[Cid_Yama]

With less than 10 years remaining before most of the planet reaches the point where peak heat stresses make it uninhabitable, what would the political priorities be?

In the US it's pretty clear that both parties, except for the progressives, have cut loose the masses. They know. The masses are toast. So what next.

Will we see attempts to save the plutarchs like in the movie 2012? (I can't imagine how, but I'm sure they will be insisting on being saved. )

You hardcore capitalists/con men out there, major opportunity to make a huge amount of money before we all die.

Will we see massive programs, both governmental and private, to geoengineer a solution? Could anything even be attempted in so short a time?

Would it even be possible to keep it all under raps, while still accomplishing something that will buy time?

The second the masses do catch on, nothing more will be able to be done.

If anything the time between now and the end will be really interesting.

[SeaGypsy]

Cid, having kept up with your posts here, I wonder why you think actual temperature will be the thing to do us in? From reading through it seems lack of oxygen due to plankton die off might be a more likely immediate problem in the 10 years specified? Running out of air would be a quick tipping of the scales in favour of flora over fauna, would it not?

On your question about geo engineering; I would like your opinion on an idea I thought of which may or may not have been speculated elsewhere. With ocean acidification being one of the top two risks from AGW/ carbon saturation of the atmosphere; what about mining megatons of limestone, pulverising it and dumping it in the oceans? Would this not add to the ocean's capacity to soak up carbon as well as feeding calcium to the creatures and sea flora threatened by lack of it? Shoot me down with mathematics if you like, I'm no scientist.

[Xenophobe]

With less than 10 years remaining before most of the planet reaches the point where peak heat stresses make it uninhabitable, what would the political priorities be?

deleted

[Cid_Yama]

Crop failure, collapse of social controls, and the inability to cool ourselves will be the things that do us in.

Famine, dehydration, peak heat stresses, violent crime, and war will be what kills us.

[SeaGypsy]

Thanks for the clarification Cid.
Ever been called pompous before?

[Xenophobe]

Crop failure, collapse of social controls, and the inability to cool ourselves will be the things that do us in.

Famine, dehydration, peak heat stresses, violent crime, and war will be what kills us.

Stop the ad homs

[scas]

I think you need to point out the methane leak and Eocene type world were transitioning to. 200 years of transitional hardship. And then the new climate won't be all that great for us warm bodies... Darn that Anopheles and his malaria and dengue buddies. Don't underestimate the mighty microbe to curb our population.

Look to present day Africa to get an idea of what will happen. Once the oil is cleared in the middle east, expect that place to disappear. Africa is already the dark country. Countries will transition through phases like Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Somalia, and Liberia combined. People don't realize we already see the effects of climate change and overpopulation - as the Sahel spreads the wave of migrants bring violence. What were already seeing today, will only increase. The military refer to climate change as the threat multiplier.

There have been plenty of famines in the past wherein peace was maintained. Provision of electricity and water will be key. The first world goes hungry, the third world starves. In fact we already import their food while many of them starve - only to chuck 30% in the garbage.

I'm certain heavily armed and militarized countries will weather the storm. Perhaps declaring marshall law and giving out gruel rations if things get that bad. In times of stress, we look to a unifying leader, even if he blames and wants to conquer the neighbor. It's gonna be interesting times as America moves into Canada. I imagine Europeans will move here too, while we mostly block out the immigrants and refugees from poor countries.

As for political priorities - it really depends on who gets voted in. We should be focusing on nuclear power, food synthesis, water purification, water storage, a resilient and sustainable food system, zero growth population, erosion management, and public transport. Don't worry about secret underground bunkers - i'm sure they're already built.

[SeaGypsy]

It's martial law.
Good list, BTW.

[Cid_Yama]

One other thing, Sea Gypsy. Limestone is Calcium Carbonate. It is formed through the process of silicate weathering and is the means by which CO2 is removed from the atmosphere over geological time.

If you want to see certainty as pompousness, be my guest. Won't change a damn thing.

[SeaGypsy]

Why don't you just get to the point and answer the question? Would it help or not?

[scas]

From what i've seen, it's simply not possible to mine and disperse enough limestone to de-acidify the oceans. I've heard of that idea in order to save specific coral reefs, but even that would be impossible in the long term.

As for geo-engineering, what I expect is modern airliners to be fitted with dispersal systems. Akin to EVA air's 747. Cloud generating ships are also plausible - there are a lot of ships that can be retrofitted.

