Up to one million species are on the verge of extinction, U.N. panel says • Hacker News Board

Re: Up to one million species are on the verge of extinction, U.N. panel says

#51

Post by 52-6F-62 » Mon, May 06, 2019, 1:04 PM UTC

icelancer wrote: post #17

perfunctory wrote: post #11

We keep hearing that individual actions don't matter and that we need a system change instead. I used to hold the same opinion for the very long time. However, since recently I started to turn around. For the last 30 years governments and politicians have proven incapable to do anything about global heating. What makes us think it will be any different in the coming years. Scientists keep producing report after repor…

>> Stop flying to conferences This is not tenable for executive-level staffers. >> Reduce your meat consumption as much as you can. This is definitely an impactful idea, specifically red meat by quite a large difference comparative to other meats. >> If you have any investments shift them from fossil to green. This is not really a tenable suggestion either unless you are suggesting everyone take a giant hit to yield…

> This is definitely an impactful idea, specifically red meat by quite a large difference comparative to other meats.

This isn't exactly tenable for everyone, either. Some people [like me] need to fairly regularly eat red meat for the B12/Iron uptake benefits alongside supplementation.

Instead the industry should be pushed toward larger changes like this: https://e360.yale.edu/features/how-eating-seaweed-can-help-c...

I'm increasingly convinced the solution isn't quitting everything that looks like a vice (good luck with that), but instead to develop methods for reducing or removing and reversing the harm they cause.

Re: Up to one million species are on the verge of extinction, U.N. panel says

#52

Post by bryanlarsen » Mon, May 06, 2019, 1:05 PM UTC

bryanlarsen wrote: post #43

perfunctory wrote: post #11

We keep hearing that individual actions don't matter and that we need a system change instead. I used to hold the same opinion for the very long time. However, since recently I started to turn around. For the last 30 years governments and politicians have proven incapable to do anything about global heating. What makes us think it will be any different in the coming years. Scientists keep producing report after repor…

I believe this is an incredibly dangerous attitude. Kudos that you're doing your part, and leading by example is important. However, systemic change is possible. We have numerous counter-examples: the UN, the Montreal protocol, free trade deals, et cetera. So why don't we have systemic change for climate change, because people like you and I let our politicians get away with it! If it was obvious to politicians that…

The next U.S. federal election is an excellent opportunity to address climate change. Ensure that the Democratic primary chooses a leader with a good plan, and then ensure that he/she wins in 2020.

Re: Up to one million species are on the verge of extinction, U.N. panel says

#53

Post by gambler » Mon, May 06, 2019, 1:05 PM UTC

perfunctory wrote: post #11

We keep hearing that individual actions don't matter and that we need a system change instead. I used to hold the same opinion for the very long time. However, since recently I started to turn around. For the last 30 years governments and politicians have proven incapable to do anything about global heating. What makes us think it will be any different in the coming years. Scientists keep producing report after repor…

Just don't be a douchebag who brags about being vegan (making everyone around hate the very concept), while simultaneously investing money into crypto mining and raving about AI toys that require showing terabytes of data into high-power video cards.

Being reasonable and consistent works infinitely better than doing something to "make a statement".

Re: Up to one million species are on the verge of extinction, U.N. panel says

#54

Post by tannhaeuser » Mon, May 06, 2019, 1:05 PM UTC

perfunctory wrote: post #11

We keep hearing that individual actions don't matter and that we need a system change instead. I used to hold the same opinion for the very long time. However, since recently I started to turn around. For the last 30 years governments and politicians have proven incapable to do anything about global heating. What makes us think it will be any different in the coming years. Scientists keep producing report after repor…

- Stop promoting/using power-inefficient, developer-centric webapps and start working on metrics for power efficiency

- Stop churning through overpowered smartphones

- Give up on "agile" project management ideas with daily standups in-person, fiddling with stories written on paper cards, and similar childish approaches

Re: Up to one million species are on the verge of extinction, U.N. panel says

#55

Post by komaromy » Mon, May 06, 2019, 1:05 PM UTC

TeMPOraL wrote: post #40

crispinb wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it's INSANE And the death of our living planet isn't? So-called 'economic growth' was never much more than a global entropy increase, as high quality self-organising evolved systems were ripped out to feed crude technological ones requiring endless inputs. This was always mere borrowing against the future. It was never 'growth' in any true sense. It ends because biology, chemistry & physics say it must, regardless…

> We could perhaps 3 or 4 decades ago have made a collective decision to gradually reduce consumption and allow our home to survive in decent enough shape to sustain us. One thing we know about humans is that, as a species, we were never and are not currently capable of making such collective decisions or otherwise coordinating at this scale. This is probably the root of most problems we have, except death and diseas…

Collective action has worked in the past. We did it with CFCs.

