Climate Change - a poll

[leicsmac]

https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/cop/scientists-run-climate-time-machine-amazon-brazil-preps-cop30-2025-10-28/

 

Deep in Brazil's Amazon, scientists have built a "time machine" pumping carbon dioxide into the rainforest canopy to simulate atmospheric conditions predicted for the future to gauge how the biome adapts - an open question to be discussed at the COP30 United Nations climate summit hosted by the country next month.

At the AmazonFACE project near Manaus, the largest city in the Amazon, six rings of steel towers loom above the jungle canopy, each surrounding groups of 50 to 70 mature trees.

After baseline testing, scientists will fumigate trees in three of the rings with carbon dioxide at levels simulating climate forecasts for coming decades, while the rest serve as control samples.

 

Reuters with an interesting look at a project that should be getting more attention. Partly UK funded, as well. 

[Zear0]

14 hours ago, Lionator said:

It’s worth watching Iran at the minute. Not a drop of rain for 40 days in their traditionally damp season, and early evacuation warnings for Tehran. Might be the first major city we lose to climate change.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/nov/08/england-faces-extreme-drought-next-year

 

Not just Iran, reads as if we have a dry winter there'll be problems.

[leicsmac]

10 minutes ago, Zear0 said:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/nov/08/england-faces-extreme-drought-next-year

 

Not just Iran, reads as if we have a dry winter there'll be problems.

Oh, look, it's only the consequences (or beginning of) that the entire climate science corps have been warning of for years but seemingly haven't been listened to. 

 

Funny that. 

[Zear0]

11 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

Oh, look, it's only the consequences (or beginning of) that the entire climate science corps have been warning of for years but seemingly haven't been listened to. 

 

Funny that. 

Just weather mate

[leicsmac]

On 07/11/2025 at 19:26, leicsmac said:

And the Asian typhoon season has been devastating this year, because of the obvious reason. 

 

By the timeframe stated here, it is entirely possible both no one will be laughing and it's too late to do anything other than leave a record for those left afterwards explaining exactly who is responsible for the vastly more shitty world they have inherited.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq509yj82y8o

 

More on this. 

[leicsmac]

On the general topic:

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn4j8dgnj1wo

 

US President Donald Trump has been criticised by world leaders for his stance on climate change, ahead of the global COP30 summit.

 

President Trump, who is not attending the meeting in the Amazonian city of Belém, was called a liar by the leaders of Colombia and Chile for his rejection of climate science.

 

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer acknowledged the waning political support on climate change. He said it had been a unity issue internationally and in the UK but "today sadly that consensus is gone".

 

Sir Keir appears to be sadly right about the fragmenting consensus. 

 

Still, it doesn't really matter what people believe except in terms of noting accountability for the record. The facts are what they are: there is either unity for civilisation on this matter, or worst case is civilisation becomes a set of islands under seige, and then shortly thereafter there isn't any. That's what resource deprivation coupled with tribal thought will do. If anyone can prove otherwise, it would be nice to hear. 

Edited 9 November 2025 by leicsmac

[Dahnsouff]

1 hour ago, leicsmac said:

On the general topic:

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn4j8dgnj1wo

 

US President Donald Trump has been criticised by world leaders for his stance on climate change, ahead of the global COP30 summit.

 

President Trump, who is not attending the meeting in the Amazonian city of Belém, was called a liar by the leaders of Colombia and Chile for his rejection of climate science.

 

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer acknowledged the waning political support on climate change. He said it had been a unity issue internationally and in the UK but "today sadly that consensus is gone".

 

Sir Keir appears to be sadly right about the fragmenting consensus. 

 

Still, it doesn't really matter what people believe except in terms of noting accountability for the record. The facts are what they are: there is either unity for civilisation on this matter, or worst case is civilisation becomes a set of islands under seige, and then shortly thereafter there isn't any. That's what resource deprivation coupled with tribal thought will do. If anyone can prove otherwise, it would be nice to hear. 

Quite a legacy Don will leave behind

[leicsmac]

29 minutes ago, Dahnsouff said:

Quite a legacy Don will leave behind

A legacy he will share with every single person willing to listen or agree with any of his ideas on the matter and contribute to them via policy.

[leicsmac]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c620q30w0q0o

 

Good news, bad news. 

[Trav Le Bleu]

13 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c620q30w0q0o

 

Good news, bad news. 

Another step towards the Costa del Melton.

[WigstonWanderer]

5 hours ago, leicsmac said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c620q30w0q0o

 

Good news, bad news. 

