What can I do about climate change? • Hacker News Board

Re: What can I do about climate change?

#61

Post by JiIIj » Tue, Nov 06, 2018, 9:57 AM UTC

gman83 wrote: post #30

Expecting some kind of mass-shift in lifestyle in the population at large isn't going to work, because not enough people are going to do it. I think the best thing to do is to advocate for solar, wind, nuclear and hydro power. Personally I think we should be building more nuclear power plants as well as deploying giant battery storage facilities to store energy from wind and solar. We should also start taxing carbon…

It doesn't take that many people to shift a society to a different behavior.. We used to slave and human-zoos not that long ago and everybody was like, that won't change soon. Have you thought about going vegetarian yourself?

Re: What can I do about climate change?

#62

Post by k_ » Tue, Nov 06, 2018, 9:58 AM UTC

tokyodude wrote: post #39

I don't have a single friend or even. aquaintence who would do any of the top 3 things long the list of 148 most impactful things an individual can do they were 1. have one less kid. I can maybe imagine a friend choosing not to have 3 but I can't imagine someone wanting 2 to go to 1 or someone wanting 1 to go to 0 for this reason 2. go carless Sone friends live in a city that supports a carless lifestyle and already…

Hi I'm Rudy, nice to meet you! Now you have one :)

On a more serious note:

1. have one less kid.

I really don't like how this one is worded, I always read it as "get rid of one of your kids". Though, except going from 1 to 0, it's not that bad. I definitely wanted more than one, but I can settle with the one I have.

2. go carless

You get used to it. I even lived in small cities (~30k inhabitants) and while it's harder when your city isn't supporting a carless lifestyle (never lived in any that does that, sadly), it's definitely doable.

3. don't travel

Maybe a bit extreme to give it up entirely. But you can still travel less, do it with more eco-friendly travel options (carpooling, etc.) or go to destinations which do not require planes. I guess it depends on where you live, but in Europe there's definitely lots of wonderful places I can go to with a low carbon impact.

But I still am responsible for a lot more carbon emission than I should. I'm taking it slow (changing food habits, etc.) but there's still domains in which I am really bad (using too much tech, ordering things online..).

Re: What can I do about climate change?

#63

Post by shoo » Tue, Nov 06, 2018, 10:00 AM UTC

pdimitar wrote: post #6

This article's quality is higher than many others on the same topic and that's a pleasant surprise. That being said, I can't help being reminded about German language lessons I had ~10 years ago where the teacher was preaching that we must all ditch electric kettles for the sake of the planet. I asked her how is this going to help -- even if 100_00 people do it today -- if corporations are happy to let toxic waste se…

> Have no illusions. To achieve our goal of getting off fossil fuels, these reductions in demand and increases in supply must be big. Don’t be distracted by the myth that “every little helps.” If everyone does a little, we’ll achieve only a little. We must do a lot. What’s required are big changes in demand and in supply.

David MacKay

https://www.withouthotair.com/c19/page_114.shtml

Re: What can I do about climate change?

#64

Post by JiIIj » Tue, Nov 06, 2018, 10:00 AM UTC

KitDuncan wrote: post #36

Vinnl wrote: post #17

> 9. But if I eat less meat or take fewer flights, that’s just me – how much of a difference can that really make? > > Actually, it’s not just you. Social scientists have found that when one person makes a sustainability-oriented decision, other people do too. This is the thing that still gives me hope. Try to do good, and people will notice - and, without so much as telling others to something, they will emulate you…

Anecdotal, but I went vegan 3 years ago and in those 3 years, quite a few of my very close friends went vegan or vegetarian as well. It really does give me a lot of hope. Even my parents started eating meat a lot less, basically only for big events and startet using oat milk for their coffee!

That's Awesome! It's not that long ago I went vegan myself :_) And more and more are also starting to take that option more seriously ^^

Re: What can I do about climate change?

