Climate Change

[Rorschach]

So what do we make of the historic cooling and warming phases from history which in no way can be attributed to human activity? The Roman warm period for example?

The Milankovitch cycles that cause glacial and interglacial periods should have us heading towards another ice age but we've managed to buck the trend by burning dead dinosaurs. And the rate of the warming is unprecedented too. It's us.

 

[SkipRat]

So what do we make of the historic cooling and warming phases from history which in no way can be attributed to human activity? The Roman warm period for example?

Yup, the same three main drivers throughout history remain the same. And the same three drivers are driving climate today.

Carbon Dioxide, Solar radiance, and Aerosols.

Until the industrial revolution, it was all natural. Now we have pumped billion of tons of CO2 into the atmospere.

And we know it is our fault from the change in carbon isotopes ratio in the atmosphere.

C12, C13, and C14.

One is associated with volacanism, one with plants, and one with fossile fuels.

Guess which one has massively changed the ratio of these isotopes in the atmosphere?

And we have known since 1896 that CO2 is green house gas and every single scientist knows that climate has changed through history... they can even tell you why.

 

[Gutter Boy]

So what do we make of the historic cooling and warming phases from history which in no way can be attributed to human activity? The Roman warm period for example?

They both exist, but they are both entirely separate.

 

[Lilbaz]

What i don't understand is that water vapour is the biggest cause of heating the atmosphere. Yet we concentrate on taking out co2 (not talking of reducing our output but of taking co2 out of the atmosphere). Wouldn't taking water vapour out of the air be easier? Dehumidifiers have been around for a while now. Couldn't we build bigger ones pwered by nuclear or renewables?

 

[SkipRat]

What i don't understand is that water vapour is the biggest cause of heating the atmosphere. Yet we concentrate on taking out co2 (not talking of reducing our output but of taking co2 out of the atmosphere). Wouldn't taking water vapour out of the air be easier? Dehumidifiers have been around for a while now. Couldn't we build bigger ones pwered by nuclear or renewables?

Water vapour is a secondary effect of one of the main three drivers.

 

[Lilbaz]

Water vapour is a secondary effect of one of the main three drivers.

Yet it is responsible for half of the greenhouse effect. I'm not saying ignore the others. But reducing the water vapour in the air would reduce the greenhouse effect.

 

[Rorschach]

Yup, the same three main drivers throughout history remain the same. And the same three drivers are driving climate today.

Carbon Dioxide, Solar radiance, and Aerosols.

Until the industrial revolution, it was all natural. Now we have pumped billion of tons of CO2 into the atmospere.

And we know it is our fault from the change in carbon isotopes ratio in the atmosphere.

C12, C13, and C14.

One is associated with volacanism, one with plants, and one with fossile fuels.

Guess which one has massively changed the ratio of these isotopes in the atmosphere?

And we have known since 1896 that CO2 is green house gas and every single scientist knows that climate has changed through history... they can even tell you why.

That is interesting.

 

[SkipRat]

Yet it is responsible for half of the greenhouse effect. I'm not saying ignore the others. But reducing the water vapour in the air would reduce the greenhouse effect.

The more CO2 in the atmosphere, the mare water vapour there is.

This video explains it better than I. But there is another one that explains it better.

 

[Lilbaz]

The more CO2 in the atmosphere, the mare water vapour there is.

This video explains it better than I. But there is another one that explains it better.

Yes i get that. I'm not saying ignore co2. I'm saying if we reduce the amount of water vapour in the air it reduces the greenhouse effect. Reducing the amount of water vapour in the air is a lot easier than reducing the amount of co2. The technology has been around for decades.

 

[SkipRat]

Yes i get that. I'm not saying ignore co2. I'm saying if we reduce the amount of water vapour in the air it reduces the greenhouse effect. Reducing the amount of water vapour in the air is a lot easier than reducing the amount of co2. The technology has been around for decades.

I would guess dehumidifiers work in confined spaces, like rooms.

How many miles thick is the atmosphere?

And water vapour rises, yes you might be able to get it to work at surface level and get a bit out, but the water vapour will genrerally rise and you will miss most of it.

Not unless you build them miles high too where the water vapour is.

You can't use what works in confined spaces the expect it to work in miles thick atmosphere.

 

[Rorschach]

Yes i get that. I'm not saying ignore co2. I'm saying if we reduce the amount of water vapour in the air it reduces the greenhouse effect. Reducing the amount of water vapour in the air is a lot easier than reducing the amount of co2. The technology has been around for decades.

I'm sure I heard about some research being done into turning the water vapor in the stratosphere into ice in some fashion. I'm not sure how viable that is as an option but it would at least indicate some thought has gone into it.

I think ultimately things will get bad enough that some sort of geoengineering will be tried. It would seem that climate heavyweights like James Hansen are already coming to this conclusion.