We Have Already Averted Truly Apocalyptic Levels Of Global Warming.

We have already averted truly apocalyptic levels of global warming.

Yes, read that again. Let it sink in. This is what the science now says. We have already averted truly apocalyptic global warming.

To quote David Wallace-Wells, author of The Uninhabitable Earth, from his huge feature in the New York Times:

"Thanks to astonishing declines in the price of renewables, a truly global political mobilization, a clearer picture of the energy future and serious policy focus from world leaders, we have cut expected warming almost in half in just five years... The window of possible climate futures is narrowing, and as a result, we are getting a clearer sense of what’s to come: a new world, full of disruption but also billions of people, well past climate normal and yet mercifully short of true climate apocalypse." (New York Times, October 22, 2022. Unpaywalled here. Emphasis mine. And yes, this vision of the future is backed up by the current science on the issue, as he explains at length in the article.)

So we've already averted truly apocalyptic warming, and we've already cut expected warming IN HALF in just the past five years.

The pace of technology, of innovation, of prices, of feasibility, of discovery, of organizing, of grassroots movements, of movements in other countries around the world, have all picked up the pace so fast in the last five years.

Renewable technology and capacity are both increasing at an exponential rate. It's all S-curves, ones that look like this:

A line graph titled "Easy PV: How Solar Outgrew Expectations." The graph shows two types of lines: the predictions vs. the reality for the solar capacity added each year, in gigawatts. The graph includes the statement "On average, actual installations have been more than three times higher than their five-year forecasts." This is true, and the grarph shows the rate is only increasing. In 2023, the graph shows there were about 350 GW off solar installed. The 5-year prediction from 2023 said that we'd end up around 450 GW by 2030. We hit over 600 GW in the first half of 2024.

-via The Economist, June 20, 2024.

How much more will we manage in another five years? Another ten? Another twenty?

I know the US is about to fucking suck about the environment for the next four years. But the momentum of renewable energy is far too much to stop - both in the US (x) and around the world.

(Huge shoutouts to India, China, and Brazil for massive gains for the environment in renewables, and Brazil for massive progress against Amazon deforestation.)

We're going to get there.

Say it with me. We're going to get there.

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thestarsarenotyetnamed

3 years ago

DISGUISE 🐺🐑

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thestarsarenotyetnamed

4 months ago

So, if you’re like… wait. I know this art. Why are you reposting it, Jen? The answer is, well, it’s back after many, many hours of fixes, new cleaner lines and recolouring. :D I had plans for this art and the old version wasn’t gonna cut it. So here it is. Brothers Group Hug Redux. XDb And my many thanks to everyone. The response to that original piece was just amazing. =O <3

(Please don’t repost or use for any reason without permission! Many thanks. =) <3 )

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thestarsarenotyetnamed

3 years ago

Oh my god…

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thestarsarenotyetnamed

1 month ago

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thestarsarenotyetnamed

3 years ago

Pointless LOTR headcanon of the day: Frodo & Merry both take after their mothers, meaning Frodo looks more like a Brandybuck than a Baggins and Merry looks more like a Took. This is a constant source of petty contention.

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thestarsarenotyetnamed

2 months ago

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thestarsarenotyetnamed

3 months ago

I just discovered foodtimeline.org, which is exactly what it sounds like: centuries worth of information about FOOD. If you are writing something historical and you want a starting point for figuring out what people should be eating, this might be a good place?

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thestarsarenotyetnamed

3 years ago

Heaven Sent

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thestarsarenotyetnamed

3 years ago

a compilation of jet siquliak quotes that did for me what therapy never could:

"I find that the way I think of the world often affects how it really is."

"Juno, I recommend you believe that you will survive this. For yourself."

"We may look backwards only to ensure we have not come this way before."

"One cannot blame a gunshot victim’s death solely on the designer of the gun nor the shooter. Both are guilty. Neither holds power without the other. And they are both to be feared."

"You are correct. We will never be forgiven. But that is not a reason to die. Not when other good can still be done. The past is dead behind us. The future is potential."

"You will build another. Or teach someone else to. Or do something else that is good. It will not be better than the suffering we've caused. But it will be good, and that must be enough. It is all we have."

"Growth is painful. But I have found that when two people are both attempting that growth, they can often find greater success if they do it together."

"In a galaxy this large, the connection between any two people must always be a miracle. It is not a miracle in the sense that it is rare. Even with so much empty space, humanity has chosen many times over to cluster together -- in communities, in families, in partnerships. Our collisions with other people are inevitable. But it is a miracle in the sense that each meeting, taken by itself, is so unlikely that it may as well be impossible. If the galaxy's grand clock were reset to its start, we could assume with confidence that this group of six would never be assembled again. With lives from planets Solar and Outer, from cities and swamps, it is doubtful that any two of us would make any connection at all. Yet here we are. And I know no name for that but 'miracle.'"

"Stop looking for why this can’t be happening and adapt to the fact that it is."

"I choose to believe it. And I choose to believe that my belief changes the world."

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thestarsarenotyetnamed

3 years ago