[nvldvr]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Our current controversies over religion, clothing, democracy vs dictatorship, East vs West will seem puny in face of climate change.

I completely agree sir.

To see the interest issues mentioned by you generate, and the complete lack of even acknowledgement of climate change, is bewildering.

The effects are going to be seen pretty soon, in our lifetimes. How our children and the future generations will handle these changes is hard to imagine.

[kraft.wagen]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Thank you for sharing. I read yesterday that both the Arctic and the Antarctic are facing temperatures way above historical normal at this time. Today it might be Ukraine but tomorrow our clashes will be over water and disruptions driven by climate change. Our current controversies over religion, clothing, democracy vs dictatorship, East vs West will seem puny in face of climate change.

Indeed the more urgent topics always get the back seat, and very unfortunate that no one speaks about the temperature increase in The Artic & Antarctic or the IPCCs latest report

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by kraft.wagen

Indeed the more urgent topics always get the back seat, and very unfortunate that no one speaks about the temperature increase in The Artic & Antarctic or the IPCCs latest report

Thank you for sharing the link. This is the article I was referring to but forgot which link. Because we are so far away in awareness and distance we think this doesn't count. Just imagine if the summer temperature in Delhi hits 80 degrees centigrade - equivalent of that is what has happened in the Antarctic.....and the passengers on the sinking Titanic fought over the deck chairs.

[kraft.wagen]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Thank you for sharing the link. This is the article I was referring to but forgot which link. Because we are so far away in awareness and distance we think this doesn't count. Just imagine if the summer temperature in Delhi hits 80 degrees centigrade - equivalent of that is what has happened in the Antarctic.....and the passengers on the sinking Titanic fought over the deck chairs.

We humans like to be reactive than proactive; unless something happens or disrupts our daily lives we just move on!

[MasterChief]

Originally Posted by kraft.wagen

Indeed the more urgent topics always get the back seat, and very unfortunate that no one speaks about the temperature increase in The Artic & Antarctic ....

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Because we are so far away in awareness and distance we think this doesn't count.

Glad that a few members of the this automotive community are aware of the dangers of the climate change. Polar regions may be far off but can have profound effect on our lives. For example, our research shows that a warming Antarctica and ocean surrounding it (Southern Ocean) can adversely affect summer monsoon rainfall in India (my scientific articles available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polar.2021.100739 and https://doi.org/10.1029/2020PA004139). These finding are highlighted in media today as well, which I hope will be informative for the members here (https://www.heraldgoa.in/Goa/Goabase...n-India/188911)

[V.Narayan]

Hottest April in 122 years in North-West & Central India

https://www.indiatoday.in/india/stor...869-2022-04-30

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...w/91206793.cms

At 35.05 degrees average maximum temperature across India this is the 4th hottest April in 122 years since countrywide records were started to be kept. In the 19th century only a few large British held cities had weather offices. In North West & Central India it was the hottest April since records started. Let's bear in mind 'average' means it includes the hilly regions with the areas covered too! In Central India 4 of the 5 hottest Aprils were in the last 6 years. Global warming is a subset of climate change. Mother Earth might soon remind us puny humans that Ukraine, Taiwan, American hegemony, Chinese hegemony, Rouble payments etc are all passe' when compared to the big bear growing in our midst. And from climate change where will we run , where will we hide.

The readers of this forum are the cream of India. And yet the weak readership of this thread reflects how little we realize of the cancer within. The one plus point is that the bloody mosquitoes have all been wiped out for now. They'll come back in a few months but lets enjoy the respite!

[v1p3r]

Maybe I've said it before, but it's certainly instructive that a thread on a war that doesn't affect us is over a hundred pages, while this topic, which is a planet killer, has a handful of followers.

[Red Liner]

Oddly enough, an Ice Age has gripped the Earth for most of the last 2.6 million years, and we’re currently experiencing an unusually warm break from this so-called Quaternary glaciation, which temporarily lifted around 12,000 years ago. How long the ongoing ‘interglacial’ period will last depends partly on changes in the orbital size, shape and axial tilt of the Earth, and thus the intensity of sunlight, and also global warming – both natural and man-made.