[Cid_Yama]

If you can find a way to make silicate weathering take place a 1000 times faster than it does, then you might have something.

But the answer to your question is No. It will not work, because limestone is already bound carbon. It will not bind anymore no matter how much you grind it up and dump it in the ocean.

I would think my previous answer would have made that clear.

What you are thinking of is Lime (Calcium Oxide). But that is produced by burning limestone which releases carbon.

[Cid_Yama]

Why don't you just get to the point and answer the question? Would it help or not?

"Where shall we go, Ish?" one of them asked. Ish felt that this was a
strange question for anyone to ask of him, who was only an old man and
would scarcely know what to do as well as the young ones would. Then he
remembered that they sometimes asked him which direction they should take
for their hunting. When he did not answer, they pinched him. He did not
like to be pinched, and so he thought hard now, as to which way they should
go. The young men themselves, he realized, could outrun the fire, but he
himself would not be strong enough. So he thought more intensely than he
had thought for a long time, both because he wished to save his own life
and the lives of the young men, and also because he was afraid that they
would pinch him. Thinking so intently, he remembered the bare flat rock
where they had carved the numerals of the years in the time long ago. Round
this flat rock were other high rocks where nothing grew, and in the spaces
among these rocks they could find shelter because nothing was there to
burn.

Earth Abides - George A. Stewart

[SeaGypsy]

Thank you Cid and Scas,
silicon is something I know a bit about from my glassblowing time. There are machines to pulverise silicon to micron sized paricles, would these be of any use? What kind of volumes might we be talking about?

[hillsidedigger]

I'm convinced that heating during the warm season is going to occur rapidly as Cid suggests

but at the same time the cool season might be extremely cold some places as we are now witnessing so allowing the deniers to continue to deny for several more years.

[SeaGypsy]

When done denying they will turn up the volume on what a bonus the year round access accross the top of the world is and all that soggy fertile tundra becoming frost free several months of the year will offset some early losses in grain production elsewhere I bet. You know, the cloud and the lining.
The MSM won't admit things are really dire and ram the message home until the signs are so obvious they don't need to. This seems to be the general strategy. By the time people realise what's really going on they will be dieing like flies anyway, so why bother them now?

[mos6507]

With less than 10 years remaining before most of the planet reaches the point where peak heat stresses make it uninhabitable, what would the political priorities be?

Isn't that a leading question?

Will we see massive programs, both governmental and private, to geoengineer a solution? Could anything even be attempted in so short a time?

In your scenario, who gives a crap? After all, nothing will be possible to help.

[Rod_Cloutier]

I think I agree with Mos, with the dreaded large scale methane release occurring in the arctic it is now game over.

Time to stop pretending about mitigation, carbon trading scams, reducing emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and other garbage ideas. We're collectively toast as a species.

Might just as well encourage economic growth, party like its 1999 for the rest of our short existence, because there is nothing that we can do now to prevent catastrophic climate change.

We should start making time capsules now for the benefit of whatever sentient life evolves on this planet eons from now after we're all dead and gone. Or we could leave a monument to our history, culture, science and achievements on the moon or in space for some luckier species to find and learn from our fatal mistakes.

It’s sad, but we still have some time. Anyone care to write our epitaph?

[Hinterlander]

I'm sure that the Republicans will figure something out that will save, if not the world, as least the US...

http://www.theonion.com/articles/addressing-climate-crisis-bush-calls-for-developme,2226/

Addressing Climate Crisis, President Bush Calls For Development Of National Air Conditioner

June 20, 2007 | ISSUE 43•25

WASHINGTON, DC—In a nationally televised address reminiscent of President Kennedy's historic 1961 speech pledging to put a man on the moon, President Bush responded to the global warming crisis Monday by calling for the construction of a giant national air conditioner by the year 2015.



Concept art shows how the 800-mile-wide device would function on a "high cool" setting.

"Climate change is real and it demands a real solution," Bush said. "Therefore, I am committed to dedicating all of the technology, all of the brainpower, and all of the resources we need in order to keep America cool and comfortable well into the 21st century."

[Ludi]

With less than 10 years remaining before most of the planet reaches the point where peak heat stresses make it uninhabitable, what would the political priorities be?

I'm wondering when it will start to get uninhabitably hot over large sections of the planet. Any guesses?

Some of the hottest parts of the planet are heavily populated (India, Africa). Seems like killing heat and large numbers of heat-related deaths would start where it is already hot. But I don't know much about this, so hope someone will give some details about where and when the large numbers of heat-related deaths will start.