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Atmospheric CO2 levels accelerate upwards

nationalobserver.com

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Re: Atmospheric CO2 levels accelerate upwards

#12

Post by lpolovets »

Are Canada's CO2 stats material to global warming, or are they being over-dramatized because this is a Canadian publication? The graph in the article shows that Canada has 5x the per capita CO2 extraction of China, but on the other hand China has 40x as many people.

(For context, I think global warming is very real and addressing it should be a top priority, but I also believe that sensationalist articles often do more harm than good.)

Re: Atmospheric CO2 levels accelerate upwards

#13

Post by diafygi »

Howdy! I work in cleantech, and I guess it's that time again for a what-are-we-going-to-do-about-it post :)

To start, here's my favorite climate change joke: "They say we won't act until it's too late... Luckily, it's too late!"

==So what can you do about it?==

The biggest thing this article doesn't say that is most relevant to the HN audience is that you can work at a new energy technology company! Our industries are out of the R&D stage and are currently focused on scale and growth[1], and we need as many smart people as we can get. There are lots of companies hiring software engineers.

==How do I find a job fighting climate change?==

I'd recommend browsing the exhibitor and speaker lists from the most recent conference in each sector (linked below). Check out the companies that interest you and see if they are hiring.

    * Energy Storage[2][3]
    * Solar[4][5]
    * Wind[6]
    * Nuclear[7]
    * Electric Utilities[8][9]
    * Electric vehicles[10]
Also, if you're in the SF bay area, I'd recommend subscribing to my Bay Area Energy Events Calendar[11]. Just start showing up to events and you'll probably find a job really quickly.

[1]: https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/22/energy-is-the-new-new-inte...

[2]: http://www.esnaexpo.com/

[3]: https://www.greentechmedia.com/events/live/u.s.-energy-stora...

[4]: https://www.intersolar.us/

[5]: http://www.solarpowerinternational.com/

[6]: http://www.windpowerexpo.org/

[7]: https://www.nei.org/Conferences

[8]: http://www.distributech.com/index.html

[9]: https://www.greentechmedia.com/events/live/grid-edge-world-f...

[10]: http://tec.ieee.org/

[11]: https://bayareaenergyevents.com/

Re: Atmospheric CO2 levels accelerate upwards

#14

Post by tempestn »

std_throwaway wrote: post #7

I don't like sensationalism as it clouds the mind with short-lived buzzes. Instead of always trying to alarm people of the big invisible terror lurking in the dark, we should educate people on how to handle the situation. What are the scenarios? What can we do ourselves for those scenarios (not to prevent, but to prepare)? Which cities and countries will be lost at what point in time? How do we protect ourselves? Be…

I agree with you, but I don't think it's wrong that there's a general feeling that we're working on this problem, and we're getting better. Look at all these solar panels and electric vehicles we're reading about. We know there's still C02 being pumped out, but at least we're starting to get a handle on it. This shows that actually we're not. We've got a positive second derivative here. The current path leads pretty quickly to likely disaster. If you really believe that, maybe you're willing to accept more pain (economic, etc.) to make a significant difference than you otherwise would.

Personally, I live in BC, which is about to have a provincial election. I've been struggling with my choice, because while I generally align more with the NDP (left-wing party) on ideals, a number of their platform pieces seem misguided or vote-buying at best. The Liberal party (which is really a conservative party in all but name) doesn't really align with my values, but they do seem more competent, and less likely to make poor fiscal policy.

However, one key difference between their platforms is on expansion of natural gas extraction, and environmental issues in general. Reading this article got me thinking that climate change is a big enough issue that it should probably trump other concerns.

Re: Atmospheric CO2 levels accelerate upwards

#16

Post by tempestn »

lpolovets wrote: post #12

Are Canada's CO2 stats material to global warming, or are they being over-dramatized because this is a Canadian publication? The graph in the article shows that Canada has 5x the per capita CO2 extraction of China, but on the other hand China has 40x as many people. (For context, I think global warming is very real and addressing it should be a top priority, but I also believe that sensationalist articles often do mo…

Even though Canada's total contribution may be small compared to one of the greatest-polluting countries on the planet, our contribution is still significant. Yes it's highlighted because it's a Canadian publication, but it's still something we need to take more seriously. Personally I see this article as more of a wake-up call than sensationalist.

Re: Atmospheric CO2 levels accelerate upwards

#17

Post by manglav »

diafygi wrote: post #13

Howdy! I work in cleantech, and I guess it's that time again for a what-are-we-going-to-do-about-it post :) To start, here's my favorite climate change joke: "They say we won't act until it's too late... Luckily, it's too late!" ==So what can you do about it?== The biggest thing this article doesn't say that is most relevant to the HN audience is that you can work at a new energy technology company! Our industries ar…

Thank you for all these resources! I'm extremely interested in cleantech, my bachelor's was in Chemical Engineering, currently a software engineer. Can I email you some of my questions about the field in general?

Re: Atmospheric CO2 levels accelerate upwards

#18

Post by hannob »

lpolovets wrote: post #12

Are Canada's CO2 stats material to global warming, or are they being over-dramatized because this is a Canadian publication? The graph in the article shows that Canada has 5x the per capita CO2 extraction of China, but on the other hand China has 40x as many people. (For context, I think global warming is very real and addressing it should be a top priority, but I also believe that sensationalist articles often do mo…

> Are Canada's CO2 stats material to global warming, or are they being over-dramatized because this is a Canadian publication?

Canada has an extremely important role in the future of CO2 emissions, because it has some of the largest left resources of oil on the planet with its tar sands. And it's a particularly nasty one with an emission footprint far higher than "conventional" oil.

Whether or not Canada will leave a substantial part of that untapped is quite significant.

Re: Atmospheric CO2 levels accelerate upwards

#19

Post by aoeu345 »

diafygi wrote: post #13

Howdy! I work in cleantech, and I guess it's that time again for a what-are-we-going-to-do-about-it post :) To start, here's my favorite climate change joke: "They say we won't act until it's too late... Luckily, it's too late!" ==So what can you do about it?== The biggest thing this article doesn't say that is most relevant to the HN audience is that you can work at a new energy technology company! Our industries ar…

Hi, I don't see anything in your list about carbon sequestration. Can you point me to any companies investing in advanced robotics to assist in silicate mineral crushing & spreading, as it's the only sensible, achievable sequestration technique? Thanks.

For readers interested in carbon sequestration, please check out the following paper: "Enhanced chemical weathering as a geoengineering strategy to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxid e, supply nutrients, and mitigate ocean acidification"[1]

[1]: http://www.greensand.nl/content/user/1/files/rog20004.pdf

Re: Atmospheric CO2 levels accelerate upwards

#20

Post by flukus »

diafygi wrote: post #13

Howdy! I work in cleantech, and I guess it's that time again for a what-are-we-going-to-do-about-it post :) To start, here's my favorite climate change joke: "They say we won't act until it's too late... Luckily, it's too late!" ==So what can you do about it?== The biggest thing this article doesn't say that is most relevant to the HN audience is that you can work at a new energy technology company! Our industries ar…

> The biggest thing this article doesn't say that is most relevant to the HN audience is that you can work at a new energy technology company!

I wonder how much we could save just be writing more efficient code?

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