Earlier this year, a team at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany, published research suggesting a complex link between sunlight and atmospheric CO2, leading to natural global warming. By itself, this will delay the next Ice Age by at least 50,000 years. Add in the effect of man-made global warming, and the delay is increased to 100,000 years.

https://www.sciencefocus.com/planet-...other-ice-age/

[am1m]

Dunno if this is the best fit thread to post this, but makes for interesting reading and a good case study:

https://www.outsidebusinessjournal.c...-of-hypocrisy/

Summary:

*The North Face is probably the best known outdoor apparel brand.
*To show their commitment to the environmental cause, they turned down an order from an Oil & Gas company to make a co-branded jacket.
*This ticked off the CEO of another O&G company (whom the NF had already partnered with in the past for co-branded jackets).
*Resulted in a series of ads and a campaign highlighting how the NF is actually dependent on the O&G industry for several of their products and basic business model itself.

I think there are a lot of lessons here.

While several companies and people are quick to jump on the environmental cause and message- how much is real action, how much is just cashing in on the trend, how much is virtue-signalling.

I don't mean to devalue the message or seriousness of the situation- climate change is real and something needs to be done.

But we need to discount the extreme opinions on both sides- both the "climate change is a hoax" and the "shut everything down at once" voices, and realize that the other 99% of us (and I hope the moderate voices do represent 99%) need to co-operate and find ways to reduce the impact of what we do.

In this case, it sounds like the CEO of the company that started the ad campaign is an outdoors guy himself. Wouldn't it have done more for the environmental cause to have someone like that on the side? Someone in a position to really make changes within the industry. Similarly, we need to find the many middle-grounds and a way for all of us to make the small and big changes needed to stave off the worst effects of what is coming. (Of course legislation and laws too are required on a bigger scale, not discounting that.)

But on the environmental messaging front, blaming others for their choices and making a virtue of our choices risks alienating even those who are willing to look at ways of reducing their impact and footprint.

[V.Narayan]

India's fertility rate falls below replacement rate of 2.1 per female
but India still likely to become the worlds most populous country in a few years
https://m.economictimes.com/news/ind...w/91384324.cms

Both India and China, the two most populous countries now have a fertility rate below replacement. Both run the risk of becoming old before they become rich. In India the momentum of population growth and high percentage of young, the total population will continue to grow gradually for 20 years and then level out. With an estimated population of 140 crores in 2022 vs China's 141 -142 crores and with China's population growth down to almost nil it is expected that India will become the most populous country in the 2020s.

Bihar (2.98), Meghalaya (2.91), Uttar Pradesh (2.35), Jharkhand (2.26) and Manipur (2.17), however, still had figures over the replacement-level of fertility of 2.1. So we risk over the next two decades some of the BIMARU states expanding at the expense of the other more disciplined States.

India's population growth rate crossed above 2.0% pa or 20%+ per decade for the first time in 1961 and stayed above that terrible number till 1992. In 2020 for the first time since c.1920s India's growth rate dipped below 1.0% per annum. It is expected by earlier estimates to peak off at ~164 crores in 2050 but with birth rates dropping faster than expected we might peak lower and faster. As things stand now this population slow down is a boon as even over the next 3 decades we'll have a lot of youth to cater to in the employment markets. And unless our vocational training and education gets substantially better the so called demographic dividend will stay on paper.

The younger members on Team BHP will likely live to see an India where the population starts to decline. A smaller global population of humans is safer for the planet & sustenance.

[v1p3r]

Originally Posted by am1m

Dunno if this is the best fit thread to post this, but makes for interesting reading and a good case study:

https://www.outsidebusinessjournal.c...-of-hypocrisy/

Summary:

*The North Face is probably the best known outdoor apparel brand.
*To show their commitment to the environmental cause, they turned down an order from an Oil & Gas company to make a co-branded jacket.
*This ticked off the CEO of another O&G company (whom the NF had already partnered with in the past for co-branded jackets).
*Resulted in a series of ads and a campaign highlighting how the NF is actually dependent on the O&G industry for several of their products and basic business model itself.

NF just quietly turned down a contract for a reason that isn't mentioned. They said so themselves - 'from a variety of industries'. They could just as easily have turned it down because they weren't paid enough. Our friend here decided to get some free publicity because 2021 was a rough year for him - check share prices and earnings calls to see what I mean.

