Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Scientists have signed the largest-ever warning about Earth’s destruction

qz.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 60 posts

Re: Scientists have signed the largest-ever warning about Earth’s destruction

#21

Post by redleggedfrog »

badosu wrote: post #16
redleggedfrog wrote: post #14

The article says, "Earth's destruction" but it doesn't really mean that. It's more about the extinction of humans and other life. How quaint. I have a sneaking suspicion that long after we've choked ourselves out of existence there will still be plenty of life flourishing. Nature will find a way without us. We'll just be a little nasty blip on the geological scale of time.

Could not resist mentioning "Save the planet" from Geroge Carlin: The planet isn’t going anywhere. We are! We’re goin’ away. Pack your shit, Folks, we’re goin’ away. We won’t leave much of a trace either, thank god for that. Maybe a little styrofoam, maybe, little styrofoam. Planet’ll be here and we’ll be long gone. Just another failed mutation. Just another closed-end biological mistake, an evolutionary cul de sac.…

Heh, thank you, I liked that.

Re: Scientists have signed the largest-ever warning about Earth’s destruction

#22

Post by trumbitta2 »

dzdt wrote: post #18

If you are serious about fighting climate change, what is the single most effective place to spend money? My guess is: education for girls in Africa. Why? Carbon emmissions per year come down to (energy use per person per year) (carbon emitted per unit energy) (number of people). In developed nations, all of these terms are stable or declining. In many developing nations, and Africa in particular, population growth i…

I can't even begin to grasp how racist and/or privileged this comment is.

Re: Scientists have signed the largest-ever warning about Earth’s destruction

#23

Post by hockeybias »

badosu wrote: post #16
redleggedfrog wrote: post #14

The article says, "Earth's destruction" but it doesn't really mean that. It's more about the extinction of humans and other life. How quaint. I have a sneaking suspicion that long after we've choked ourselves out of existence there will still be plenty of life flourishing. Nature will find a way without us. We'll just be a little nasty blip on the geological scale of time.

Could not resist mentioning "Save the planet" from Geroge Carlin: The planet isn’t going anywhere. We are! We’re goin’ away. Pack your shit, Folks, we’re goin’ away. We won’t leave much of a trace either, thank god for that. Maybe a little styrofoam, maybe, little styrofoam. Planet’ll be here and we’ll be long gone. Just another failed mutation. Just another closed-end biological mistake, an evolutionary cul de sac.…

Superb.

Re: Scientists have signed the largest-ever warning about Earth’s destruction

#24

Post by the_gastropod »

trumbitta2 wrote: post #22
dzdt wrote: post #18

If you are serious about fighting climate change, what is the single most effective place to spend money? My guess is: education for girls in Africa. Why? Carbon emmissions per year come down to (energy use per person per year) (carbon emitted per unit energy) (number of people). In developed nations, all of these terms are stable or declining. In many developing nations, and Africa in particular, population growth i…

I can't even begin to grasp how racist and/or privileged this comment is.

Yes.. Suggesting one should contribute to organizations funding education for women in poverty-stricken African countries is super racist... /s

Re: Scientists have signed the largest-ever warning about Earth’s destruction

#25

Post by viggity »

orthecreedence wrote: post #2

If the scientists don't convince people, I hope the massive droughts in some places, flooding in others, superstorms, and other massive weather pattern shifts will. In the US, there's still a large group of people (or maybe just a vocal group) that cover their ears and won't listen to anything climate-change related, even in the highest places of our government. I hope a healthy dose of "this is what climate change l…

Remember folks, weather isn't climate unless it fits our narrative.

Re: Scientists have signed the largest-ever warning about Earth’s destruction

#26

Post by trumbitta2 »

the_gastropod wrote: post #24
trumbitta2 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't even begin to grasp how racist and/or privileged this comment is.

