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397

A heat dome will send temperatures into the triple-digits across the West as fires burn (edition.cnn.com)

submitted 3 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

102 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Daily temperature records will tumble as sizzling early season heat from a summerlike heat dome sends thermometers skyrocketing into the triple digits in parts of California and the West this week.

The official start of summer is just a few weeks away, but it will feel like July in much of the West as temperatures climb 20 degrees or more above average, the highest temperatures of the year so far for many locations.

Excessive heat warnings are in effect for more than 17 million people in California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona this week. The warnings are the most extreme form of heat alert issued by the National Weather Service and are used when widespread, dangerous heat is expected.

The soaring temperatures are being caused by a heat dome, a large area of high pressure that parks over an area, traps air and heats it with abundant sunshine for days or weeks. The resulting heat becomes more intense the longer a heat dome lasts.

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[–] veni_vedi_veni@lemmy.world 110 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Climate change effects are compounding, as polar caps melt they release trapped methane which is more effective greenhouse gas than CO2.

As temperatures heat up, people just gonna turn up HVAC more, more energy usage, which means we either get green real quick, or this feedback loop will continue until we break.

But all this is known. We're all gonna be scrambling when we reach that point, spouting "We didn't listen" like that episode of South Park about this very issue.

Meh, im sure the rich fucks have contingencies for themselves, so it's all good.

[–] skuzz@discuss.tchncs.de 46 points 3 months ago (1 children)

But all this is known. We’re all gonna be scrambling when we reach that point, spouting “We didn’t listen” like that episode of South Park about this very issue.

That's the thing though, we, the we being your average human on the planet, are put in a position to have very little power to do anything about it. In America specifically (not so sure about the rest of the world) you're kept busy trying to manage your health insurance (if you have it), your retirement fund (if you have it), your job (that may or may not have unpaid on call), your home (maintaining and cleaning your home/apartment/townhouse, trying to do repairs yourself because you can't afford to pay for others to do it as prices for service/repair work have skyrocketed), your food (it is too expensive to even buy fast food anymore so you gotta cook to save money), your car (gotta own a vehicle as the US doesn't have meaningful public transport, gotta make sure it is insured, maintained, etc.), your bills (gotta juggle those credit card and points cards and discount cards to get the best deals on every purchase!), if you have children, then you have to manage all the facets of their lives as well including making their food, cleaning up after them, taking them to/from school and other extracurriculars, deal with any school system issues, and on and on.

By the end of the week, you just want to have five minutes to catch your breath, but you can't, because you only (maybe) have two days off of work and those will be spent catching up on whatever chores you didn't get done during the week.

Democratic governance was meant so that we could vote people into office to manage the governance, but now that is so bloated and broken, we also have to collectively stay on top of our nation, state, county, city's issues so we can be aware and try and "fight" back whenever we can with a letter or a council meeting. Never going to have time to go to a protest or skip out of work for a week to protest with your work/dollar because living paycheck-to-paycheck with no safety net means you're homeless if one thing fucks up.

The whole system (again, in the US at least) is designed to keep one so busy that one doesn't even know their way out of the week, let alone to take individual action to collectively organize and kick these politicians and corporations in the teeth for destroying the human habitability of the planet.

[–] Dempf@lemmy.zip 12 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (4 children)

You are absolutely right about all the challenges facing average Americans that keep us too busy to do a lot about issues like these.

Still, there are lots of different ways to help. Some do require more time, and are probably out of reach for someone who's just barely getting by. But some require less.

Today I dropped off at the post office 350 hand written postcards to low propensity climate voters in my state. I wrote and addressed the postcards while I was watching TV, so it didn't really take much more of my free time (I would have been watching TV anyways). Elections in my state have been decided by only a few hundred votes, so actions like this do make a difference.

Next week, I will be meeting with staff for my member of Congress in person in D.C. I have the luxury of having the time and money to make this happen, but if you pick up the phone or write an email every single month to your congressional office and mention climate change, it makes it much easier for us to get these meetings and get our point across. Pressure on congressional offices alone doesn't get the job done, but it makes them take us more seriously when we meet with them and present a bill that we want them to support.

Congress is pretty dysfunctional right now, but we still have managed to get some climate friendly legislation through. Every bit of help and support we get along the way makes a difference.

The group I volunteer with is Citizens' Climate Lobby, and I think they are the best, but there are other groups out there. The American Conversation Coalition is more right-leaning and has been gaining traction recently. The Sunrise Movement is more left-leaning, though for some reason I haven't heard much from them recently, at least in my state. I'm sure there are other groups out there besides those three.

[–] Couldbealeotard@lemmy.world 14 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Dude responds to a post about having no time and money by saying he hand wrote hundreds of postcards in his free time and also volunteers...

