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Drawdown: The most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse Global Warming

drawdown.org

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Re: Drawdown: The most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse Global Warming

#41

Post by winstonewert »

biot wrote: post #12
fleevy wrote: post #4

Do people really still unironically believe in global warming? I mean how gullible can you possibly be.

Can you agree that air which is less polluted is a good thing? Or that rich soil which has a variety plant growth is better than a lifeless desert? Or that clean water is better than polluted water? And so on. Much of this boils down to "stop polluting the environment we live in". Focus on means of reducing pollution and the labels (global warming or not) will take care of themselves.

The problem is that we have to make trade-offs between different types of pollution: https://www.euractiv.com/section/sustainable-dev/news/trade-...

So, your line of reasoning doesn't really work: if CO2 weren't a threat we would make entirely different pollutant trade-offs then the case where CO2 threatens to end life as we know it.

Re: Drawdown: The most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse Global Warming

#42

Post by dlwdlw »

freshhawk wrote: post #20

So zero political solutions here? Just a list of technological aspects of a solution? How can people not know that the problem here is getting people to do something, it is definitely not that we don't know what to do which is a minor problem in comparison. What about a group who have starving children and will clear-cut a forest to feed them no matter what agreements are in place? How much violence is used to enforc…

I have a pet theory that there is some self indulgent delusion in not recognizing the real issue in order to preemptively take the high ground for an "I told you so."

In many multiplayer games for example, I've seen many support or healer character be the most toxic. By playing the non-fun helper healer, he or she takes the high ground to blame the rest of the team, oblivious that the toxicity is destroying the real thing that matters.

I sense something similar in some developers I work with and some in this proposal as well. Which isn't to say that technical experts giving technical advice and political experts giving political advice isn't good. It's just a similarity I feel.

Re: Drawdown: The most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse Global Warming

#43

Post by lumberjack »

colordrops wrote: post #29
freshhawk wrote: post #20

So zero political solutions here? Just a list of technological aspects of a solution? How can people not know that the problem here is getting people to do something, it is definitely not that we don't know what to do which is a minor problem in comparison. What about a group who have starving children and will clear-cut a forest to feed them no matter what agreements are in place? How much violence is used to enforc…

Doesn't it seem though that politics is a deadlock, with nations playing a game of chicken that has no winner? It's a case of the tragedy of the commons. No power broker is going to sacrifice their economy or political backers enough to make a difference, as there would always be someone else with a more short term view take advantage of their temporary weakness. It seems that there is no feasible solution other than…

The Paris Agreement was an attempt at fixing that problem. I think it's still the way forward.

Re: Drawdown: The most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse Global Warming

#44

Post by diafygi »

Howdy! I work in cleantech, and I guess it's that time again for a what-can-you-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 (including mine).

==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: Drawdown: The most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse Global Warming

#46

Post by atemerev »

Sorry, this is all flawed. Just an agenda of constraining ourselves and limiting human influence. Won't work. We humans are inherently driven to expand and use more and more energy for our needs. This is a given. Any solutions trying to ignore this are doomed.

What we need is technological solutions to _reverse_ global warming effects. Like iron fertilization of oceans.

Re: Drawdown: The most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse Global Warming

#47

Post by kelnos »

diafygi wrote: post #44

Howdy! I work in cleantech, and I guess it's that time again for a what-can-you-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…

I have a background in electrical/computer engineering, but much of that has faded from memory. For the past 15 years I've been a software developer, starting out in the embedded space, and today working on cloud telecom. I feel like I don't have the background or domain knowledge required to break into a career in clean energy, though it's a space that interests me a lot (both intellectually, and because of survival-of-the-species reasons). Do you have any suggestions how I might break into this field, beyond attending the events you listed (or is that enough?)? Is there a need for my skills more or less as-is, or am I looking at a steep learning curve and more "entry-level" positions until I can train up?

Re: Drawdown: The most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse Global Warming

#48

Post by atemerev »

fooker wrote: post #33
zitterbewegung wrote: post #23

My personal thought is to make a geoengineering company to perform carbon sequestration. At first you would figure out how to grow large amounts of switchgrass and or algae using some type of automated planting either in deserts or in the ocean. Then start breeding or make GMO plants that would more efficiently sequester carbon. Also, try to make other systems that would lower temperature like a space based shade or…

Doesn't seem this stands to make money, so not many people will be interested.

We humans are really inventive in ways of making money. Bringing more unhospitable lands back to sanity? Allowing for more consumption without the need to curb lifestyles? A lot of money can be made from here.

Re: Drawdown: The most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse Global Warming

#49

Post by awinder »

freshhawk wrote: post #20

So zero political solutions here? Just a list of technological aspects of a solution? How can people not know that the problem here is getting people to do something, it is definitely not that we don't know what to do which is a minor problem in comparison. What about a group who have starving children and will clear-cut a forest to feed them no matter what agreements are in place? How much violence is used to enforc…

Climate refugees have a large shot at flipping the cost / benefit ratio here. If we can get someone to enthusiastically explain we need to solve this problem by paying labor in OH, PA etc to work together with scientists and businesses right now. Or else we are gonna pay relocating a bunch of people, paying for wars, and generally just wasting a ton of bad money. It’s a problem with solutions that could really unite a bunch of people who are really divided right now, and history is calling for someone to step up and seize it

Re: Drawdown: The most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse Global Warming

#50

Post by acidburnNSA »

Nit picking on one issue: Nuclear. I'm glad they at least listed it as a solution but I feel that there's way too much agenda in here that isn't based on the science.

It has potential to avoid emissions, but there are many reasons for concern: deadly meltdowns, tritium releases, abandoned uranium mines, mine-tailings pollution, radioactive waste, illicit plutonium trafficking, and thefts of missile material, among them. [1]

Nevermind:

* that >60% of the carbon-free electricity in the USA comes from nukes right now,

* that by displacing air pollution, nukes worldwide have saved 1.8 million lives and prevented 65 billion tonnes CO2-eq [2]

* that nobody died or is expected to die from radiation at Fukushima

* that uranium enrichment is by far the easiest way to illicitly traffic weapons materials (which can happen without any nuclear power)

* that Hanford was a cold-war nuclear weapons facility that did not prioritize waste storage, and that it was totally unrelated to commercial power generation

The capabilities of nuclear energy to thwart climate change are real and gigantic. Getting costs down would help, and the Koreans have been doing an amazing job at that. The French electrified their whole country with nukes in 10 years by standardizing designs and that's been wildly successful. This solution should have said something like: "If we can standardize a safe Gen III+ reactor and get costs down, nuclear can and will grow as our climate champion."

[1] http://www.drawdown.org/solutions/energy/nuclear [2] http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es3051197

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