The Climate Bathtub Model

Did you see this farther down on the same page?

The 1000 Liters of water in the Bathtub corresponds to the 1000 Gigatons of CO2 we have added to the atmosphere since 1750. The inflow of 50 L/m into the bathtub corresponds to the 51 Gigatons of greenhouse gases we are emitting each year. When the Killing machine faucet is shut off, it reduces the net inflow into the bathtub to 5 L/m, a 90% reduction in the inflow, which corresponds to the 87% reduction we expect in real life. The 2000 Liters of Vegan Reforestation potential corresponds to the 2000 Gigatons of CO2 that can be stored through rewilding grazing lands. The 350 Liters in the Aerosols cistern corresponds to the one-third increase in radiative forcing that will occur when aerosols disappear as well as the outgassing of CO2 that will occur from the ocean/land as we reduce CO2 levels in the atmosphere.

To put it another way:

The bathtub basically represents the world climate system. The water in the bathtub represents the greenhouse gases (mainly carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide) that humans have put into the atmosphere, responsible for the warming of the planet.

The baby represents life on Earth, the majority of which will be killed in a mass extinction if climate change continues too far. This is represented by the baby drowning in the bathtub full of water.

The burning machine represents the burning of fossil fuels (petroleum, coal, natural gas, and all of the related substances like tar sands and oil shale). The faucet on the left side represents the greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels, contributing to climate change.

The "Aerosols" cistern represents the amount of warming that has not occurred due to the cooling effect of air pollution reflecting sunlight back into space. If the air pollution (largely caused by burning fossil fuels) were to dissipate, such as by shifting to cleaner-burning fuels (low-sulphur diesel fuel, for example) or by no longer burning fuel for energy at all (shutting down the "burning machine" in this analogy), then all of the warming cancelled out by the pollution will occur. This is represented by the water in the cistern flowing out into the bathtub; removing the aerosol pollution has the same effect as adding more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.

The killing machine represents the animal exploitation industries, including but not limited to animal agriculture. The smaller faucet on the right side represents the greenhouse gas emissions of these industries due to deforestation, animal respiration and flatulence, fermentation of waste, and so on.

The drain of the bathtub represents the rate at which forests and other natural vegetation could capture greenhouse gases (mainly carbon dioxide), removing them from the atmosphere and removing their effect on the climate. This only applies if the forests are allowed to grow back, which is currently not the case due to the huge amount of land used by animal agriculture for grazing and the production of feed crops (maize, soya, palm oil, and so on). This is representing by the animal parts and secretions blocking the drain.

The 2000L Vegan Reforestation Potential tank represents the total amount of carbon dioxide that could be captured and removed from the atmosphere, negating its effect on the climate, if the land currently used for grazing cows/goats/sheep/others were allowed to regrow into forest. It is called the "vegan" reforestation potential because in order for that land to be freed from grazing so that the forests to grow back, people need to live vegan.

The climate bathtub model is meant to illustrate that ending the use of fossil fuels without ending animal exploitation would not only not solve the climate crisis, it would immediately make the problem worse due to the reduction in aerosol pollution. It is crucial to first "unblock the drain" by putting an end to the industrial-scale killing of other animals in order to stop the climate bathtub from overflowing and drowning the baby (killing most life on Earth). The order of operations matters. Like algebra class.

Does that help?