Climate Change -- conspiracy theory or is it time we all drive a Prius?

Quote: DRich

No, we have empirical data now because we track such things.

You need to learn the difference between weather and climate.

Quote: AZDuffman

You need to learn the difference between weather and climate.

You haven't.

Quote: rxwine

You haven't.

I know the difference. I’m not the one posting random weather events as global warming.

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Trump does not believe climate change is a threat

but Elon Musk does and he is likely to get a high level position in the new Administration and may try to influence Trump's views re this subject

from the article:

"Elon Musk has said he is "super pro climate" called global warming "a major risk" and claimed "to have done more for the environment than any single human on Earth"

referring to his production and sale of electric vehicles at his company, Tesla

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https://www.politico.com/news/2024/08/12/musk-trump-advice-climate-change-00173411#:~:text=Electric%20vehicle%20billionaire%20Elon%20Musk,any%20single%20human%20on%20Earth.%E2%80%9D

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Quote: PotPie

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Trump does not believe climate change is a threat

Everything is a threat. It just comes down to prioritization. Earth will be completely destroyed eventually by a cosmic collision. How much time and effort should we put into that?

Quote: DRich

Everything is a threat. It just comes down to prioritization. Earth will be completely destroyed eventually by a cosmic collision. How much time and effort should we put into that?

Nasa is working on ways to defend against an asteroid colliding with Earth

they call their mission "Dart" which stands for Double Asteroid Redirection Test

scientists say it has happened a few times millions of years ago -

as the link indicates they have had some success - but I don't believe they currently have a high level of confidence in this - it is something they are hoping will be very effective in the near future


https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasas-dart-mission-hits-asteroid-in-first-ever-planetary-defense-test/

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Quote: PotPie

Nasa is working on ways to defend against an asteroid colliding with Earth

they call their mission "Dart" which stands for Double Asteroid Redirection Test

scientists say it has happened a few times millions of years ago -

as the link indicates they have had some success - but I don't believe they currently have a high level of confidence in this - it is something they are hoping will be very effective in the near future


https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasas-dart-mission-hits-asteroid-in-first-ever-planetary-defense-test/

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I imagine in 30 years we will be able to do much more in space. So, hopefully the odds of a cosmic collision will keep holding up until we get there.

I do still get the feeling our early warning is not quite up to what we need it at.

they say if it's a comet that hits us we can't get enough warning

also, there are other possible cosmic disasters, notably coronal mass ejections ...

Quote: odiousgambit

they say if it's a comet that hits us we can't get enough warning

also, there are other possible cosmic disasters, notably coronal mass ejections ...

When you look up and see a jet moving across the sky high up at around 700mph it still looks pretty slow. Meteor shows (shooting stars) move faster but you can still follow their tack.

Can you imagine what the dinosaurs might have seen on their last day? Or if it was night, it must have turned into day. Perhaps a blinding day if it starting burning into the atmosphere.

Quote: rxwine

When you look up and see a jet moving across the sky high up at around 700mph it still looks pretty slow.

I'm sure we'd know a new one is coming for a while, maybe a month? [a guess]

but what to do?

Quote: googled

Can we deflect a comet?

There is no way a 5-10 km comet could be deflected. Nor even a much smaller body. We simply do not know how to do this. Several ideas have been proposed, ranging from nuclear bombs to focused solar energy, but without an actual experiment we really don't know what would work.

https://blog.oup.com/2022/01/do-look-up-could-a-comet-really-kill-us-all/