The problem is that the consensus in western economies on the need to address climate change appears to be weakening as the far right advances and disinformation abounds. In the last week here in Australia the opposition finally abandoned their commitment to net zero. Having said that, they only gave that commitment towards the end of their last period in government in order to bolster their electoral hopes in inner city seats, so it was always luke warm.

 

On the other hand most experts seem to agree that in many countries renewables are by far the cheapest and fastest option to replace aging fossil generation infrastructure and add capacity, so there is good reason to suppose that the market will continue the transition regardless. In addition, China seems to be going gang busters with all forms of non-fossil fuels, and is developing the technology at an amazing rate. Even India and Pakistan seem to be joining in for entirely pragmatic reasons. African nations are likely to leapfrog fossil fuels and go straight to solar as their economies develop.

 

Perhaps in the “west” we need to talk less about climate change (which seems to irrationally annoy many people) and concentrate on the clear economic advantages of renewables. Here in Australia the whole electricity generation system built mostly in the seventies and eighties is aging and needs to be replaced and upgraded regardless of action on climate change. Costs are inevitable whatever technology is employed. At the moment many people believe that these costs are due to action on climate change but in fact the reverse is true as renewables are the cheapest option.

 

I would suggest that an easy win for direct action on climate change would be to take methane leakage more seriously. It is a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, and has a much shorter life in the atmosphere.

 

Disclaimer: I don’t claim to have any expertise in this subject but I do follow it closely  so these are just my own musings.

[leicsmac]

8 hours ago, WigstonWanderer said:

The problem is that the consensus in western economies on the need to address climate change appears to be weakening as the far right advances and disinformation abounds. In the last week here in Australia the opposition finally abandoned their commitment to net zero. Having said that, they only gave that commitment towards the end of their last period in government in order to bolster their electoral hopes in inner city seats, so it was always luke warm.

 

On the other hand most experts seem to agree that in many countries renewables are by far the cheapest and fastest option to replace aging fossil generation infrastructure and add capacity, so there is good reason to suppose that the market will continue the transition regardless. In addition, China seems to be going gang busters with all forms of non-fossil fuels, and is developing the technology at an amazing rate. Even India and Pakistan seem to be joining in for entirely pragmatic reasons. African nations are likely to leapfrog fossil fuels and go straight to solar as their economies develop.

 

Perhaps in the “west” we need to talk less about climate change (which seems to irrationally annoy many people) and concentrate on the clear economic advantages of renewables. Here in Australia the whole electricity generation system built mostly in the seventies and eighties is aging and needs to be replaced and upgraded regardless of action on climate change. Costs are inevitable whatever technology is employed. At the moment many people believe that these costs are due to action on climate change but in fact the reverse is true as renewables are the cheapest option.

 

I would suggest that an easy win for direct action on climate change would be to take methane leakage more seriously. It is a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, and has a much shorter life in the atmosphere.

 

Disclaimer: I don’t claim to have any expertise in this subject but I do follow it closely  so these are just my own musings.

That's pretty erudite.

 

To be honest I'd be fine with however the solution is framed, simply because that solution has to be supplied. Or very, very bad things happen, to lots of people. 

[UniFox21]

We're in a really bad place. Regulations and the EA have limited the ability to build reservoirs, the EA also continues to reduce the amount that can be abstracted from rivers and ground sources, and then we wonder why we have limited water sources

 

[splinterdream]

10 minutes ago, UniFox21 said:

We're in a really bad place. Regulations and the EA have limited the ability to build reservoirs, the EA also continues to reduce the amount that can be abstracted from rivers and ground sources, and then we wonder why we have limited water sources

 

I wonder what adding 10 million plus to your population does to water supplies in a Country? 

[leicsmac]

17 minutes ago, UniFox21 said:

We're in a really bad place. Regulations and the EA have limited the ability to build reservoirs, the EA also continues to reduce the amount that can be abstracted from rivers and ground sources, and then we wonder why we have limited water sources

 

And all the time, that base supply of water is dwindling due to the obvious cause (which the Telegraph and at least some of their readership still appear to deny) as well. 

 

5 minutes ago, splinterdream said:

I wonder what adding 10 million plus to your population does to water supplies in a Country? 

Indeed.

 

I also wonder how ethically acceptable it is to buy into the Malthusian idea that there's "too many people" and that a catastrophic population crash is not only inevitable but desirable. 

 

Perhaps better resource management and actually addressing the problem that is causing that diminished water supply at the base level is a better idea?

