Where is the ice? Great Lakes ice cover is nearly non-existent and reaches 50-year record low

A warm start to the winter season has left the Great Lakes virtually ice-free and with their lowest ice cover to kick off a new year in at least 50 years.

On New Year’s Day, only 0.35% of the Great Lakes were covered in ice, the lowest on record for the date, and well below the historical average of nearly 10% for this point in winter, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL).

This year’s missing ice in the Great Lakes adds to a growing trend of winter ailments plaguing the US, from dwindling snowpacks in the West to an ongoing snow drought in the Northeast, all becoming more common due to warming temperatures from the climate crisis.

Masterblaster,

most of you are too chickenshit to put the heads of those responsible on a stake and that's why we're where we're at.

alabasterhotdog,

Spoken like a incendiary puppet account from a useful idiot.

Masterblaster,

go die in a corner then coward

Garbanzo, (edited )

deleted_by_moderator

    •
    OurTragicUniverse,
    OurTragicUniverse avatar

    Cool cool. You go first, lead by example and others will follow.

    chitak166,

    If only these problems could be solved by 1 person.

    Masterblaster,

    it takes a mob. this is what the internet is for: so citizens can organize. they can't stop all of us.

    OurTragicUniverse,
    OurTragicUniverse avatar

    What, do you need a buddy system or something for your murder spree?

    Masterblaster,

    it takes a mob. this is what the internet is for: so citizens can organize. they can't stop all of us.

    OurTragicUniverse,
    OurTragicUniverse avatar

    So you spend your time on the internet trying to convince people to meet up with you irl and kill folk?

    How's that working out for you, any takers?

    Masterblaster,

    i'm just a problem solver. i don't see how we can fix anything until the far right is destroyed. they will muddy the waters until it's too late. i'm genuinely asking you what alternative you see to making lasting change for the better. all we have to do is collectively agree that's what it's going to take and people will start figuring out how to organize.

    OurTragicUniverse,
    OurTragicUniverse avatar

    At this point climate collapse and resource depletion is going to take care of us all by the end of the century so imo damage mitigation is our best option.

    Don't have kids. Go vegan. Reduce your consumption of items produced by slavery and sweatshops as much as possible.
    Basically just do as much as you can to lower the amount of suffering you create by existing.

    Killing people in the name of left wing politics is going to make things worse for everyone.

    Masterblaster,

    it takes a mob. this is what the internet is for: so citizens can organize. they can't stop all of us.

    RememberTheApollo_,

    Don’t see you being arrested for doing something about it?

    chitak166,

    Imagine if that stopped people during the Civil Rights Movement.

    Masterblaster,

    it takes a mob. this is what the internet is for: so citizens can organize. they can't stop all of us.

    RememberTheApollo_,

    Then maybe calling out the people in this thread for something you aren’t doing yourself isn’t a great idea. You’re not calling out a mob, you’re calling out us.

    chitak166,

    Unfortunately, these problems literally cannot be solved alone.

    It takes collective action, which is why the working class never wins.

    RememberTheApollo_,

    We literally have the most to lose.

    Nudding,

    I bet you’re too chicken shit to go self immolate on the white house lawn, too.

    chitak166,

    What would that accomplish?

    Nudding,

    Historically, fuck all.

    dangblingus,

    So what’s with the original reply then? Not really adding to the conversation. In an existential crisis, people historically choose life over death, but now we’re choosing the slow death.

    Nudding,

    I thought it exemplified the pointlessness of the original comment.

    FlyingSquid,
    @FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

    True, I am too ‘chickenshit’ to go on my own to a person who almost definitely has multiple armed security guards to kill them and put their head on a stake. Why haven’t you done it yet? Too ‘chickenshit?’

    Masterblaster,

    it takes a mob. this is what the internet is for: so citizens can organize. they can't stop all of us.

    FlyingSquid,
    @FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

    Okay, who have you organized so far for this mob? Where and when are they meeting?

    Masterblaster,

    you keep asking me what i've done. what have YOU done? where's our clandestine communications? it takes cooperation.

