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Earth Science

Earth Is Hotter Than at Any Time Since Steam Engine Was Invented (bloomberg.com) 249

The last five years on Earth have been hotter than at any time since the industrial revolution kicked off almost two centuries ago. From a report: That's the conclusion of Europe's Copernicus Climate Change Service, which published data on Wednesday showing that global average temperatures since 2015 were some 1.2 degrees Celsius (2.2 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than when steam engines began powering industry. Last year was the second warmest on record after 2016. "These are unquestionably alarming signs," Jean-Noel Thepaut, the head of climate change monitoring at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, said in an email. As wildfires continue to ravage Australia and pollution increasingly chokes millions living in cities, the new data highlights the rapid changes that the Earth's ecosystem is undergoing as a result of man-made carbon emissions.
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Earth Is Hotter Than at Any Time Since Steam Engine Was Invented

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  • Who still uses steam engine!? Communists!
  • Not cool ;( think I need to chill out and go see a movie with a friend. Perhaps Meru.
  • were invented. We are still in an ice age. The last comparable ice age was 300 Million years ago.

    The normal temperature on earth is about 6 to 8 K warmer than it is now. Polar ice and extremely low CO2 levels like we have now are a rare exception geologically.

    https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5b/All_palaeotemps_G2.svg/1400px-All_palaeotemps_G2.svg.png [wikimedia.org]

    • Irrelevant (Score:4, Insightful)

      by DogDude ( 805747 ) on Thursday January 09, 2020 @10:53AM (#59602802)
      That's neat. It's also irrelevant, if we're talking about impacts on human civilization.
      • That's neat. It's also irrelevant, if we're talking about impacts on human civilization.

        Exactly.

        Yes, the average temperature of the Earth was much warmer back when the dinosaurs were around. You can infer from this that no, life won't go extinct if the average temperature rises another five degrees.

        But the current temperature rise will put the temperature higher than it has been at any time in human history. We've built a civilization around the current temperature levels and sea levels; an abrupt change is going to disrupt a lot.

        Also, the rate of change right now is unprecedented-- it is

        • by DogDude ( 805747 )
          Who suggested that "life would go extinct" if the temperature continues to rise? That's not an argument that I've heard anybody make.
          • I have heard that we are all dead, that was Joe Biden the other day. Then there is the 7 years, I guess 6 left now that was to do with green new deal once again it was humans not really all life etc. Funny thing is the only push back on these radical claims seems to come from the so called 'Deniers' but where are the actual climate change proponents basically saying what a load of crap no one is predicting that who has 1/2 a brain? If they did people may start to believe they are scientists rather than acti
            • by XXongo ( 3986865 )

              Funny thing is the only push back on these radical claims seems to come from the so called 'Deniers' but where are the actual climate change proponents basically saying what a load of crap no one is predicting that who has 1/2 a brain?

              I am not a denier. I just finished posting in this very thread "no, life won't go extinct if the average temperature rises another five degrees."

              If you want to know who is saying "no one is predicting that who has 1/2 a brain": me.

              If they did people may start to believe they are scientists rather than activists,

              The actual scientists say that over and over again.

            • by jbengt ( 874751 )

              I have heard that we are all dead, that was Joe Biden the other day. Then there is the 7 years, I guess 6 left now that was to do with green new deal once again it was humans not really all life etc.

              What they actually said was that we only have a few years to start turning the trend around or else global warming will have too much momentum to stop. Nothing about all life ending, human or otherwise.

  • It's Winter. It's cold. I can't think beyond that.
  • The earth has also been getting gradually hotter since the last ice age.
  • The answer to the Fermi paradox. Evolved species are so greedy and shortsighted that when they get enough tech to wreck everything, they do.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • I like hearing about problems. This give me an opportunity to discuss solutions. What I don't like is having to go over solutions on problems already proven that can be implemented. If you present me with a broken computer then I'll look into what can be done to fix or replace it. If I tell you that it would cost too much to fix, and keep coming back for solutions, then I will get a bit frustrated on why you haven't already tossed the computer and bought a new one. Complaining on not wanting to buy a n

  • ... of excess carbon in the atmoephere and its carbon cycle do for you.
    But that's nothing. Wait until you see the effects of excess methane kicking in.

  • by Dan East ( 318230 ) on Thursday January 09, 2020 @01:28PM (#59603458) Journal

    That is unfortunate, because steam engines are less efficient the warmer the ambient temperature is.

  • I don't care how hot is compared to some range up to an arbitrary point you picked.
    I care about how hot (or cold, or dry, or wet, or shakey, or electric, or ashy, or magnetic, etc.) is compared to all of the planet's history, as best as we can determine.

    • by DogDude ( 805747 )
      You don't care. That's great! It sounds like you're probably a selfish asshole. Those of us who care about other people DO care that the sudden climate change is causing a lot of misery for a lot of people.

One man's constant is another man's variable. -- A.J. Perlis

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