Planet is 'way off track' in dealing with climate change, U.N. report says

Re:Planet is 'way off track' in dealing with climate change,... by nixpulvis on Thursday March 12, 2020 @03:24PM (#22560725)

I recall reading something about how stopping emissions outright would have a pretty dramatic adverse effect on global temperatures, because while the greenhouse effect is of course real, the emissions also act as reflection for incoming solar energy. This makes me wonder if we can fix this problem without real innovation, not just global production collapse (which is bad for other reasons, obviously).

If anyone can remind me about what I'm thinking of here, that would be awesome... or prove me wrong.

I'm by no means saying we shouldn't be planning and building more sustainable solutions (both policy and products), since that's EXACTLY what we need to be doing. I'm just also saying that to make this all work, I think we need to do more.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Planet is 'way off track' in dealing with climate change,... by cosmic_shame on Thursday March 12, 2020 @03:27PM (#22560750)

It's called the aerosol masking effect, and it's terrifying.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Planet is 'way off track' in dealing with climate change,... by gscott on Thursday March 12, 2020 @03:31PM (#22560797)

Good article: http://theconversation.com/masking-and-unmasking-of-global-w...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Planet is 'way off track' in dealing with climate change,... by throwaway5752 on Thursday March 12, 2020 @03:50PM (#22561002)

It's not even a little scary compared to continued CO2 emission trends.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Planet is 'way off track' in dealing with climate change,... by SamBam on Thursday March 12, 2020 @03:29PM (#22560772)

I'd be interested in reading more. It seems counter-intuitive -- the emissions that are already in the atmosphere would still be doing any reflection that they are currently doing.

And whatever shielding they're doing, the net effect of every ton of CO2 is in the direction of more warming.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Planet is 'way off track' in dealing with climate change,... by nixpulvis on Thursday March 12, 2020 @03:37PM (#22560872)

My understanding is that, while you are correct that these emissions are already in the air, they filter themselves out over time, so it's about rates of production vs rates of dismission (for lack of a better word). If we stop all emissions today, the sky will quite literally start clearing up, and thus warming the Earth even more.

Not trying to be too sensationalist, but I believe this is the truth.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Planet is 'way off track' in dealing with climate change,... by sp332 on Thursday March 12, 2020 @03:36PM (#22560846)

They're on different timescales. The aerosols will come out of the atmosphere relatively quickly, causing rapid warming.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Planet is 'way off track' in dealing with climate change,... by nixpulvis on Thursday March 12, 2020 @03:42PM (#22560934)

Here's the original article I was recalling: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/363/6427/eaav0566/tab...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Planet is 'way off track' in dealing with climate change,... by lutorm on Thursday March 12, 2020 @03:48PM (#22560985)

The IPCC working group 1 summary talks about the physical effects, that's a pretty good primary source if you want a lot of detail and tons of references to trace down.

[ Parent | on HN ]