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submitted 10 months ago by Hanrahan@lemmy.world to c/collapse@lemmy.ml

Editor’s Note: Bill McGuire is professor emeritus of geophysical & climate hazards at University College London and author of “Hothouse Earth: An Inhabitant’s Guide.”

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[-] rtxn@lemmy.world 88 points 10 months ago

There are way too many things going to shit on this planet to single out one that I should be terrified about. It's just a homogenous gray mass of terror wherever I look.

[-] OpenStars@startrek.website 38 points 10 months ago

Okay but... this is the one that legit may end human habitation on this planet. Ukraine, Gaza, even "but muh economy" and world-wide slavery all kinda pale by comparison.

[-] Tak@lemmy.ml 6 points 10 months ago

Why do you say that it would end human habitation? Genuine question because in my understanding it wont destroy all inhabitable zones but will push people away from the equator generally.

[-] DarkNightoftheSoul@mander.xyz 39 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

The heating alone would do that, yes. It's the knock-on effects. As CO~2~ rises, the ocean slowly acidifies. As the ocean increasingly acidifies, oxygen producing lifeforms (approximately 70% of the oxygen we consume is produced in the ocean) increasingly die out. The Amazon Rainforest (a large producer of oxygen on land) is on fire. What will we breathe? It's an ecological apocolypse, not merely from getting hot (which your comment seriously underestimates the direct effects of) but from the previously mentioned oxygen crash, and hundreds of other effects that we know about and can reliably predict.

edit: some light reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_acidification

[-] TheBat@lemmy.world 16 points 10 months ago

You left out increasingly unpredictable weather patterns that would make it harder to grow crops and vegetables.

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this post was submitted on 10 Mar 2024
220 points (91.7% liked)

Collapse

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