Well we couldn’t stop capitalism from killing us and now it’s killing us.
Maybe what comes after has a chance to not invent a species killing ideology.
I took a quick skim. By toxic atmosphere, they mean as in probable health hazard, not as in directly killing people immediately.
Indoor co2 levels can easily hit 1000+ ppm co2, especially if your dwelling is well sealed, as many energy efficient dwellings are. Submarines keep co2 at the thousands ppm for extended periods and were the impetus for co2 studies on how much humans can take.
I don’t think a major concern of rising atmospheric co2 is the direct threat to health caused by elevated co2 levels. I, personally, would be angered if someone told me that high co2 levels were dangerous to human health and then I read this.
A counterpoint and something to take into account:
- all those studies don’t take lifetime exposure (as in “from conception to death”) into account, which might show much more pronounced effects
- and the thing that isn’t directly connected: the increased CO2 levels are already causing issues for marine organisms which cannot fixate calcium for shells etc. good enough in the rapidly dropping pH levels in the oceans. I would say this is by far the larger immediate threat to humanity, because if the pH of the oceans drops too far, we will see a mass extinction that is not even comparable to the shit going on right now.
The costs of a RCT to subject a population of humans over their lifespan to 600 ppm CO2 would be insane. Does this mean that we can’t say anything about how humans interact with elevated CO2 levels and have to guess from mice and first principles about blood bicarbonate levels? Well, there are a few groups of humans who regularly encounter elevated CO2 levels - highly urban populations, indoor office workers (especially in highly urban societies), and submariners.
Well we were at 300ppm - humans didn’t face a “potentially toxic” atmosphere. We’re at 400ppm - atmosphere not feeling “potentially toxic” to me. Indoor office workers get a workweek’s worth of indoor time at 1000 ppm CO2, then however long they spend commuting (I’m thinking trains here) more elevated CO2, then stay at home with 500+ ppm CO2 (levels can vary widely). Sure, office workers tend to be less healthy, but a “potentially toxic” atmosphere seems like stretching it. Finally, there are submariners (and technically astronauts, but they tend to be fewer) who can spend months underway at a time and years cumulatively at 1000+ ppm CO2. How do they suffer? Not too differently from the rest of us - https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1128685/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34412099/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8515322/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5623552/
Okay, suppose that actually at 500ppm of CO2, it turns out that toddlers spontaneously combust. I think it’s probable that at some point in some urban city that there have been toddlers that have spent almost all of their time indoors and thus could have already been exposed to this condition without dying.
Is it possible that a 500, 600, 700, 800ppm CO2 cause conditions hazardous to human life or incompatible with human life? Yes, it’s possible and we won’t know for sure until we start pushing people into that condition for their whole life. Do I think it’s likely given that we know that people aren’t dropping like flies in highly urban societies like Hong Kong and Singapore and that submariners seem ok? No.
I myself am on team wet bulb event, but I think there is a subset of the population that believes (correctly) that they will be able to survive and thrive no matter how much they destroy the earth or whatever mass mortality events occur.
I agree that this will not be the first thing to kill us off, but i’d say we see things like early onset osteoporosis, malformation of limbs in newborns, increased maternal mortality and generally reduced life expectancy; maybe effects like delayed development in children with correspondingly reduced mental capacity.
Interestingly enough, i just last week saw a statistic that claimed that the first time ever, the youngest generation had an on average (marginally, but statistically relevant) lower intelligence than the one before. There are so many factors that can play into this, so i doubt that there is a measurable causation here, but it’s just one more puzzle piece in the large picture how we are shooting ourselves in our feet.
Like i said, the pH levels in the ocean (in combination with the massively rising heat levels there) are a much larger deal. It directly hits the basis of everything requiring oxygen globally, which will also hamper removal of CO2 (exacerbating the problem) and the food chain basis of every life form in the oceans (therefor hitting especially us humans on land depending on fishery), and as we already can see, the oceans are the thing that gets hit first by both the temperature rises and the CO2 levels.
And thwse dissolving phytoplankton in our increasingly acidic oceans also produce something like 60 to 80 percent of the oxygen in our atmosphere.
“Son, good job on your science test. Seeing your hard work pay off is like a breath of fresh air.”
“Daddy, what is fresh air?”
*Sobs uncontrollably
Fresh air shops already exist. If the need grows, the supply will grow.
If atmospheric CO2 becomes a health risk, I could imagine future buildings having an attached greenhouse that provides a steady supply of fresh air.
According to this source, “Crops grown in controlled environment agriculture (CEA) production systems such as greenhouses and vertical farms in warehouses consume CO2 as they undergo photosynthesis when exposed to light. A typical greenhouse crop will use 4.8-9.6 kg per hour per acre. This process can drop the concentration of CO2 from ambient levels (around 400 ppm) to as low as 100 ppm if the production site is not ventilated.”
This means one acre of greenhouse can provide fresh air to about 15-30 people. That same greenhouse could also provide enough food to feed 5-7 people. Extreme weather will make 20th century style industrial agriculture increasingly fragile, so we’re going to need to switch to food forests and greenhouses anyway. Hooking those greenhouses up to housing so people can breathe would be a nice synergy.
The kids can decide for themselves, but long before then I choose exit stage left.
Damn. Our current trajectory already would’ve made life very difficult in 100 years, this news moves up the potential extinction part to be far closer than I’d anticipated, which means if we can’t cast off capitalism soon, it will destroy our species and most other life on earth very rapidly.