    FlyingSquid,
    @FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

    No, I’m asking you when and where the mob is meeting. You’ve said there has to be a mob. When and where will the mob be? Just give us a time and a date and a place.

    Masterblaster,

    the point is to keep calling for one until people take it seriously enough to form one. it's a war. whose side are you on?

    FlyingSquid,
    @FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

    We can’t take it seriously enough to form one unless you tell us when and where to form it. It seems like you don’t really want this mob to happen since you aren’t being proactive about it.

    Masterblaster,

    okay. i see whose side you are on. fuck off.

    FlyingSquid,
    @FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

    Yes. I’m on the side that wants to know when and where the mob is meeting. I’m not sure why you want me to fuck off when you want a mob. Shouldn’t you want me to join?

    Masterblaster,

    we're meeting at your house. what's your address little bitch?

    Blackbeard,
    @Blackbeard@lemmy.world avatar

    Removed: rule 1

    Keep it civil, please.

    Masterblaster,

    ah yes, the charade of civility. let's carry on pretending there's some shred of that left.

    derf82,

    Do you think The Purge is real or something? One day we can just kill people that deserve it?

    Masterblaster,

    a society can collectively do whatever it wants when it sets its mind to a task. if you don't do it first, they're gonna do it to you. don't be a victim.

    derf82,

    Next year, we’ll probably see catastrophic algal blooms, as the cold at least killed off a lot of it. Next year, it will have a massive head start. Microcystins and hypoxic water will kill wildlife and poison the drinking water.

    whoisearth,
    @whoisearth@lemmy.ca avatar

    I can’t pretend to predict the future but I imagine scientists everywhere are in a perpetual state of “oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck.” Waiting to see what happens and how bad it’s gonna be.

    It’s gonna be bad. Real bad

    We reap what we sow and we been sowing this for decades.

    SCB,

    This current melt is also due to localized factors, like the El Nino event we are going through, making the climate-change-induced ice reduction greatly exacerbated. Ice on the Great Lakes has been declining for 50 years.

    Just as no Congressperson should be bringing in snow alls to refute climate change, we should also keep in mind that weather and climate are vastly different things.

    Remember to bring this up in a couple years when Republicans are talking about how the ice is back so climate change isn’t real.

    CrowAirbrush,

    Oh well, did all i could afford and the government demanded more by increasing the cost of living…pushing me in the reds with an employer that can’t afford to increase the wage.

    Good luck y’all…i just stuck around to watch it all burn, so maybe i do get lucky in the end.

    doppelgangmember,

    Meanwhile, She’ll just won Advertising awards for their GReEn EnErGy ad$.

    Whata time to be alive lol

    Pirky,
    @Pirky@lemmy.world avatar

    I never thought that in 10 years, we’d go from one of the coldest UP winters I’d ever seen to one of the warmest. This was my first Christmas and New Years in 30 years where I didn’t see snow on the ground. It’s sad to see.

    I worry how this will mess with the following seasons. With the lack of ice, the lake levels drop faster because the water can evaporate. Pair that with liquid water’s darker color, means it will heat up faster and evaporate that much more water.
    The lack of snow means we’ll have lower spring runoff than normal. So the lakes won’t get replenished as spring arrives. This could send us into drought conditions really quickly.

    All of this will lead to plummeting lake levels. I wonder if it’ll reach the levels from 2007-2012.

    PopShark, (edited )

    I’m in the LP and my snow tires haven’t had any use all season yet. This shit is serious

    Edit: we just got our first winter weather advisory of the season!!! What coincidence lol

    ThatWeirdGuy1001,
    @ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world avatar

    Scientists 40 years ago - “The Earth is going to start warming and it’s gonna cause issues”

    40 years later

    Issues - Exist

    The media - “wHaT iS hApPeNiNg!?!?!?!?”

    kent_eh,

    Scientists 40 years ago - “The Earth is going to start warming and it’s gonna cause issues”

    40 years later

    Issues - Exist

    The media - “wHaT iS hApPeNiNg!?!?!?!?”

