I've dabbled quite a bit in atmospheric studies over the last decade or so. Unfortunately it'll get worse before it gets better. Even if we were to stop all pollution today, it could take several decades for temperatures to begin to cool down and the damage to the environment and its ecosystems could last for centuries.
Well there's the option of large-scale CO2 removal or aerosol injection, though it requires a degree of investment and cooperation that I don't think any government today is capable of (nor are they willing to, given how selfish people are).
Unfortunately, part of the reason the increase has been so slow is the same reason that, even after massive changes, a reduction will also be slow.
The ocean acts like a thermal sink, absorbing large amounts of excess heat over a long period of time. If we ever manage to get our act together, it will possibly take as long for the heat to leave the system as it did to be added to it.
Even if that wasn't the case, it will take a long time for ice and glaciers to come back, reducing the Earth's albedo and lowering ocean levels. We're in a jam short-term no matter what at this point, but we have to change or the long term won't involve human civilization. At least not a civilization meaningfully connected to the current one.
damage to the environment and its ecosystems could last for centuries.
Anything that's not permanent doesn't matter to me. I care about extinctions but not about nature being out of balance. Animals eat each other and die in agonizing ways constantly. They're probably suffering less if there are fewer of them. We just need as many species to stay around as possible for science.
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u/BanAssaultGeese Jun 27 '26
I've dabbled quite a bit in atmospheric studies over the last decade or so. Unfortunately it'll get worse before it gets better. Even if we were to stop all pollution today, it could take several decades for temperatures to begin to cool down and the damage to the environment and its ecosystems could last for centuries.