The news is that the state of a crucial oceanic circulation system has been reassessed by scientists. Some now believe that, as a result of climate breakdown changing the temperature and salinity of seawater, it is more likely than not to collapse. This system – known as the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (Amoc) – delivers heat from the tropics to the North Atlantic.

Even when the countervailing effects of generalised global heating are taken into account, a further paper proposes, the net impact in northern Europe would be periods of extreme cold – including events in which temperatures in London fall to -19C, in Edinburgh to -30C and in Oslo to -48C.

A billionaire death cult has its fingers around humanity’s throat. It both causes and downplays our existential crisis. The oligarchs are not just a class enemy but, as they have always been, a societal enemy: a few thousand people can destroy civilisations. It’s the billions v the billionaires, and the stakes could not possibly be higher.

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[–] [S] 14 points 6 months ago

I thought of adding the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) wiki page for easy access to pictures and some more general info

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  • [–] 13 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

    Collapse of Atlantic Ocean circulation? People have been talking about that for decades. It was even the subject of a big budget (but mostly terrible) movie called "The Day After Tomorrow" (2004 - 22 years ago).

    Really only notable for the scene where people were debating if it was OK to burn books in a library to keep from freezing:

    https://youtu.be/nucU0V44zUY

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  • [–] 9 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    Burning books isn't okay! Not because of their worth as passers of knowledge but because burning paper to stay warm is crap.

    If anyone ever finds themselves in a similar situation, burn the furniture, not the books. Large amounts of paper are more likely to smother your fire in ash, and then put it out, than keep you warm.

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  • [–] 3 points 6 months ago

    Not to mention that in a post-apocalyptic scenario, furniture would be plentiful while books would succumb to the elements pretty fast (once the air conditioning turns off).

    Also, the amount of energy required to make usable furniture is a fraction of the amount of making paper. Paper can be made from the byproduct of furniture-making but it still requires pressing, drying, and suitable inks require (minor) chemical processing. You can use soot and honey (aka lampblack ink) but it's way more involved than drilling some holes in some wood and then hammering legs into said holes (the simplest form of "furniture").

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  • 5 comments in c/climate@slrpnk.net view that post
    [–] 39 points 6 months ago

    tl;dr: Another paper on the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation shutdown just dropped, bumping the reduction of circulation by the year 2100 from 32 ± 37% to 51 ± 8%. This means it is now certain that there will be catastrophic consequences through this particular form of climate change. Capitalist media don't tell you this because they're capitalist.

    The catastrophic consequences include, but are not limited to:

    • Even more extreme hurricanes in the Caribbean

    • European biosphere freezing to death in cold snaps

    • European infrastructure collapsing in cold snaps

    • Faster-rising sea levels on the north American east coast

    • Extra CO2 released from the Antarctic Ocean

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  • [–] 25 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    :-(. Been watching this happen for much of my life. No sane person wants this to happen. sigh.

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  • [–] 13 points 6 months ago

    The part about the economist which "modelled" the impact of climate change and came up with hilariously optimist results that aren't anywhere close to those from the Scientists from hard-sciences is just so typical.

    Economists lying with models (i.e. basically using Mathematics as a layer of complexity hidding purposeful lies, so as to deceive those with little familiary with the Scientific Method or modelling) is THE main tool that has been used to push Neoliberal politics for 5 decades and created the shit we're living in.

    I worked in Finance and am intimatelly familiar with how you can make Mathematical Models to produce whatever the fuck effect you want: mainly by the formulas you chose for your model and by chosing what types of inputs it takes you can make a "machine" which will produce a specific fable from genuine real-life data.

    Mind you, the Scientists and other people with Science Training won't be deceived, but that doesn't matter because those "models" and their "results" (generally produced in Think Tanks funded by the very people whose interests are, by an amazing coincidence, served by politicians acting as if the model is genuinelly representative) aren't meant to convince domain experts, they're meant as technocratic "arguments" for articles and opinion pieces in the Press to sway public opinion (or at the very least spread doubt on the consensus of the actual domain experts) and as a cover for the bought up politicians to chose the policies benefitting the interests of those who are or promise to be "good friends" to them.

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  • [–] 1 point 6 months ago

    Well that was a fun read just before bed.

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  • 4 comments in c/collapse@lemmy.zip view that post
    [–] 8 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    Sooner or later we'll get the guillotines out. Although it looks like that won't happen until it's far too late, which it may already be.

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  • [–] 5 points 6 months ago

    The owner class has been insulating themselves while pushing collapse for the rest of us.

    Just look around you and you can see how they are actively eroding their dependency on us while they cultivate a world only they can thrive in. Once they have done this, and it’s pretty damned close, collapse is just a culling event they don’t need to get their hands dirty doing themselves.

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  • 2 comments in c/progressivepolitics@lemmy.world view that post
    [–] 16 points 6 months ago

    They create crisis they don't quench it.

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  • [–] 4 points 6 months ago

    And I was having such a lovely day

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