[–] Dempf@lemmy.zip 6 points 3 months ago

Thanks for your reply. I think I might have introduced a bit of confusion here, as I'm making two points in a bit of an implicit way.

My first point is a bit of a refutation of the OP. It's basically the same as you've heard from any other political non-profit: "you can make a difference with just 5 minutes of your time! It doesn't matter if you're broke and struggling under late-stage capitalism just like the rest of us, your voice matters!"

There is both truth, and deception in that statement.

The truth is that small actions do make a difference. I've seen the link between how getting more contacts from my district to congressional offices helps me set meetings with the office. Anyone can pick up the phone and call Congress, it doesn't take a special skill, or money. Similarly with the postcard thing -- if someone felt like doing it, and if postcards & stamps were provided by the group, it wouldn't take a lot of extra time or money to do like a couple dozen, and I'm sure that person would feel more involved and empowered. I'm not trying to say everyone should do it, just that it takes less effort than you might think to make a real noticeable difference, even if you're struggling under late-stage capitalism.

The deception is thinking that it is enough for a movement to rely solely on these actions as a strategy. It is not enough on its own and leads to slacktivism, and is probably part of why most of us have felt so burnt out for so long on the idea of making changes -- we've been burned before (remember Net Neutrality?)

Therefore, my second point, and the reason that I shared a bit more about what I've been doing, is that I'm trying to give people a little bit of hope. I'm trying to build on the first point (it's easier than you think to take a small action). And what I'm building on that to say is: "don't worry that you (person who has very little time/money to contribute) aren't doing enough, because I'm here to pick up the rest. I've got this. We are a team, so pass the ball to me, and put me in the play".

What I'm trying to say is, a movement needs both pieces. Again, movements that have the first (popular pressure) but lack the second (volunteer development, engagement, active lobbying, etc.) tend to fizzle out like the Net Neutrality movement.

On the other hand, some movements have heavily dedicated and invested volunteers, but can't convince an average American to do things like regularly contact their representative. The feedback we get in my state from congressional offices is something like 100 contacts per month, every month on a particular issue will cause them to start taking it more seriously. Without meeting that threshold, a movement will never get traction no matter how enthusiastic their core volunteers are. Nobody will take them seriously.

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[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 18 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Meh, im sure the rich fucks have contingencies for themselves, so it's all good.

Yes. Die after everyone else does when they finally figure out that there’s nothing left to live for, money doesn’t mean shit if you’re king of a dead world.

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[–] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 13 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

No one is safe including the rich.

The biggest major effect that global warming will have in the next few years or about 20 to 30 years is ... mass migration. Once that starts in earnest, countries will be breaking out in conflicts everywhere. We aren't cooperating with ourselves within our established borders now, what do you think will happen when millions of people start moving around to avoid the heat and more natural disasters.

Everyone will suffer .... the only thing the rich buy themselves is time because we are all headed to the same global environmental apocalypse.

I feel good that I'm middle aged now because I will have lived my younger years when the world was doing relatively OK.

I feel bad for anyone born right now because they'll either see the beginning of the end or start surviving it.

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago (2 children)

All of this has a silver lining: Dumping this much CO2 into our atmosphere will clearly signal that something weird is going on at interstellar scales, so maybe what's left of humanity will finally make first contact. This is compounded if we use nuclear weapons during the resource wars.

[–] afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world 6 points 3 months ago

We are talking about ppb. Very hard to detect that from a distance. We couldn't detect it on Mars from earth.

[–] Olgratin_Magmatoe@lemmy.world 6 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Space is big, any civilization analyzing the composition of exo planet atmosphereres wouldn't know for quite a while. It's for more likely that they wouldn't discover it until after several decades of passed, at which point it will have been too late.

That, and there's the fact that first contact almost universally goes bad for the group with less technology, which is us in this case.

So you may as well just start playing the lottery.

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[–] Kaput@lemmy.world 29 points 3 months ago (3 children)

That title is very scary when you Live in Celsius

[–] InFerNo@lemmy.ml 4 points 3 months ago

Spooked me for a moment

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[–] buddascrayon@lemmy.world 26 points 3 months ago (5 children)

Here's hoping those ass fucks in Texas get to see their fair share this bullshit. While they sit around climate denying they can fucking roast.

[–] Phegan@lemmy.world 28 points 3 months ago (1 children)

The residents of Texas are not completely to blame. Texas has the highest rates of voter suppression in the country. Secondly, the Texas education system has been built in a way to persist the current leadership in the state. And finally, many of the people live in poverty and will likely die for what oil execs and politicians have done.

Wishing this is short sighted and is blaming the symptom and not the root cause problem.

[–] eldavi@lemmy.world 8 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

living in austin for 5 years taught that even the bluest texans are ardently pro-establishment.

that doesn't mean that all of them are climate deniers; but like their red brethren, they'll fall in line and vote for a climate change denier if it means their guy gets to win.

like most of the country, they hate their choices but will fight you tooth and nail if you try to change anything for the better; don't bother with benefit of the doubt when it comes to texans.