    A bunch of idiots online: " it’s just El ninio. I like warm weather."

    rab,

    Don’t have kids

    CluckN,

    I’ll buy as many baby goats as I god damn please

    CrowAirbrush,

    Can’t afford 'm anyway.

    FlyingSquid,
    @FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

    But I always sort my recycling!

    Nudding,

    I stopped drinking milk!

    Good thing Taylor swift is allowed to fucking take her jet to a city 30 mins away though. 🙄

    joshhsoj1902,

    As you should, but that’s attempting to solve a different environmentally devistating issue.

    SeaJ,

    Maybe if companies do drive more green washing to avoid regulation, it will totally help. /s

    Ensign_Crab,

    Fellas, it’s been good to know ya.

    Buddahriffic,

    Some more than others.

    girlfreddy,
    @girlfreddy@lemmy.ca avatar

    The Edmund Fitzgerald arrives.

    Leviathan, (edited )

    The rich and corporations are killing our planet. They don’t care if we die and people would rather save a hundred bucks on taxes than vote in their best interest.

    chitak166,

    I’m guessing you don’t use fossil fuels?

    misterundercoat,

    ^ Hey look everybody, it’s the “curious” guy from the meme in real life!

    chitak166,

    You must be reddit-brained.

    fastandcurious,
    @fastandcurious@lemmy.world avatar

    You should know it’s a bad look when not a single person agrees with you

    girlfreddy,
    @girlfreddy@lemmy.ca avatar

    *Spiderman meme *

    dangblingus,

    There is no ethical consumption under capitalism. If there was a viable green alternative to transportation granted to us by our overlords, I’m sure most people would choose it.

    EatATaco,

    You mean like taking a bike or walking? Let’s not be silly here, I live in a small town right outside a big city. There is a train in my town that goes into the city, it’s highly walkable, there are buses that run within a block of my house into the city. . .and people still drive everywhere.

    We’re all to blame for this. While I think the best way to tackle it is to put the burden on the corporations, as it’s much easier to centralize the changes, trying to pretend like the individual has no say in this is the same blame shift of corporations trying to claim it’s the individual who needs to change. Everyone wants it to be convenient and cheap and fast. We all need to shift how we think about things.

    Garbanzo,

    There is a train from my town to the one I work in. There is one train per day in either direction. The morning train would get me to the train station about five minutes before my shift, and it’s a 15-20 minute walk from the station to the office, so that doesn’t work. The evening train is late enough that catching it isn’t a problem, but I’d have to figure out how to kill 45 minutes every day. If I got my schedule adjusted to make the morning train workable I’d miss the evening train. If your goal was to technically offer a public transit option while making it completely impractical so no one would use it, it would look exactly like what I have.

    EatATaco,

    The poster made the claim that if it were available, most people would use it. It’s not available to you. So your position is not part of what I am pointing to.

    The reality is that even when it is available, most people don’t use it, because driving is very convenient, good for being lazy, comfortable, and doesn’t require much thinking.

    Make no mistake about it. We just want to blame corporations, because it’s easier and more comfortable than blaming ourselves and it makes it easy to justify changing nothing in your own life. It’s an uncomfortable reality that people just don’t want to accept.

    Garbanzo,

    The reality is that even when it is available, most people don’t use it, because it isn’t actually available in a way that would make it fast, comfortable, and in a way that doesn’t require much thinking. It’s strategically available while remaining useless and that must change before anyone will be able to rely on it.

    EatATaco,

    It’s not even remotely useless where I live. The bus comes every 10 or so minutes during the day, and I just looked at the train schedule and there averages a train about every 40 minutes throughout the day (obviously more clustered around rush hours).

    You can always find a reason it’s not convenient enough to use. I know, I’ve done it myself. It doesn’t quite get close to where we’re going, so we would have to walk a bunch or transfer on the other end. It’s faster to drive. It’s cheaper to drive (when there are 4 of us) if I think I can find parking. It’s cold. It’s too hot.