Yes.. Suggesting one should contribute to organizations funding education for women in poverty-stricken African countries is super racist... /s

Sure, go ahead and pretend not to have read that the main point of the comment is decreasing fertility rate in sub-saharian Africa.

Let's focus on the single decent point (education) in the whole post and shame on me. It's fun.

Re: Scientists have signed the largest-ever warning about Earth’s destruction

#27

Post by powertower »

orthecreedence wrote: post #9
cjslep wrote: post #6

The enabler in the USA for continuing to believe that there is no link between pollution emissions and more pronounced extreme weather is the lack of education surrounding statistics and its analysis. At this point I just ask what scientific statistic a person would need to hear in order to consider changing their mind. Unfortunately, I haven't ever gotten an informative reply indicating knowledge of the field, and a…

Typical exchange: "Climate change is bullshit! I demand to see evidence of it actually occurring!" "I don't recognize these sources! These were payed for by liberal media! I demand to see real data!" Rinse and repeat.

If you want to be correct, its more like "we've looked at your model and talked to the people that created it, and everyone that worked on it agrees that the debate is being driven by politics rather than science. We've found that emissions of the sun are responsible for 98% of the current climate change, that carbon is the smallest factor in the other 2%, and you are being set up for a global taxation system that is designed to establish control over everyone under a false premise."

Re: Scientists have signed the largest-ever warning about Earth’s destruction

#28

Post by semi-extrinsic »

the_gastropod wrote: post #20
orthecreedence wrote: post #2

If the scientists don't convince people, I hope the massive droughts in some places, flooding in others, superstorms, and other massive weather pattern shifts will. In the US, there's still a large group of people (or maybe just a vocal group) that cover their ears and won't listen to anything climate-change related, even in the highest places of our government. I hope a healthy dose of "this is what climate change l…

Convincing people this is real is only the tiniest first step. Even amongst über-liberals who fully acknowledge climate change is real—and that we're causing it—they're still eating their steak dinners, driving their cars, drinking bottled water, and flying to vacation in far-away lands. Until we each do our tiny parts of reducing our consumption, Earth's temperature will continue its steady march upward. Getting pol…

> Until we each do our tiny parts of reducing our consumption, Earth's temperature will continue its steady march upward.

Now we're getting into the meat of the problem. If everyone worked less, got less money to spend on stupid plastic shit, drove less in our cars, threw away less perfectly edible food, and spent more time with the people we care about, both we the people and the planet would be better off.

But for our debt-fueled micro- and macro-economies, it would spell utter disaster. Financial crisis writ large. Housing market would go to shit. Banks would default. The state would get less taxes, so deficit would skyrocket. Meanwhile national debt, which is measured relative to GDP, would blow up much quicker than the deficit since GDP would drop sharply.

So nobody will ever actually make it happen.

Re: Scientists have signed the largest-ever warning about Earth’s destruction

#29

Post by everybodyknows »

dzdt wrote: post #18

If you are serious about fighting climate change, what is the single most effective place to spend money? My guess is: education for girls in Africa. Why? Carbon emmissions per year come down to (energy use per person per year) (carbon emitted per unit energy) (number of people). In developed nations, all of these terms are stable or declining. In many developing nations, and Africa in particular, population growth i…

Exactly. Education empowers girls to select better husbands, start their own businesses, and then push for better education for their own, fewer children.

A virtuous circle. And the same that's at work in all more-developed countries.

Re: Scientists have signed the largest-ever warning about Earth’s destruction

#30

Post by rcthompson »

orthecreedence wrote: post #2

If the scientists don't convince people, I hope the massive droughts in some places, flooding in others, superstorms, and other massive weather pattern shifts will. In the US, there's still a large group of people (or maybe just a vocal group) that cover their ears and won't listen to anything climate-change related, even in the highest places of our government. I hope a healthy dose of "this is what climate change l…

There are people who continue to deny the reality of climate change even while they're literally up to their neck in flood waters.
Post reply on HN