The leap in temperatures over the past 13 months has exceeded the global heating forecasts – is this just a blip or a systemic shift?

Temperatures above 50C used to be a rarity confined to two or three global hotspots, but the World Meteorological Organization noted that at least 10 countries have reported this level of searing heat in the past year: the US, Mexico, Morocco, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, Pakistan, India and China.

In Iran, the heat index – a measure that also includes humidity – has come perilously close to 60C, far above the level considered safe for humans.

Heatwaves are now commonplace elsewhere, killing the most vulnerable, worsening inequality and threatening the wellbeing of future generations. Unicef calculates a quarter of the world’s children are already exposed to frequent heatwaves, and this will rise to almost 100% by mid-century.

  • areyouevenreal@lemm.ee
    1·
    2 months ago

    Im not really sure why you decided to bring up your career in an unrelated field. Honestly, if I was arguing for perpetual growth on a finite planet, I wouldn’t tell anyone I was a scientist, let alone demand someone “take the L” for having to explain to you that our energy consumption can’t grow perpetually.

    I never argued for perpetual growth on earth. I think you’ve completely missed what I am talking about. I only started arguing with you because it became obvious you had no idea what you were talking about with regards to renewables and nuclear.

    If you had started off by explaining that degrowth to you just meant not expanding infinitely on earth then most of this argument wouldn’t have even happened. I don’t support infinite growth on one planet either. I support expanding out into the solar system and even further away in the long term, but even that obviously has it’s limits somewhere.

    To me it sounded like you were saying we can’t move to renewables without shrinking the economy massively and tanking standards of living.

    Looking back at this argument I can see it’s one of those where neither party actually understands the others position, and is actually just arguing against what they think the other person believes.