#65

Post by yqx » Tue, Nov 06, 2018, 10:01 AM UTC

pdimitar wrote: post #6

This article's quality is higher than many others on the same topic and that's a pleasant surprise. That being said, I can't help being reminded about German language lessons I had ~10 years ago where the teacher was preaching that we must all ditch electric kettles for the sake of the planet. I asked her how is this going to help -- even if 100_00 people do it today -- if corporations are happy to let toxic waste se…

I share your frustration with people who claim it's out own responsibility to change our habits and come up with things like limiting your showers and turning off the lights when you leave the room, but flying less or not owning a car (if realistic in the country you live in) is a completely different ball game and can actually make an huge impact of enough people do it. Of course it's also up to governments to make these couches financially attractive by for example cutting tax breaks for aviation fuel (https://www.aef.org.uk/issues/economics/taxation/).

Re: What can I do about climate change?

#66

Post by roenxi » Tue, Nov 06, 2018, 10:01 AM UTC

> Nicholas’s study concluded that having fewer children is the best way to reduce your contribution to climate change

Environmentalism as a philosophy isn't all that coherent, and this suggestion in point 8 really encapsulates the heart of my problems with it. If we are saving the planet "for" someone else, who are they? If we are saving the planet for ourselves, do minor actions of deprivation make sense? The extreme logical extension of the philosophy in point 8 that isn't "if I care about the future, and if all life is equal, I should remove myself from the gene pool and build a society that doesn't value the environment".

Taking a practical view that we want to preserve the world for, say, 3 generations into the future, answers like nuclear starting 30 years ago make a lot of sense.

Re: What can I do about climate change?

#67

Post by WA » Tue, Nov 06, 2018, 10:03 AM UTC

ealhad wrote: post #45

gman83 wrote: post #30

Expecting some kind of mass-shift in lifestyle in the population at large isn't going to work, because not enough people are going to do it. I think the best thing to do is to advocate for solar, wind, nuclear and hydro power. Personally I think we should be building more nuclear power plants as well as deploying giant battery storage facilities to store energy from wind and solar. We should also start taxing carbon…

> We should also start taxing carbon emissions. Yes, but not without developping the alternatives. For example, in France, the government decided to raise the taxes on gas and especially diesel — but at the same time, the small train lines are being shut down, so people living in the country aren't to happy.

People in the country usually pay a lot less rent/housing. Paying more for transportation is to be expected if you don't live in a city.

If they don't like it, they could try to move to a city and swap their high transportation cost for higher rent.

Re: What can I do about climate change?

#68

Post by k_ » Tue, Nov 06, 2018, 10:03 AM UTC

pdimitar wrote: post #6

This article's quality is higher than many others on the same topic and that's a pleasant surprise. That being said, I can't help being reminded about German language lessons I had ~10 years ago where the teacher was preaching that we must all ditch electric kettles for the sake of the planet. I asked her how is this going to help -- even if 100_00 people do it today -- if corporations are happy to let toxic waste se…

Individual actions are definitely a start, but yeah it sounds like almost nothing compared to corporations (or even governments, responsible for so many unnecessary plane travels).

Is there some data on the actual scale of individual vs corporate pollution / climate-changing faults? Hard to measure, I guess.

Re: What can I do about climate change?

#69

Post by shoo » Tue, Nov 06, 2018, 10:04 AM UTC

pdimitar wrote: post #59

shoo wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

would your friends agree to give this up if, in return, everyone else gave them up too?

I would not. Whether I want to go somewhere 20km away (the other end of my city) or not has zero correlation if other people have cars or not.

what about if there was some kind of global system of decision-making where others could influence or incentivise your day-to-day actions?

e.g. hypothetically would you support a global carbon tax* priced high enough so that driving somewhere wasn't by default a sensible decision?

* supposing, hypothetically, we had some effective way of reaching such an agreement and enforcing it

Re: What can I do about climate change?

#70

Post by ed_balls » Tue, Nov 06, 2018, 10:04 AM UTC

tomp wrote: post #34

KnightOfWords wrote: post #3

This graphic give a pretty good summary of the relative impact: https://3c1703fe8d.site.internapcdn.net/newman/gfx/news/hire...

Why does “replace typical car with hybrid” help at all? Does regenerative braking save that much energy?

I depends on you location and driving in the city e.g. Prius can have less total CO2 emission than Tesla S if the electricity comes from fossil fuels.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RhtiPefVzM