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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?

#121

Post by DoreenMichele »

jogjayr wrote: post #111
DoreenMichele wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Geniuses don't need the masses to advise them what matters. They can figure it out for themselves and are frequently ignored for long periods. Einstein worked in a patent office for years, unable to get the university job he longed for. It took two tries of photographing a solar eclipse to finally get proof of his theory and once proof existed, he was world famous overnight. He didn't stick with it because the masses…

Good point about Einstein. It's true that bright minds also go after problems they think are important, regardless of what everyone else thinks. Haranguing masses can decide what gets funded. Einstein's research didn't need much money, which worked out well for him. What if his genius had been in something that required more capital?

I think the short answer is "If he's a real genius, he either finds the capital or finds a cheaper way to do it."

The long answer is probably a screed that I would probably regret posting.

It's 1am here. Please, excuse me, but I think I'm done here for now.

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

#123

Post by realusername »

pjc50 wrote: post #109
trymas wrote: post #27

EDIT: downvoters, feel free to add your opinion, what seps we can take in 12 years to prevent climate change. I will gladly hear any opinion, especially if it is not as drastic as mine. 1. Drop coal and gas as energy sources immediately. Use renewable and nuclear energy as main power sources. Phase out nuclear after couple decades, when we hopefully can get all our energy needs from renewables. EDIT: forgot to add in…

Nuclear isn't feasible within that timeframe - takes years to even build the plants! Not to mention the unpopularity of putting fission plants in the less stable countries of the world. The other two are even more infeasible.

Any electricity grid change takes years anyway, and I don't see how the other two are not feasible. As an example, we managed to reduce smoking by a good margin nowadays, which was an even more unrealistic battle than meat consumption.

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

#124

Post by DoreenMichele »

hycaria wrote: post #122

Best solution : One child less.

This is especially true if you are in a developed country. I did a college paper for an Environmental Law class. American children consume about 200 times the resources of children in developing countries.

I originally wanted three children. I stopped at two for various reasons. I think I did the right thing.

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

#125

Post by marmaduke »

otabdeveloper2 wrote: post #60

> We have 12 years to prevent a climate catastrophe I don't know how old you are, but those of us over 20 remember that we had '12 years' 20 years ago. Somehow the prophesied catastrophe never arrives and the date gets perpetually pushed into the future. Looks like a secular Seventh Day Adventists.

any citation for that? I'm not saying you're wrong, but IPCC scientists aren't some sort youtube doomsday clan.

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

#126

Post by chr1 »

When talking about climate change it is important to remember that climate on earth is pretty bad already and we need to learn to control it anyway.

High (~5km) solar updraft towers look like a very promising way to do it.

In addition to generating electricity they can generate rain, prevent storms by reducing the amount of energy in the atmosphere, and reduce the temperature by improving the convection.

Large number of such towers will give us fine grained control over the climate, and reduce the rise of sea level by moving a large part of the water to groundwater in the deserts.

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

#127

Post by doon123 »

raquo wrote: post #90
vjsc wrote: post #78

In my opinion, the large corporations behind fossil fuels have too much of an economic clout. The governments around the world are dependent on them for a considerable amount of their respective national economy. So yes you are right about government not doing much about this. Ultimately, unless there is a relatively quick mass extinction event, no government is going to be bothered into action. Climate change and th…

Well, as comfortable as you will be able get with global wars, refugees, food shortages, etc. going on. Governments and countries are not very stable under these conditions. Probably shouldn't expect your wealth to crisis proof your life in this scenario. Won't hurt but we'll all be much better off organizing to avoid this future.

>> Well, as comfortable as you will be able get with global wars, refugees, food shortages, etc. going on.

I think the crisis will be contained to the poorest parts of the world. Especially the tropics. This area is going to be the first to bear the brunt of climate change related problems.

I dont foresee Global wars happening. The politicians are too smart for that. They will try to contain the damage to the extant that the richer countries ( US, Europe, Australia ) are not affected much. Ofcourse there will be shortages as global supply routes are going to be disrupted.

The most thought provoking scenario here is going to be what will happen with China. Maybe not being a democracy will prove to be a blessing in disguise for it. Having a pragmatic group of men leading the country is the best option in the face of upcoming doom. China may shed a lot of weight ( population), but it may just survive, because of its largely monoculture and more or less obedient population.

I see much of Africa, SouthEast Asia to completely gone by the next 100 years. They will be left alone by the rest of the world to fight the battle of survival, and the odds wont be great.

MiddleEast is already ravaged, but they may continue to survive because they have oil.

Most rich countries ( the leaders I mean ), may not be very displeased with the fate of the poorer nations. Because as far as they are concerned mass deaths in poorer nations is only going to reduce the carbon emission load on our planet.

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

#128

Post by marmaduke »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #55
roryisok wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is this thing about peeing on trees

I wrote a comment about it on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12656045 And then I spontaneously created a little website, which failed to go viral or save the world with potty humor. And I took it offline. I recently put it back online in hopes of repurposing it and removed all pages. Just for you, I have restored the main landing page: https://peeonatree.blogspot.com/2018/09/pee-on-tree.html Our next wars c…

we don't have a tree in our apartment, and we don't flush the toilet when we pee. does that count?

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

#129

Post by trymas »

pjc50 wrote: post #109
trymas wrote: post #27

EDIT: downvoters, feel free to add your opinion, what seps we can take in 12 years to prevent climate change. I will gladly hear any opinion, especially if it is not as drastic as mine. 1. Drop coal and gas as energy sources immediately. Use renewable and nuclear energy as main power sources. Phase out nuclear after couple decades, when we hopefully can get all our energy needs from renewables. EDIT: forgot to add in…

Nuclear isn't feasible within that timeframe - takes years to even build the plants! Not to mention the unpopularity of putting fission plants in the less stable countries of the world. The other two are even more infeasible.

IMO for infeasibly tough problems we must go to infeasibly tough actions (believe me - I do not have any hope for any of these points to come at least 1% true).

It's a theoretical list which would greatly reduce our impact on climate in utopian world.

#3 is extremely infeasible

I would not agree that #1 is impossible (it's just a problem with stigma and politics), though I agree that it is very unlikely and needs great dedication from governments of powerful countries, to make it happen in 10 or even 20 years.

Though what's the problems with #2 to make it "more infeasible"? I am not vegan/vegetarian, but I have no problem eating 10 times less meat than I did 5 years ago.

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

#130

Post by DoreenMichele »

marmaduke wrote: post #128
DoreenMichele wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wrote a comment about it on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12656045 And then I spontaneously created a little website, which failed to go viral or save the world with potty humor. And I took it offline. I recently put it back online in hopes of repurposing it and removed all pages. Just for you, I have restored the main landing page: https://peeonatree.blogspot.com/2018/09/pee-on-tree.html Our next wars c…

we don't have a tree in our apartment, and we don't flush the toilet when we pee. does that count?

It helps. The idea though is to water and fertilize trees, not just reduce use of residential water.
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