    The reality is that it’s almost always going to be more convenient to drive, unless something drastically changes. It’s blame shifting, just like corporations are trying to do.

    Angry_Maple,
    @Angry_Maple@sh.itjust.works avatar

    Lmao I guess sucks to be you if you’re on opening shift.

    Don’t worry, I’m not actually taking this personally, but please remember that there is a very wide range of requirements for transport. I would absolutely LOVE to be able to bus to get to my job, but the city buses that I need don’t even start running until my shift starts. Biking would be wildly dangerous, as there is no way to get there while avoiding passing by poorly lit ramps for major highways. Fuck me for that, I guess.

    My city also recently made the (dumb imo) decision to cut back on public transit. Now we have a bunch of seniors that have to walk a long ways if they want to take the bus. In some areas, good luck to you if it’s winter. Sometimes the buses will miss those stops altogether, usually without warning. Not great.

    My region also completely axed public transportation between cities, without providing a replacement.

    If we finally got decent public transportation, you can bet your arse that I would use it again. I do need a job to eat though, and staying alive sounds nice sometimes.

    We should point more of this focus and ire at the yackadoodles who insist on removing the option of public transport. I certainly didn’t vote for this shit. It used to be good, and I used to use it daily.

    EatATaco,

    I don’t think I’m being clear. I understand for some people it’s not viable. I am absolutely 100% with you that they should extend public transportation. I’m lucky to have it now, although having it available was a major factor when choosing where to settle down. I have no idea about your situation and am not judging you. I can see how it comes off that way.

    I’m just pointing to what the top level poster said: most people would use it if it were available. And I disagree as my experience screams the opposite. Driving has to be inconvenient or stupidly expensive for people to really start making the shift.

    The other poster just kept implying that there really is no reasonable public transportation anywhere. In the past (dear god I’m old) almost 30 years, I’ve only lived in a non-walkable, public-transportation free place for 3 years. I know this to be untrue, and I also know it to be untrue that people will all of a sudden give up unnecessarily driving places because they have public transportation. I’ve seen people make the choice countless times to unnecessarily drive.

    ThatWeirdGuy1001,
    @ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world avatar

    https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/fc98a5b7-6ef9-4641-82c2-0f977b133baf.png

    chitak166,

    “It’s anyone’s fault but mine.”

    UrPartnerInCrime,

    OK but then what’s your argument for those that don’t use fossil fuels?

    iheartneopets,

    You really think people are choosing to use fossil fuels at this point? Oh buddy, come to any city where public transit isn’t a thing because moneyed interests lobbied (and continue to lobby) against it, and you can see that there is no choice in the matter. It’s drive a gasoline-powered car or just don’t get to work/buy groceries for 95% of people in most places.

    chitak166,

    Yeah you’re right. Nobody is able to live without using fossil fuels.

    ChemicalPilgrim,

    Weird, seems like maybe we’ve destroyed the climate. Who could have predicted this?

    NegativeLookBehind,
    NegativeLookBehind avatar

    Didn’t those stupid science people mention it once or twice

    Burn_The_Right,

    You mean those stinky fakers who were raking in all those bucks from… (checks notes) …“Big Science”?

    FlyingSquid,
    @FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

    Whatever. The point is where does it say anything about it in the Bible?

    rckclmbr,

    About the second coming:

    The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.

    It’s low key why a lot if people don’t want to do anything about it, they see it as the second coming of Christ

    FlyingSquid,
    @FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

    Some of them are trying to speed it up. War in Israel is exactly what they want because they think that all the Jews have to return there for Jesus to come back.

    This Jew ain’t goin’ to Israel. I’m an American, not an Israeli, and I have never had any interest in going to or supporting Israel. If I’m going to travel, I’ll travel to a country that isn’t constantly at war with a people they keep oppressed.

    Sorry to disappoint you, evangelicals. Guess Jesus isn’t coming back.

    fastandcurious,
    @fastandcurious@lemmy.world avatar

    Those conspiracy theorists?

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