[–] archomrade@midwest.social 16 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Let's not joke about this, people will likely die, and not the people you're mad at.

[–] JeffKerman1999@sopuli.xyz 9 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

That's the problem. We poors are going to pay the price while the rich will be on their yachts circumnavigating the poles to keep fresh

[–] afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago

One of the reasons why I went into infrastructure. I get to provide hospice care to the bulk of the human race and my chances at personal survival are pretty decent. The powers-that-be will still need someone who knows how the machines work.

[–] buddascrayon@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago (6 children)

The people I'm mad at are the ones who vote these fuck heads in. Honestly if them dying makes it likely that a republican won't pull a seat in the house or the Senate, I count that as a good thing. Fuck those assholes. They vote based on insignificant and petty issues drummed up by the conservative think tanks and not on any real issues. Critical race theory? Bullshit! Trans people trying to convert your kids or competing in sports "unfairly"? BULLSHIT! Illegal immigrants coming to kidnap or kill you or your family? Absolute HORSESHIT!!

These fucktards deserve ever extra degree of heat they get. I only feel sorry for the liberals who are stuck living with them. But only a little bit cause they need to light a fire under their asses and fight these bastards where they live.

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[–] Halosheep@lemm.ee 6 points 3 months ago (1 children)

As someone from Texas who isn't a climate denier, fuck off.

Also we're having severe thunderstorms nearly daily... I am not ready for the rebound of heat that's about to come.

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[–] tiefling@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 3 months ago

Watch their power grid go down again

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[–] veniasilente@lemm.ee 25 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Triple digits? That's way too much Celsius!

[–] hollunder@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 3 months ago (5 children)

I think triple digits in US temperature is about as warm as a hamburger 100 seconds off the grill.

[–] southernbrewer@lemmy.world 8 points 3 months ago (1 children)

What's that in football fields?

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[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 19 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Well . . . yeah, the planet's dying.

We shold probably do something about that? I guess?

[–] veni_vedi_veni@lemmy.world 55 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Planet will be fine, our ability to live on it not so much.

[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 6 points 3 months ago (4 children)

The entirety of planetary flora and fauna to see you, sir

[–] ShepherdPie@midwest.social 9 points 3 months ago (5 children)

They survived multiple giant asteroid strikes already. The issue is habitability for humans, but the planet itself is not in danger.

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[–] then_three_more@lemmy.world 8 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Life uh.. finds a way.

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[–] SerotoninSwells@lemmy.world 6 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (9 children)

Venus would also like a word.

Edit: For anyone curious, I'm referring to Venus as a potential model for runaway greenhouse effect.

[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Why does a razor marketed for women want to talk to me, a cis man with a big ol' hippie beard?

[–] DarkenLM@kbin.run 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Not that Venus. Venus de Milo would like a word.

[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world 5 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Sorry, but you can tell her the usual: I still have no idea where her arms are 🤷

Maybe don't relay the shrug to her, though, as that could be construed as rather insensitive to her whole situation 😄

[–] DarkenLM@kbin.run 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

C'mon, man, she just needs a hand.

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[–] Olgratin_Magmatoe@lemmy.world 6 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Life on earth sruvived the permian-triassic extinction.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permian%E2%80%93Triassic_extinction_event

Basically every volcano on earth lit up and choked the entire planet with toxic air, acid rain, continental fires, etc. Life survived that, it'll survive humanity's death throes.

[–] echodot 4 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Humans also survive the Ice age. I don't think humans will get wiped out by climate change either just massively decreased in population.

We know how to make it cold and we know how to generate power without burning things we pull out of the ground. None of this needs to be happening it's just happening because people are idiots and greedy but when push comes to shove they'll have to stop or die, either way they stop. Then everyone else can survive.

It might be more convenient to just update some laws though.

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[–] BossDj@lemm.ee 13 points 3 months ago

I for one welcome the news spicing up weather forecasts with catchy yet threatening labels. We've gone from atmospheric rivers to heat domes. Maybe this is what's needed to get people to consider climate action. They'll be movie titles soon enough.

[–] motor_spirit@lemmy.world 12 points 3 months ago

"this stuff just happens in waves. As long as it's not cold!" - some people we'll be sharing eternal beds with

At least I'm not wasting my time with children or church

[–] whotookkarl@lemmy.world 10 points 3 months ago

I prefer my domes thunder or teapot scandal

[–] 800XL@lemmy.world 7 points 3 months ago

Fuck. Stay safe all.

[–] KISSmyOSFeddit@lemmy.world 7 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I sincerely hope those are burger units.

[–] Metype@lemmy.world 5 points 3 months ago

Oh the joys of my apartment AC breaking

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