Ocean Temperature (strictly apolitical)

[TigerTedd]

14 hours ago, Highgate said:

What does seem to be black and white though, is the scientific data itself.  Atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases are rapidly increasing, and ocean and air temperatures are rising. There is no arguing with these data points. The data itself along with what we know about atmospheric physics leads to the inescapable conclusion if we don't act rapidly then temperatures and sea-levels will rise considerably. About this, there no longer is any room for debate. 

I think we just take for granted that life will continue happily on this planet, and forget that we are cosmic accident, an incredibly unlikely balance of 1000 very specific factors. If one little thing changes just a little bit, we could be mars or Venus. 

[Highgate]

4 hours ago, dog said:

Is part of the issue that measurement using degrees is quite clumsy? Difference between 27 and 28 degrees looks very small,  IE 'one'; whereas using a system that shows the difference as a larger number might make some of us a little more aware. Dunno. 

An interesting suggestion, although the US uses Fahrenheit which almost doubles the size of the numbers involved (in terms of the expected warming), but they don't seem to be any more motivated than the rest of the world to tackle the problem.  

[Highgate]

16 minutes ago, TigerTedd said:

I think we just take for granted that life will continue happily on this planet, and forget that we are cosmic accident, an incredibly unlikely balance of 1000 very specific factors. If one little thing changes just a little bit, we could be mars or Venus. 

It's fair to say, that life is quite precarious when you think about the potential threats that exist out there even in our own galaxy. Relatively local supernova or gamma-ray bursts could certainly wipe us out (thankfully the chances are very small). Then there are asteroids and comet impacts which are a constant threat, but at least it's feasible that we may have some defence against these in the not too distant future. It's literally only a matter of time before another CME from the Sun, like the Carrington Event in the mid 19th century, will devastate all our electrical and communication infrastructure, and who knows what else. It's fair to say most of us don't spend much time thinking about these or other similar threats. 

But what we all seem to have been blissfully unaware of is the crucial importance of having a relatively stable climate on Earth during the last 8 or 10 thousand years, a fact that has been instrumental in allowing humans develop a civilization in the first place.  A climatic stability that we now directly threaten.  Like you say, we've just taken our good fortune completely for granted.  

[dog]

Back to the measurement thing, is there a subdivision of degrees for temperature in the metric system? Seems odd that kilometers, kilogrammes etc are easily divided into their core measure (metres and grams), and then subdivided further (centimetres etc) but temperature seems to just be degrees. And we only seem to use them from about minus fifteen to plus thirty five. In the UK, obviously. And at the moment.

[MaltRam]

1 hour ago, dog said:

Back to the measurement thing, is there a subdivision of degrees for temperature in the metric system? Seems odd that kilometers, kilogrammes etc are easily divided into their core measure (metres and grams), and then subdivided further (centimetres etc) but temperature seems to just be degrees. And we only seem to use them from about minus fifteen to plus thirty five. In the UK, obviously. And at the moment.

Celsius scale goes from -273.15 (absolute zero, or zero on the Kelvin scale) up. Subdivisions are just decimals. Over about 4000 C (roughly the temperature of the surface of the sun), there's not much day to day use of higher temps so there's no need to have centi-, kilo-, mega- type prefixes.

In a scientific usage, one would use Kelvin and scientific notation. 1 million Kelvin as 1x10^6 K. 1K = 1C.

Edited September 10, 2023 by MaltRam

[TigerTedd]

1 hour ago, MaltRam said:

Celsius scale goes from -273.15 (absolute zero, or zero on the Kelvin scale) up. Subdivisions are just decimals. Over about 4000 C (roughly the temperature of the surface of the sun), there's not much day to day use of higher temps so there's no need to have centi-, kilo-, mega- type prefixes.

In a scientific usage, one would use Kelvin and scientific notation. 1 million Kelvin as 1x10^6 K. 1K = 1C.

That sort of shows how much a single degree is. If I travelled 4000 metres, I’d only be 4km away. I could walk there in half an hour. 

if I raise the temperature by 4000 degrees, I would be at the temperature if the sun. 

that’s like if the only distance of measurement we had was a km, we don’t have m, cm or mm we just have to measure everything to the nearest km. Who came up with that daft system?

[TigerTedd]

4 hours ago, Highgate said:

It's fair to say, that life is quite precarious when you think about the potential threats that exist out there even in our own galaxy. Relatively local supernova or gamma-ray bursts could certainly wipe us out (thankfully the chances are very small). Then there are asteroids and comet impacts which are a constant threat, but at least it's feasible that we may have some defence against these in the not too distant future. It's literally only a matter of time before another CME from the Sun, like the Carrington Event in the mid 19th century, will devastate all our electrical and communication infrastructure, and who knows what else. It's fair to say most of us don't spend much time thinking about these or other similar threats. 