NF is known for putting its money where its mouth is. Their erstwhile HQ in California is a marvel of environmental engineering.

Originally Posted by am1m

While several companies and people are quick to jump on the environmental cause and message- how much is real action, how much is just cashing in on the trend, how much is virtue-signalling.

True. Great examples include the Shell Eco-whatever they promote, and the BP greentech / greenwashing initiatives.

Originally Posted by am1m

But we need to discount the extreme opinions on both sides- both the "climate change is a hoax" and the "shut everything down at once" voices, and realize that the other 99% of us (and I hope the moderate voices do represent 99%) need to co-operate and find ways to reduce the impact of what we do.

Agreed. Extremism is the bane of society, and if we don't figure it out, there won't be one left.

[srini1785]

The first thing i read in morning gives me the creeps:

DELHI RECORDS 49 DEG C

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/delh...-ndtv_bigstory

While its raining in Bangalore and generally all of south.

I was a borderline skeptic when it comes to climate change but this is how reality checks in.

Too bad.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by srini1785

DELHI RECORDS 49 DEG C
...
While its raining in Bangalore and generally all of south.

+1

The level of ignorance is amazing, with myself personally being at a similar fault (of ignorance).

Articles like these from global news agencies indicate the severe heat wave still happening over the rest of the country while we in Bangalore are completely ignorant of it.

A study published this week by Britain’s national meteorological service said that climate change had made record-breaking heat waves in northwest India and Pakistan more than 100 times more likely, meaning that instead of occurring once every three centuries under natural conditions, they are now likely to take place every three years. The study also found that based on current climate change projections, by the end of the century the region could be experiencing extreme heat waves every year.

And what is not mentioned is the torrential rains many states see during the monsoon leading to flooding and other issues. Climate change is real and as I read a quote by a leading NASA scientist, "the world still choosing to be on autopilot" not working to resolve the problem at hand.

[Chetan_Rao]

Cynicism is no way to live, but it's getting increasingly tougher to avoid feeling not only is humanity refusing to admit we're already well into damage control territory, we're half-arsing it big time too.

Push comes to shove, is a person with a 'climate change is not real' attitude much different from another with 'nothing to be done so might as well take my pound of flesh' mentality, vis a vis outcomes?

[dragracer567]

I am sharing a couple of my thoughts below concerning climate change:

1) Climate is hitting faster than any scientist has predicted. This is a problem because most countries aren't even ready for the climate change timeline predicted by scientists!

2) Poor people in the poorest countries will be affected the most followed by rich people in poor countries, then the poor people in rich countries and then finally the rich people in rich countries i.e those who make decisions in this world are the least vulnerable.

3) Climate change in itself can be a catastrophe but it will be much more worse with two other issues reaching boiling point: water scarcity and antibiotic resistance. Both these issues are individually almost as bad as climate change but when combined with climate change can make life so much worse.

4) Life on earth will survive, it has survived for 3 billion years. Some ecologies will collapse which will take millions of years to recover as they always have. However, what we will lose is human civilization! Infact, historians have proven that years with extreme temperatures historically have been characterized by war and human suffering.

5) In the future, climate wars will be more overt as China controls the water supply into the Indian subcontinent (and Indochina i.e the Mekong) while India controls the water supply into Pakistan. The urge to weaponize this will be more when there is acute water scarcity in your own country. All three countries - India, Pakistan and China are predicted to face unprecedented water shortages which makes this scenario all the more dangerous. This will also lead to a loss of credibility in authoritarian countries like China and extreme partisanship in democratic countries like India. Africa will almost surely have major wars with Ethiopia and Egypt likely being the first one. Human society will get really destabilized if we can't find a way to deal with this in an equitable manner. This is before we even start talking about climate refugees!

6) We've reached a point where climate change is a given. While we work to prevent a catastrophe scenario, it is also important that we climate-proof ourselves in anticipation of extreme weather. There is a genuine possibility that we would actually have to live with climate change and probably only prevent an apocalyptic scenario.

I am not scare-mongering here. I am a scientist so all I can do is state facts as I see them.

I will share more solid data on this once I get some downtime from my current project (I have already shared some data in this thread (COP26 - India to go carbon neutral by 2070!)).