Edited 15 November 2025 by leicsmac

[splinterdream]

12 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

And all the time, that base supply of water is dwindling due to the obvious cause (which the Telegraph and at least some of their readership still appear to deny) as well. 

 

Indeed.

 

I also wonder how ethically acceptable it is to buy into the Malthusian idea that there's "too many people" and that a catastrophic population crash is not only inevitable but desirable. 

 

Perhaps better resource management and actually addressing the problem that is causing that diminished water supply at the base level is a better idea?

Well yeah, I kind of expect my government to address this stuff before allowing all these people into the Country, or dont allow them into the Country

[leicsmac]

27 minutes ago, splinterdream said:

Well yeah, I kind of expect my government to address this stuff before allowing all these people into the Country, or dont allow them into the Country

Of course, seeing as a national government has an obligation to serve its own citizens first. 

 

The problem is when you have a global issue like this, that kind of mentality might not end well for a great many people.

[splinterdream]

2 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

Of course, seeing as a national government has an obligation to serve its own citizens first. 

 

The problem is when you have a global issue like this, that kind of mentality might not end well for a great many people.

Yet if I take the obligatory trip abroad for a break, I dont see any hose pipe bans there, they always seem to have the sprinklers out and they have a far worse prolonged summer than we do 

[leicsmac]

5 minutes ago, splinterdream said:

Yet if I take the obligatory trip abroad for a break, I dont see any hose pipe bans there, they always seem to have the sprinklers out and they have a far worse prolonged summer than we do 

And that would be indicative of whatever particular location it is not taking the problem seriously either, rather than the problem not existing at all. 

[leicsmac]

NB. The problem going forward may end up being paradoxical - too little water, and too much as well. That's one of the chief dangers of climate change - more extremes of weather at all ends causing damage to agriculture and infrastructure, not simply one particular style of event or another. 

[Smudge]

7 hours ago, leicsmac said:

And all the time, that base supply of water is dwindling due to the obvious cause (which the Telegraph and at least some of their readership still appear to deny) as well. 

 

Indeed.

 

I also wonder how ethically acceptable it is to buy into the Malthusian idea that there's "too many people" and that a catastrophic population crash is not only inevitable but desirable. 

 

Perhaps better resource management and actually addressing the problem that is causing that diminished water supply at the base level is a better idea?

Scuze me Mac, when referring to Malthus I think he deserves the address of ‘Reverend’. Standards are dropping on this forum. Come on man you’re better than that. 

[ozleicester]

Australia's Conservative party ("Liberals") has just walked away from net zero targets. FFS

 

[The Year Of The Fox]

1 hour ago, ozleicester said:

Australia's Conservative party ("Liberals") has just walked away from net zero targets. FFS

 

Great news. Wishful hoping the UK follows suit soon

[CornwallFox]

56 minutes ago, The Year Of The Fox said:

Great news. Wishful hoping the UK follows suit soon

Clean energy is far, far cheaper than fossil. 

Clean energy is better for the environment than fossil. 

Clean energy production looks and smells better than huge fossil power plants. 

Clean energy is and will create hundreds of thousands of jobs. 

Clean energy gives the UK an opportunity to develop technologies to sell to the world.

There's literally no benefits to fossil energy over clean. 

And that's before we mention the climate emergency that really is an emergency no matter how much science you choose to ignore.

Edited 16 November 2025 by CornwallFox

[leicsmac]

6 hours ago, Smudge said:

Scuze me Mac, when referring to Malthus I think he deserves the address of ‘Reverend’. Standards are dropping on this forum. Come on man you’re better than that. 

Fair comment mate. Reverend Thomas Malthus it is, then.

 

After all, he did appear to put a lot of effort into worshiping and deifying death and it seems that there are still quite a few bound and determined to follow his example.

 

Speaking of which...

 

48 minutes ago, The Year Of The Fox said:

Great news. Wishful hoping the UK follows suit soon

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-assessment-of-flood-and-coastal-erosion-risk-in-england-2024/national-assessment-of-flood-and-coastal-erosion-risk-in-england-2024

 

https://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/explainers/how-is-climate-change-affecting-river-and-surface-water-flooding-in-the-uk/

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/report-warns-of-widespread-drought-in-2026-without-a-wet-winter

 

https://ahdb.org.uk/climate-adaptation-report

 

https://eciu.net/media/press-releases/2025/farmer-confidence-battered-by-climate-change-new-research

 

Yes...great news.