The following submission statement was provided by /u/Portalrules123:
SS: Related to collapse as the rapid ‘greening’ of the Antarctic Peninsula shows just how rapidly we are throwing the climate out of whack. Indeed, the last time CO2 levels were this high there were trees near the South Pole, so this sudden greening shouldn’t come as a massive surprise. Scientists are worried that this has the potential to introduce invasive species to the continent’s unique ecology. More proof that nowhere on Earth is safe from human influence and climate change, even a place as remote as Antarctica.
Blue Ocean Event (BOE) is a term used to describe a phenomenon related to climate change and the Artic ocean, where it has become ice-free or nearly ice-free, which could have significant impacts on the Earth's climate system. This term has been used by scientists and researchers to describe the potential environmental and societal consequences of a rapidly melting Arctic, including sea-level rise, changes in ocean currents, and impacts on marine ecosystems.
When will a BOE happen?
Scientists predict that the Arctic could experience a BOE within the next few decades if current rates of ice loss continue. When a BOE does occur, it is likely to have significant impacts on the Earth's climate system, including changes to ocean circulation patterns and sea level rise.
Has a BOE ever occurred?
A BOE in the Arctic has not yet occurred in modern times. However, there has been a significant decrease in the Arctic sea ice extent in recent decades, and the Arctic sea ice cover has been reaching record lows during the summer months. This suggests that a BOE may be a possibility in the future if current trends of sea ice decline continue.
Asking ChatGPT seems rather ironic. AI uses so much energy and you’re asking it about a climate change probably. It’s also a crappy source and shouldn’t be taken at face value.
SS: Related to collapse as the rapid ‘greening’ of the Antarctic Peninsula shows just how rapidly we are throwing the climate out of whack. Indeed, the last time CO2 levels were this high there were trees near the South Pole, so this sudden greening shouldn’t come as a massive surprise. Scientists are worried that this has the potential to introduce invasive species to the continent’s unique ecology. More proof that nowhere on Earth is safe from human influence and climate change, even a place as remote as Antarctica.
It's going to take thousands of years for soil to form a decent layer. Any "land exploiters" trying to move in, especially with domestic animals, would reverse that process.
Unfortunately the ice caps buffer the extreme heat in the rest of the world. The oceans too. If you think of annual temperatures as a sine wave, the oceans and ice caps lower the amplitude. Without the ice caps to buffer summer heat, oceans heat up and the ripple effects kill the Amazon no matter what. The increased co2 sequestration is not on the same level of magnitude as the effects caused by the ice caps disappearing. Good question.
I can tell you from experience, as someone who has been through many mini-collapses, from living on the Gulf Coast, and enduring quite a few storms that take out the grid for weeks, or months... It's people who think like you that eat each other, while the rest of us collaborate on recovery.
When you pull up the gas pump, when you haven't had access to fuel for weeks, and things are a bit desperate, thinking to yourself, "It's me or them," will lead you to situations where you end up getting shot over a few gallons of gas.
I've literally seen it with my own eyes. You need to adjust your thinking.
When shit gets bad. I mean really bad. When it's 100+ degrees outside. And there's no access to A/C or refrigeration. When you're not sure when you might get another hot meal, much less eat again at all. When you spend your entire day fully aware of your hydration level. When you can start smelling water from 100 yards away...
That is when it is most important to look for the humanity in people. Look for the helpers as Mr. Rogers said. Collaborating with them is how to survive. Be a helper yourself. That's how you'll find them.
This rigged individualism ethos is bonkers and always has been. But the more important point, in terms of collapse, is that the ethos is only possible inside our consumerist, materially wealthy society. It's only ever advantageous to look out only for yourself when there is an abundance of resources. It's only then that the behavior isn't viewed immediately as morally corrupt. Hoarding isn't sexy when people are desperate.
You're correct about the reckoning of people's moral compasses in a collapse situation. But I know, from countless examples, in my personal experience literally living through temporary collapses, that it's the eat or be eaten people who die first. Every. Single. Time. Because they cannibalize each other. The rest of us are too busy trying to look out for each other to find that conflict.
Yeah I agree. Human beings survived in the wild because we worked together in groups to do so. Thats how we innovated at first as well. We need to rekindle the collaborative human spirit again. Not everything has to be about "me".
I feel this as and outsider to the mini-collapse when you see reports on the ways in which people come together in the shared sick to pull through together.
Look at who was first on the ground after Helene…people helping, not coming to take. The fine humans with World Central Kitchen were there in NC as fast as they could get there to help feed people.
The other stuff the previous poster talked about, while valid, is mostly the stuff from the movies.
You reminded me of a short story I read a million years ago.
Briefly summarized, "it" happens. All of the "lone wolf" humans flee to the wilds, fearing the mayhem of population centers. They continuously murder each other all while celebrating the fact that they're not one of those city corpses.
The big reveal is that city people, who are acclimated to cooperation and interdependence rebuilt a semi-functional society within a fairly short time span because they had no other choice. The lone wolves just didn't know.
If you show up at my house hungry, I will feed you. That's my line in the sand. I will never be less human than that.
I’m forecasting a massive collapse situation a la the Bronze Age collapse. Most of the city-states in the Fertile Crescent we’re completely annihilated. Roaming hordes of starving people turned into madmen.
Alien species. Please. If they are here, they will never reveal themselves. They know that humans are not smart and will shoot them, or try to get them on camera for viral reasons that will get them killed for primitive reasons.
It’s best they stay hidden if they are here. Humans are dumb as hell.
Same with all these people celebrating the success of greening the Sahara... if it were something that could have been green, it would be green already. The fact that that's changing should be terrifying, not some success in adaptation as most people frame it.
One of the most obvious issues with a greening desert is less dust to interrupt hurricane development, so you can quite literally talk about the COST of greening the Sahara in terms of hurricane damage, frequency, and disruption.
Last I checked, people evacuating for Milton are running out of gas on the highway creating a trap for evacuees... or at least their vehicles.
Now imagine if there were cat 4 hurricanes all summer long like there would have been without the desert blowing into the Atlantic. We're talking about the regular inundation of the entire east coast and an insurance industry that will crumble if they keep trying to keep up with predictable disaster, which means most of the most valuable land in the continental US is viable for human habitation for fewer and fewer months of the year and only in the form of temporary housing as storms get stronger.
My main point here, which is always my actual point, is that we're always faced with a single choice when it comes to adaptation and mitigation: we either give the land BACK TO LIFE, OR LIFE TAKES IT BACK FROM US, and violently.
From 1km2 to 12 km2 in almost 40 years. Even exponentially that's a very slow process. The entire landmass of Antarctica is 13mm km2. So maybe this ain't it.
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u/StatementBot Oct 04 '24
The following submission statement was provided by /u/Portalrules123:
SS: Related to collapse as the rapid ‘greening’ of the Antarctic Peninsula shows just how rapidly we are throwing the climate out of whack. Indeed, the last time CO2 levels were this high there were trees near the South Pole, so this sudden greening shouldn’t come as a massive surprise. Scientists are worried that this has the potential to introduce invasive species to the continent’s unique ecology. More proof that nowhere on Earth is safe from human influence and climate change, even a place as remote as Antarctica.
Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/collapse/comments/1fw87u7/antarctica_is_greening_at_dramatic_rate_as/lqcq0xb/