-stretching stuff, but the purpose is a little confusing in this. The science in visiting a comet and discovering sand dunes is damned great. (reference: http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2014/10/scientists-discover-that-comet-stinks-and-has-dunes-just-like-earth ) But this little film buries that in the equivalent of master/apprentice wizardry and magic.

Yeah, yeah, effects were superb, and per Clarke, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic", and the story was meant to be noble. Got that.

But this still put me off a touch because it muddied the waters. Cool science is cool without CGI, and this went a bit too far down that lane.

Foo Fighters with Zac Brown: "War Pigs"

bluecliff (Member Profile)

bareboards2 says...

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES

Thank you. Craigy Ferg is the only one worth watching. (Although Fallon's music bits can be superb.)

bluecliff said:

every time a see jimmy fallons face it reminds me that
a) he shouldn't host the tonight show
b) that i should catch up on my craig ferguson

Martin Freeman in New Series 'Fargo'

Volump says...

Chingerla is once again wrong.

But of course someone who's as staunch a republican has absolutely no grasp of aesthetics. Par for the course.

This looks great. Great cast, great story, and it's highly possible this is adaptable.

The original film was superb. I doubt the series will be a disappointment.

Behind the scenes with child voice actor for the movie 'Up'

Reporter mistakes Samuel L Jackson for Laurence Fishburn!

newtboy says...

I thought he was confused because he was prepared to talk about Captain America and/or Robocop, which he was fairly sure played in the super bowl (and reportedly right before the interview), but Samuel acted like there was NO commercial, and was already pissed off about it instantly, making the host second guess himself/his staff. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's how it looked to me.
I certainly didn't hear a pause there. It was more like..."I tell you what, (small pause), your working for marvel that super bowl commercial, did you get a lot of reaction to that superb owl commercial?
If he had said "I tell you what, your working for Kia that super bowl commercial, did you get a lot of reaction to that super bowl commercial?" I would be right there with those claiming he made a mistake. Since Samuel is in 2 Marvel movies, you might think he would have asked "Was I in a super bowl commercial?" instead of wrongly and angrily implying he was in NO super bowl commercial. (True, he did ask "what super bowl commercial?" and the host failed to answer, but Samuel also cut him off the rest of the interview so perhaps he was going to answer but didn't want to interrupt the already angry guest, or perhaps he's just a horrible interviewer).
(BTW, I've never seen this host, I don't mean to defend him if he IS a known racist, or if he admits it was a case of mistaken identity. I have not heard of either of these so far.)
I'm still sticking with my contention that Samuel made the mistake here unless the host admits he didn't know his guest, because that's how it looks to me, clearly.

...and wow, how did I not notice him saying "What Super bowl commercial?" with ROBOCOP glowing behind him?!? I guess Samuel forgot why he was there completely. BWAAAHAAAHAAA!

EDIT:I'm wondering, did Samuel maybe hear "...Working for CAR (muffled), the super bowl commercial..."? That would explain why he thought the question was about Kia. Hmmmm. That would explain a lot.

SDGundamX said:

I dunno. He did say Marvel commercial and Marvel had nothing to do with the KIA ad, but at the same time he himself appears confused when Jackson takes offense. I think maybe he did have the two things mixed up in his head.

Good on both of them for making a routine interview far more entertaining.

EDIT: Nevermind, listening to it again, he clearly is talking about two different things--basically listing the things Jackson has done recently. His exact quote is:

I'll tell you what, you're working for Marvel, (pause) the Superbowl commercial--did you get a lot of reaction to that Superbowl commerical?

Harrowing Footage of LGBT Beaten and Humiliated in Russia

draak13 says...

Yes, protest against the government! That's exactly how it should be done, and all of this stuff to raise awareness and rise to action is superb. But...adjust your aim. You're upset with the Russian gov't, not american corporations.

chingalera said:

No sir. Sensible sane and rational people would treat sponsorship of Olympic games similarly if sayyy, the Olympic committee used child labor or trashed the environment building the arena and got corporate sponsors behind them....Listen to the gimps come out of the wood-works to protest that bullshit!

WHAT CREATES THE LOWER-CLASS PEOPLE anyway, duh???

All governments work the same dude, a few people force the masses to perform according to their rules or be fined or imprisoned.

Draaakonian bullshit.

radx (Member Profile)

bareboards2 says...

Yeah for us!!!!

I don't have TV so I went to a movie instead. When I walked out, the manager was standing right there. "What's the score, do you know?" I was so sure that Broncos were going to cream us.

She giggled. "I've been watching the game the whole time." I notice then that she has a little tablet computer in front of her. She picks it up and hands it to me.

29-0. Are you SHITTING ME??!! Not at all what I was expecting!

Superb Owl indeed!!!!

radx said:

http://devpress.com/demo/quiescent/files/2012/08/owl-50267-1200x900.jpg

You already have a Super Bowl. Now you also have a Superb Owl.

That...Pretty Much Sums It Up

Anna Kendrick Dishes on Newcastle Brown Ale Commercial

Anna Kendrick Dishes on Newcastle Brown Ale Commercial

Having a Bad Day - The unluckiest GTA player ever.

Russell Brand talks politics and revolution on Newsnight

alien_concept says...

Paxman is a great political interviewer in general, but his inability to take a non-voter seriously, wildly dismissing some superb points of view, as if somehow vote abstinence means that people can't have a clear concept of what's going on is fucking dumb.

I am so bored of the ancient rhetoric on democracy and voting. It doesn't even mean anything when whoever you vote for is not beholden to their manifesto in any way shape or form. They can and do change their position at any point once in power and what can we do about it? Vote against their decisions? Force them to practice what they preached? Nope! We have to suck it up. Democracy my arse.



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