We desperately need to build up decentralized grassroots working class movements globally as quickly as possible, enabling the use of our most powerful weapon: the General Strike.
The governments propping up fossil fuels would be brought to their knees if suddenly deprived of profit and labor, allowing us to demand real changes, such as an end of fossil fuels, the abolishment of centralized state governments, and the end of capitalism.
The general strike was extremely effective in Chile in 2019, and had they not fallen for the trick of liberal reform, they would’ve had a successful revolution on their hands.
There are some concrete steps all of us can take toward enacting a general strike to make it more viable and bearable for us all. (the titles below expand if you click them).
Learn First Aid! ⛑️
Enacting a general strike will result in violence being used against us even as we attempt to avert global destruction. It extremely important to have the skills to be able to keep yourself and others alive if they get hurt.
Tacticool Girlfriend provides a great introduction to building a personal first aid kit, called an IFAK, which can deal with things like bullet wounds and other serious bleeding wounds. I also want to emphasize her recommendation of only buying medical gear from reputable sources (not Amazon!), such as North American Rescue to avoid fakes that could cost you your life.
But you’ll need to learn how to use that equipment, too. The best resource for that is to take a local Stop The Bleed class, which are pretty widely available in most places. They may cost a small fee, but can also sometimes be free. Alternatively, if you cannot access a local class, this video by PrepMedic will give you a solid understanding of how to use Tourniquets and Gauze for wound packing.
Injuries are less harmful if they are tended to early. Learning first aid can help conserve resources when healthcare becomes unaffordable. Having several medics in case of harm by police is an extremely powerful morale booster during a protest that may become a police riot. When you become comfortable with the basics of first aid, riot medicine is the next suggested step.
Establish or join local Mutual Aid networks ✊
If you haven’t already, get to know your neighbors. Mutual aid is a willingness to support and grow your community. This can include informal networks through friends, tenant/renter organizations, solidarity groups, and industrial unions.
These are groups using direct action to solve each other’s problems. Building strong communities makes it difficult for fascism to take root. The actions of the government are going to hit every community hard, and the ones who build trust in each other and work together are most likely to survive. We’ve been building a list of resources in !inperson@slrpnk.net to help you on your way. Also check out this handy guide to find existing groups in your area.
This isn’t only for your own community protection. Your ability to organize today will change the political landscape tomorrow. When revolution occurs, the social organizations that show the greatest resilience through the regime are the ones typically calling the shots when the dust settles. When it comes to elections, get out the vote drives are useless if most of the voters are fascists. At some point, you have to do grassroots political education if you don’t want fascist candidates winning elections. Mutual aid networks are excellent forums not only for teaching each other good political ideas, but demonstrating them in practice.
Join a Union to help prepare for a General Strike! 💪
If you aren’t in a union (or even if you are, it’s worth dual-carding), consider joining the IWW to unionize your workplace (bonus: you’ll get higher wages, better benefits, and more time off if you succeed!). Unions are essential to effectively enacting a general strike, as most unions have a strike fund that can supplement your income during a general strike to make it more financially bearable (you should also save as much money as you can reasonably do, so it can also be used to keep yourself afloat during a strike).
And for our international friends, you should join one as well, as fascism is gaining momentum globally, and they are in bed with fossil fuels. If your country isn’t listed below, just contact the IWW directly in the link above, and they’ll help you set up a new local branch.
Adopt Security Culture and Digital Camouflage 🛡️
Sometimes benign seeming efforts can turn into unexpected personal data collecting traps. Like an obscure website for exchanging contact info with other students turning into a global ad-tech surveillance network (Facebook), or innocent seeming online personality tests being use to harvest character profiles. Even Etsy, Reddit, Tinder, and Duolingo are feeding information to US Government Agencies like ICE.
Security culture is commonly used to describe the general awareness of such potential traps and how it can affect groups or entire communities. This goes beyond mere individual privacy efforts, as without joint efforts these often fail to work.
Especially in activist circles, security culture is paramount. For opsec reasons not everyone in the group might be aware of what clandestine efforts others are involved in, but with a general security culture many potential data leaks can be avoided.
Movements are made by the volume of their participants, and the easier and less dangerous it is to participate, the more people will get involved. As more people get involved, individual involvement becomes even less dangerous, creating a virtuous cycle.
We’ll start it off with some General Advice:
- Mentally wall off personal uniquely identifying info from your online presence, actively build a habit of opsec so that withholding information is your default mental state
- Be careful about who you meet online
- Use different, unrelated usernames, passwords & emails for every account. And try not to connect to those accounts with your real IP address (use Tor or a VPN)
- Be mindful that anything done online leaves a trail
- agents provocateurs may seek to find patsies willing to perform an ill-advised illegal activity in order to legitimize police repression. If someone is trying to pressure you, especially if you don’t have a long and proven history with them, be extremely wary.
For a full guide on what encrypted communications platforms to use, and how to stay off the radar, read the Digital Camouflage section within the Monthly Meta post here (you’ll need to scroll down. I’d add it here, but it won’t fit in this comment).
I’d also highly recommend Full Spectrum Resistance to anyone who wants further info on how to resist (audiobook version here).
So maybe in 100years of you can pay for it you can buy your home O²enrichment
Thank god we still have mars
