Hottest days on Earth in the last 100k years all happened last week | Hacker News Reader

Hottest days on Earth in the last 100k years all happened last week

twitter.com

13 pointscorentin8817 comments

On one hand, the climate is definitely out of whack this year, the ocean's temperature is also hitting record levels for this time of year.

On the other hand, no, we don't have temperature measurements from the last 100k years to compare to so that's kinda BS. We have models. All models are wrong (some are useful).

It's kind of a weird argument to make because the last glacial period was something like 115kya to 12kya. So it's likely the case that any day in the last 10k years is hotter than all the days in the last ~100k years glacial period. I don't want to diminish the point that climate change is real, the earth is warming, and this presents a grave threat to humanity. But the 100k years thing is a bit disingenuous. One could equivalently point out that the Earth is much colder today than it has been for most of the last 500M years, which is a statement that is equally true and irrelevant.

Every time someone brings up the fact that none of these measurements are definitely accurate I feel the need to make this reminder:

It is just as likely that the models are too optimistic as too pessimistic.

True, we don't have exact daily figures. We do have a lot of info to validate those models with, like ice movements.

Sad. Trying my best to live eco-consciously (low meat, anti-consumption, etc), but feels like I should just give up.

Nobody around me seems to give the damnest.

Individual action won't change anything, stop making your life worse for no reason or benefit.

I would regard myself a coward if I took your position. It would not make my life better.

Coward for saying the truth?

Things that actually affect climate change come from policy, not individual action.

And that policy should actually target meaningful things, not making flights more expensive or even worse, limiting farming, like some countries are doing, while still using coal in the power grid.

Unfortunately many politicians just target the most visible thing, making people's life more inconvenient while there are actually better ways to stop climate change without affecting citizens daily life.

I live in a democracy, where individuals vote against any party willing to implement real climate policy. The same individuals vote with their wallets, and give tens of thousands of dollars a year to the fossil fuel industry.

Well, tough luck then, your individual actions aren't going to change that.

I don't think I'm making my life any worse, it makes me sleep well and I feel like it also sets good examples for my family and friends.

I can see changes and small impacts of my actions.

But then I think about stuff like the gas pipe that was blown off in northern europe's seas one year ago and it put so much methane every second to offset any positive impact I can have.

I swear climate thing is depressing, you feel like you have much less impact than on national elections with one vote.

> I swear climate thing is depressing, you feel like you have much less impact than on national elections with one vote.

And that's why you don't shape your life around it.

Your actions aren't going to change anything meaningful, oh you traveled by train instead of an airplane? Guess what? it's flying anyway, you just took the longer route for no reason. And so on and so fourth.

I'm not a climate denialist, I just know that making my life inconvenient isn't going to help.

I used to be carbon negative. Then recently I discovered a way to get all the social gains from that for free. I just blame "the corporations" now. It's pretty good. You should try it.

I'm wealthy enough I will probably be fine and now that I know it's "the corporations" at fault, I bought a Subaru Forester and ramped up to make about 6 international trips by plane on vacation. It's pretty fun, actually.

I've recently considered blaming "the corporations" for other things as well. My mother asked me the other day why I'm not married yet, and I considered it but didn't do it. Next time, though, I will have saved us from an argument.

If it's making you sad, you should also try this thing.

Most have realized their individual contributions amount to about as much as a single drop of acid in the Pacific Ocean.

Most extreme solar flare this cycle also happened to occur.... your diet and recycling has not caused these temperatures

https://twitter.com/drkstrong/status/1675669797462310919?ref...

okay my prior observation about coming out of an ice age so naturally it will likely be warmer fell flat with the downvote so how about some realism?

The Earth doesn’t care, and the Earth always wins.

Look around. How many insects do you see or clean off your windshield now? How about butterflies? Frogs? Birds? By various quantitative indicators we are in a mass extinction event, for whatever cause. Accelerating temperatures? Excessive chemical use? Ecosystem destruction and disruption? Who knows.

Although more likely … there’s just too many humans, and those humans are living an unsustainable lifestyle provided by our technology.

It isn’t capitalism vs socialism or communism.. as the USSR certainly wasn’t an eco-friendly economy… nor is it developed vs emerging economies as technology appears to prop up enormous unsustainable human populations in developing countries…

So the vast majority of humanity will disappear if not lead to our collective extinction. The Earth will be different than the one we knew, and the collective decisions of humanity world-wide chose this outcome.

The only thing you can do is what our ancestors over millions of years have done … adapt, move and focus on your own personal survival and reproductive success…

Or just enjoy the view and don’t worry so much.

Considering we only exited the last ice age period some 11K years ago … this is sort of like weathermen crowing about the first 70 degree day in April … https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_glaciation

Reply on news.ycombinator.com