But what we all seem to have been blissfully unaware of is the crucial importance of having a relatively stable climate on Earth during the last 8 or 10 thousand years, a fact that has been instrumental in allowing humans develop a civilization in the first place.  A climatic stability that we now directly threaten.  Like you say, we've just taken our good fortune completely for granted.  

Imagine being some giant alien watching us from beyond the universe. You’re basically what hing this little civilisation of microbes on a spec of dust in the middle of a massive explosion, while everything around us collided and explodes. Like watching a leaf in a river, imagining a civilisation on it, and wondering how long they’ll survive. ‘Oo, that was a close call’.

imagine the alien must be thinking, ‘how many close calls are these guys going to survive, this is getting ridiculous now’.

you can only be so lucky for so long.

but the other lucky thing we’ve got going for us is that we’ve been lucky enough for long enough that we’ve evolved into a civilisation that could potentially help ourselves in the event of a cataclysm.  

[Highgate]

3 hours ago, TigerTedd said:

Imagine being some giant alien watching us from beyond the universe. You’re basically what hing this little civilisation of microbes on a spec of dust in the middle of a massive explosion, while everything around us collided and explodes. Like watching a leaf in a river, imagining a civilisation on it, and wondering how long they’ll survive. ‘Oo, that was a close call’.

imagine the alien must be thinking, ‘how many close calls are these guys going to survive, this is getting ridiculous now’.

you can only be so lucky for so long.

but the other lucky thing we’ve got going for us is that we’ve been lucky enough for long enough that we’ve evolved into a civilisation that could potentially help ourselves in the event of a cataclysm.  

The technology we've developed could help save us, or alternatively it could be the reason for our destruction. Just thinking about nuclear bombs for example.  We just have to use our tech wisely, unfortunately wisdom may not be our collective strong point. 😂

[TigerTedd]

9 minutes ago, Highgate said:

The technology we've developed could help save us, or alternatively it could be the reason for our destruction. Just thinking about nuclear bombs for example.  We just have to use our tech wisely, unfortunately wisdom may not be our collective strong point. 😂

You’re not wrong. Russia came up earlier. I really would’ve hoped that we’d have learnt by now that war is never a good idea (and I’m coming fresh off the back of watching Oppenheimer). If we don’t learn some lessons as a society, we really are doomed. 

[TigerTedd]

[Stive Pesley]

9 hours ago, TigerTedd said:

Easy for you to say William Shatner, but if I'd said that I'd have woken up to 5 messages from Archie telling me I'm wrong 😂

[angieram]

 

[Stive Pesley]

https://www.newsweek.com/earth-outside-safe-operating-space-humans-sustainability-1826784

 

[Archied]

Stephen king

Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror",[2] his books have sold more than 350 million copies as of 2006,[3] and many have been adapted into films, television series, miniseries, and comic books. King has published over 65 novels/novellas, including seven under the pen name Richard Bachman, and five non-fiction books.[4] He has also written approximately 200 short stories, most of which have been published in book collections.[5][6]

[Highgate]

3 hours ago, Stive Pesley said:

https://www.newsweek.com/earth-outside-safe-operating-space-humans-sustainability-1826784

An important reminder that while we understandably focus on the threat of climate change we often tend to forget all the other ways in which we are systematically damaging our environment.  Habitat destruction is one of the most pernicious for me, as we gradually take more and more of the planet's surface for our own use, and leave less room for every other species...all of which has unsurprisingly resulted in an alarming acceleration in the rate of extinctions.  

[MaltRam]

Our behaviour in general is insane.

Ultra-processed food.

Carbon emissions.

Micro-plastics.

Persistent organic pollutants.

Deforestation.

New-England based horror writers, for some reason.

Factory farming.

We've blown it. Planet over. ☹️

[Archied]

7 hours ago, MaltRam said:

Our behaviour in general is insane.

Ultra-processed food.

Carbon emissions.

Micro-plastics.

Persistent organic pollutants.

Deforestation.

New-England based horror writers, for some reason.

Factory farming.

We've blown it. Planet over. ☹️

Fear sells 🤷🏻‍♂️

[MaltRam]

47 minutes ago, Archied said:

Fear sells 🤷🏻‍♂️

But confidence breeds growth. Fear breeds stagnation. Your premise is all to c***.

[Archied]

12 hours ago, MaltRam said:

But confidence breeds growth. Fear breeds stagnation. Your premise is all to c*

the stagnation that sees people doff they’re cap whilst having they’re pockets and quality of life rinsed 

[Stive Pesley]

13 hours ago, Archied said:

people doff they’re cap whilst having they’re pockets and quality of life rinsed 

Is it much better to let off steam on a football forum whilst having your pockets and quality of life rinsed?

Asking for a friend 😂