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Ask HN: What can be done to prevent a climate catastrophe?

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Re: Ask HN: What can be done to prevent a climate catastrophe?

#331

Post by nkurz »

starbugs wrote: post #232
tralarpa wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> spreading fear and doom, which does not yield any positive outcome at all. That's not true. You are keeping saying that in several of your comments. There are many examples where things have changed because of Spreading fear and doom -> Politicians pass laws -> Industry is forced to react -> New technologies developed/deployed/... What you and some others here are proposing is basically to wait that things crash an…

No that's not what I propose and I also don't think that's what op proposed. If you read the comments again you will see that all that was said is "you won't change the outcome this way", which means that political action alone is not enough. Look at what's happening currently. All that fear and doom may lead to political decisions, but have they changed the carbon level in our atmosphere? You try to regulate somethi…

I think it doesn't make sense anymore to discuss this here.

Personally, I'm impressed with the overall quality of discussion in this thread. It's going a whole lot better than most other discussions I've seen online. There's a certain irony that you are against "doom and gloom" arguments, but fail to see any hope for productive discussion. Stick around, keep discussing, and make it incrementally better.

Re: Ask HN: What can be done to prevent a climate catastrophe?

#332

Post by WhompingWindows »

We'll definitely need geo-engineering to artificially cool our climate while we work out how to effectively remove CO2 from the air and store it for 1000's of years. It may require mass reforestation or putting carbon dioxide into concrete; whatever the answer, if we do not employ it on a massive scale, it won't matter if we transitioned quickly off of fossil fuels, which by the way we haven't. So, we will DEFINITELY need to artificially cool our planet.

Re: Ask HN: What can be done to prevent a climate catastrophe?

#333

Post by [deleted] »

WhompingWindows wrote: post #328
cletus wrote: post #11

So I'm honestly not as concerned about this as I once was. Don't get me wrong: the climate is going to change, arguably we're in a mass extinction event already and people aren't going to suddenly start acting in the collective long term welfare of humanity. One of the things I like about futurism is the levelheaded optimism and pragmatism you tend to get. And I'll call out Isaac Arthur as a well-known example of thi…

You don't have to turn the Earth into Venus. You just have to raise the Earth from 283 Kelvin to 285 Kelvin, and you'll get massive flooding and ice melt which technology won't be able to wave away. Look at hurricanes today, they are deadly, where is the tech saving us from them?

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: What can be done to prevent a climate catastrophe?

#334

Post by JoeAltmaier »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #317
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just come to my place in the country, here in Iowa. That's what all the family are expecting to do. It's our gathering place. Remote from centers of population, food production facilities and stores everywhere, inhospitable enough to discourage refugees (winter), personal firearm ownership the norm. And our family includes doctors, soldiers, farmers and managers. Kind of the perfect mix!

Thanks :). Would love to come and help you fortify. Alas, it'll involve catching a flight from central Europe before shit hits the fan.

All about the timing. Maybe make a dry run before it gets that far, work the kinks out? Honestly, you'd be welcome.

Re: Ask HN: What can be done to prevent a climate catastrophe?

#336

Post by wtmt »

Don't wait for others to do things or take decisions. That's going to be an uphill battle if you really want changes quicker. Start with yourself, and then push others (including friends, family, colleagues, corporations, politicians, etc.). A lot can be done if people take up changes on their own instead of waiting for politicians or corporations or "those other polluting countries" to "just do something" about it.

Here are a few things you can do yourself and encourage those you know personally to follow:

1. Eliminate/reduce throwing or wasting food. Don't buy anything you wouldn't finish eating.

2. Eat only plants, or make plants the largest part of your meals while eliminating or reducing the consumption of animal products. Make sure you read up on nutrition and/or join some support groups.

3. Walk as much as possible and avoid fossil fuel based transport for yourself. Or try cycling. If necessary, take public transport.

4. Promote and use renewable sources of energy, like solar and/or wind, wherever possible.

5. Have fewer children or delay have children a little bit. This may have some other side effects depending on where you live and how the population demographic looks like.

If you think of yourself as committed to this cause and yet you see issues or barriers with the above, that's only a sign of how these things seem impossible to others who don't care enough. Work with (and on) yourself first.

Don't be shocked or surprised: you will see a whole lot of apathy all around you. People will even try to discourage you from doing anything and try to convince you that whatever you do just doesn't matter. Stop looking at them or listening to them.

Re: Ask HN: What can be done to prevent a climate catastrophe?

#337

Post by starbugs »

nkurz wrote: post #331
starbugs wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No that's not what I propose and I also don't think that's what op proposed. If you read the comments again you will see that all that was said is "you won't change the outcome this way", which means that political action alone is not enough. Look at what's happening currently. All that fear and doom may lead to political decisions, but have they changed the carbon level in our atmosphere? You try to regulate somethi…

I think it doesn't make sense anymore to discuss this here. Personally, I'm impressed with the overall quality of discussion in this thread. It's going a whole lot better than most other discussions I've seen online. There's a certain irony that you are against "doom and gloom" arguments, but fail to see any hope for productive discussion. Stick around, keep discussing, and make it incrementally better.

Indeed I fail to see any hope for a productive discussion involving different opinions on HN if I see people scrolling down to the bottom of a comment page to put another downvote on an already greyed out post.

It's becoming an echo chamber.

I am happy to continue a discussion, but not here.

Re: Ask HN: What can be done to prevent a climate catastrophe?

#338

Post by [deleted] »

Sharlin wrote: post #248
xupybd wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we can get renewables cheaper than fossil fuels and get reasonable energy storage politics won’t be a problem.

Moving energy production to renewables is the easiest part. Much more difficult is the part where we need to do something about the few billion (and rising!) gas-guzzling personal automobiles. Electric cars are simply not going to be the solution in the timeframe that matters. In the EU traffic is the only major CO2 source that continues increasing. The third big problem is agriculture, specifically meat production.…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: What can be done to prevent a climate catastrophe?

#340

Post by kisstheblade »

The green parties around the world are to blame for this. The only worthwhile actions to combat this are

1) Using nuclear power (on a massive scale preferrably) 2) Stopping globalisation (because transport is such a large contributor to CO2 emissions.). Local manufacturing would be much better for the environment (reduced transportation needs and also the western countries factories are much more sustainable than in third world countries and china)

Also reducing immigration helps, people in Africa use much less resources than the same people eg. transported to the cold north.

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