Re: Up to one million species are on the verge of extinction, U.N. panel says

#56

Post by bad_user » Mon, May 06, 2019, 1:07 PM UTC

perfunctory wrote: post #11

We keep hearing that individual actions don't matter and that we need a system change instead. I used to hold the same opinion for the very long time. However, since recently I started to turn around. For the last 30 years governments and politicians have proven incapable to do anything about global heating. What makes us think it will be any different in the coming years. Scientists keep producing report after repor…

> “Reduce your meat consumption as much as you can. Don't go all the way vegan, but make meat a special treat not a commodity.”

No thank you.

I know vegans have an anti-meat agenda and have been promoting this idea, however industrial agriculture as a whole is not sustainable, not just meat, and switching to a plants-based diet won’t save the planet.

The elephant in the room is that sustainable farming needs to be local, it needs natural fertilizers and it needs grazing animals. Sustainable farming also needs to do away with pesticides because we are killing the insects.

Also you have to take the cost to healthcare into account. The vegan diet is not sustainable and we already have a huge health issue on it hands, not from meat, but from all the cheap corn, wheat and sugar ;-)

Sorry, but most vegans have serious nutrient deficiencies, like proteins, vitamin B12 or K2. Humans are meant to be omnivores, we do not have the digestive tract of herbivores to synthesize proteins or the ability to synthesize vitamin C like carnivores for that matter.

If you want policy, ask the lawmakers to stop subsidizing corn and wheat. Making corn more expensive will make CAFO operations and thus meat more expensive, which will in turn increase demand for animals raised using more sustainable practices.

Re: Up to one million species are on the verge of extinction, U.N. panel says

#57

Post by emptyfile » Mon, May 06, 2019, 1:10 PM UTC

perfunctory wrote: post #11

We keep hearing that individual actions don't matter and that we need a system change instead. I used to hold the same opinion for the very long time. However, since recently I started to turn around. For the last 30 years governments and politicians have proven incapable to do anything about global heating. What makes us think it will be any different in the coming years. Scientists keep producing report after repor…

>- Reduce your meat consumption as much as you can. Don't go all the way vegan, but make meat a special treat not a commodity.

Why? How will this help the environment? Real sources please.

Re: Up to one million species are on the verge of extinction, U.N. panel says

#58

Post by [deleted] » Mon, May 06, 2019, 1:11 PM UTC

emptyfile wrote: post #57

perfunctory wrote: post #11

We keep hearing that individual actions don't matter and that we need a system change instead. I used to hold the same opinion for the very long time. However, since recently I started to turn around. For the last 30 years governments and politicians have proven incapable to do anything about global heating. What makes us think it will be any different in the coming years. Scientists keep producing report after repor…

>- Reduce your meat consumption as much as you can. Don't go all the way vegan, but make meat a special treat not a commodity. Why? How will this help the environment? Real sources please.

[deleted]

Re: Up to one million species are on the verge of extinction, U.N. panel says

#59

Post by tenpies » Mon, May 06, 2019, 1:17 PM UTC

bryanlarsen wrote: post #52

bryanlarsen wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe this is an incredibly dangerous attitude. Kudos that you're doing your part, and leading by example is important. However, systemic change is possible. We have numerous counter-examples: the UN, the Montreal protocol, free trade deals, et cetera. So why don't we have systemic change for climate change, because people like you and I let our politicians get away with it! If it was obvious to politicians that…

The next U.S. federal election is an excellent opportunity to address climate change. Ensure that the Democratic primary chooses a leader with a good plan, and then ensure that he/she wins in 2020.

Except it's also not. As a continent, Asia is the largest polluter by far. What's worst, they're exporting those practices to Africa.

Meanwhile, the Anglo-West is hyper-focused on the US because there's a president they don't like. This has been a blessing (now the average Anglo-Westerner at least pretends to care about the environment), but also a curse (they think the US is the only country that can save humanity).

Re: Up to one million species are on the verge of extinction, U.N. panel says

#60

Post by gambler » Mon, May 06, 2019, 1:17 PM UTC

emptyfile wrote: post #57

perfunctory wrote: post #11

We keep hearing that individual actions don't matter and that we need a system change instead. I used to hold the same opinion for the very long time. However, since recently I started to turn around. For the last 30 years governments and politicians have proven incapable to do anything about global heating. What makes us think it will be any different in the coming years. Scientists keep producing report after repor…

>- Reduce your meat consumption as much as you can. Don't go all the way vegan, but make meat a special treat not a commodity. Why? How will this help the environment? Real sources please.

https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/78/3/660S/4690010

But really, it's common sense. Do you think it's more efficient to eat grain or to feed grain to a cow, wait until it matures and then eat the cow?