The Environment Thread

[Nimbly9]

It ranges about 65 to 85 degrees here even during the peak of summer.  Compared to Texas it's basically heaven.

[DJChameleon]

Same, it was good for a couple days earlier this week but now I'm getting absolutely cooked. Summer in general is not the best time for someone who wears a full face of makeup 5 days of the week.

I don't know shit about makeup but isn't there lighter make up available that helps during the summer months?

[Lexi Darling]

I don't know shit about makeup but isn't there lighter make up available that helps during the summer months?

I'm not sure. I use waterproof makeup and antiperspirant setting spray which helps a lot but I've never really looked into specific makeup for summer.

The only real problem I have is my foundation melting and exposing my 5 o'clock shadow, which of course opens the floodgates for misgendering. It's less of a problem at my current job, but at my old job there was a lot more traffic and I was on the cash register 90% of the time so when my facial hair was exposed I got people calling me "sir" a lot more regularly even when I would wear dresses and makeup.

That will definitely be less of a problem once my laser treatments get far enough along. But in the meantime I'll look into summer makeup options, thanks!

[Guybrush]

I love it when it's toasty, but we haven't had a really good summer since 2018. This one's been really bad.

[FETCHER.]

It ranges about 65 to 85 degrees here even during the peak of summer.  Compared to Texas it's basically heaven.

This would be heaven. Scotland got its highest ever temp last year at about 35 degrees Celsius. This year we got a few weeks of high 20's, it has been hell.

I know us British love to moan about the weather no matter what but I'd take the cooler, pissing down weather any time over those temps. I can't even take my dog a walk .

[Guybrush]

Oh man, I love 35 degrees C. That's fucking sweet.

You have to spend your days close to somewhere you can take a dip, but then I do that all through summer (and my work days) anyways.

[jimmy jazz]

Oh man, I love 35 degrees C. That's fucking sweet.

You have to spend your days close to somewhere you can take a dip, but then I do that all through summer (and my work days) anyways.

There's nowhere to do that here but that sounds lovely.

There are lakes and canals and things but you're advised not to go in them as people die all the time. It's very common in summer. They have campaigns and shit trying to get it into people's heads cos so many still ignore it and end up drowning.

[Lisnaholic]

One way to cool off in Britain is to travel back in time to 2010 and go for a swim in a public pool:-

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/mar/12/england-has-lost-almost-400-swimming-pools-since-2010

[FETCHER.]

Oh man, I love 35 degrees C. That's fucking sweet.

You have to spend your days close to somewhere you can take a dip, but then I do that all through summer (and my work days) anyways.

No it's horrible over here 😂, no air con, no swimming pools, nothing that you usually have to help escape the heat. It's 15 degrees here today, we have overcast and it's not raining, this is my type of weather .

[Psy-Fi]

21 species have been delisted from the Endangered Species Act, and not for a good reason

[Lisnaholic]

As usual with this thread, there is bad news about something that only a small group of scientists or locals care about or notice:-

Billions Of Crabs Missing Around Alaska:- https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/19/us/alaska-crabs-ocean-heat-climate/index.html

It's one more red flag for us, of course:-

Temperatures around the Arctic have warmed four times faster than the rest of the planet, scientists have reported. Climate change has triggered a rapid loss in sea ice in the Arctic region, particularly in Alaska's Bering Sea, which in turn has amplified global warming.

[Psy-Fi]

Kenya declares a public holiday for national campaign to plant 15 billion trees

The Kenyan government says Nov. 13 will be a public holiday to allow citizens time to plant trees as part of its ambitious plan to grow 15 billion new trees by 2032

It's a nice enough idea but I can't see them getting anywhere near their 15 billion goal in 9 years.

[Lisnaholic]

^ For once some positive news in this thread: thanks, Psy-Fi! I think it's great news that a country which is not particulary wealthy is making such a national effort and grabbing global attention too : perhaps it'll shame some other countries into exploring planting schemes.

15 billion is a lot of plantings, and Kenya may well fall short, but what worries me more is that, in their haste to meet that target, they may be overlooking some key details about tree planting schemes: 

Sadly, it's not a simple, silver-bullet solution, even though most of us would like it to be.

[DJChameleon]

The Kenyan holiday is similar to what the rest of the world does every earth day in April. It's already a holiday but I think the slight difference is that you still have to work on Earth Day for most people.

[Guybrush]

^ For once some positive news in this thread: thanks, Psy-Fi! I think it's great news that a country which is not particulary wealthy is making such a national effort and grabbing global attention too : perhaps it'll shame some other countries into exploring planting schemes.

15 billion is a lot of plantings, and Kenya may well fall short, but what worries me more is that, in their haste to meet that target, they may be overlooking some key details about tree planting schemes: 

Sadly, it's not a simple, silver-bullet solution, even though most of us would like it to be.

Very good video that I agree with.

Another interesting point (imo) is for certain plants, like say some spruce, you might see graphs like this:



Like all organisms, plants do cellular respiration. That is like us, they also breathe oxygen and expel carbon dioxide. It's just that in the presence of enough sunlight, they also do photosynthesis.

For a plant to capture carbon, the rate of photosynthesis should be higher than respiration (and also making up for nighttime when there's no photosynthesis and only respiration). It typically is, BUT by how much differs.

If you look at the graph above, it says that cellular respiration is affected more negatively by lower temperatures than photosynthesis is. So that means for this plant, it might have the most efficient carbon capture at around 10 degrees C. At 30-40, it does more respiration and would net add CO2 to the atmosphere until its inevitable death.

So if you imagine you could take a forest and just place it somewhere colder or warmer, that will affect how efficient it will be for carbon capture.

I don't think this is a huge problem or anything because I assume tree species are planted that are generally suited to the climate and will capture carbon well, but.. still interesting and maybe something to consider.

In Norway, the forests are expanding. Open areas are filling with trees, which is a bit sad for the birds and other animals that rely on these areas. Climate warming will make it so that trees can expand up / become bigger at higher altitudes, so the forests are expanding upwards where that's an option.

Like they say in the video, I believe the best thing will generally be to protect the forests we have and let them do their thing.