Investing Prophet Jeremy Grantham Takes Aim at Climate Change • Hacker News Board

Re: Investing Prophet Jeremy Grantham Takes Aim at Climate Change

#101

Post by darkpuma » Sat, Jan 19, 2019, 12:22 AM UTC

groby_b wrote: post #96

martythemaniak wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well I'm going to recommend not checking that book out because it is of exceedingly low quality and not worth your time. Unless you're looking for something to reaffirm your existing leftist biases and dogma and not make you think uncomfortable thoughts, then it's pretty good.

That's somewhat ad hominem. (Well, ad librem. Tomatoe, tomatoh) I'm not asking for a detailed critique, but what, in your opinion, is a good book discussing the intersection between capitalism and climate change?

Can Life Prevail? by Pentti Linkola.

Re: Investing Prophet Jeremy Grantham Takes Aim at Climate Change

#102

Post by angry_octet » Sat, Jan 19, 2019, 12:42 AM UTC

martythemaniak wrote: post #93

rexpop wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's definitely the case that Capital will profit--in the short term, of course--from climate change, and there's a good argument to be made that Capital is perpetuating the cataclysmic destruction of our system for such profits. Check out [This Changes Everything]( https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21913812-this-changes-ev... ).

Well I'm going to recommend not checking that book out because it is of exceedingly low quality and not worth your time. Unless you're looking for something to reaffirm your existing leftist biases and dogma and not make you think uncomfortable thoughts, then it's pretty good.

Yeah, reading books written by people whose politics you disagree with is bad!

While many will disagree with the take that capitalism & prosperity is incompatible with counteracting climate change, she does identify some real problems with cap & trade schemes. It is inconvenient that meeting global emissions targets will require significant lifestyle change in developed countries.

The alternative to lifestyle change is massive ecological damage. Therefore, this is what will happen, as we're not about to give up pickup trucks and rapid growth just because someone will have to pay big interest on it later. So the real deficiency of the book is the idea that we will somehow have a revolution of equality.

The style is also a bit over rich. There is a failure to even mention, let alone examine, renewable energy growth.

Re: Investing Prophet Jeremy Grantham Takes Aim at Climate Change

#103

Post by shitgoose » Sat, Jan 19, 2019, 4:22 PM UTC

mooreds wrote: post #3

dhh2106 wrote: post #2

>With topsoil disappearing at a rate of 1 percent a year and “only 30 to 70 good harvest years left depending on your location,” Well, that's definitely a scary framing. Does anyone have sources for this specific prediction? Aside from launching his (for-profit) climate fund, (for-profit) vc investments, and funding research, I'd be very interested in more details on how the money will be used.

> Generating three centimeters of top soil takes 1,000 years, and if current rates of degradation continue all of the world's top soil could be gone within 60 years, a senior UN official said on Friday. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/only-60-years-of-...

"> Generating three centimeters of top soil takes 1,000 years, and if current rates of degradation continue all of the world's top soil could be gone within 60 years, a senior UN official said on Friday. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/only-60-years-of-...

Ridiculous claim made by "UN official". Sad state of modern journalism. Are we 6 cm away from discovering Roman artifacts in any of the fields across Europe? Or we have to dig a bit deeper?