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

#341

Post by newnewpdro » Mon, May 06, 2019, 5:55 PM UTC

komali2 wrote: post #223

rv-de wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The best reason for exactly these individual changes you are describing is that - and this is a really funny and convenient coincidence - you are benefiting of them first and foremost yourself! > - Stop flying to conferences. Go to a local meetup. It's fun. And cheaper. If you really need to get out of town, take a train. No unnecessary hassle and stress from flying to far away places or getting stuck in traffic jams…

Chicken, fish, and turkey are some of the healthiest delivery mechanisms for protein on the planet. They can be grown sustainably, as well, so again, veganism isn't required. At the supermarket, just get the expensive chicken breasts - I'm guessing the vast majority of us on this website can afford it.

If you're going to be pedantic about the parent's "meat" generalization, you should probably be more precise than "fish".

Many commonly eaten fish are considered too dangerous to eat frequently thanks to pollution levels.

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

#342

Post by RobertoG » Mon, May 06, 2019, 5:55 PM UTC

matz1 wrote: post #331

RobertoG wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we are not able to organize our behaviour in a way that don't destroy the existing working system, why do you believe that we will able to accomplish, the arguable most difficult task, of creating a working system anew?

Sometime its easier to create a new system rather than modifying the current system.

Only when the system is very simple and well understood.

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

#343

Post by ddebernardy » Mon, May 06, 2019, 5:56 PM UTC

dkarbayev wrote: post #279

One thing that I fail to wrap my mind around: aren’t all those corporations executives, politicians, and poachers living on the same planet Earth as all of us? Don’t they ever think that they’re actually destroying our planet and there’s no other place to live? I can imagine that they don’t believe pro-climate change people, but they could simply hire an independent group of researchers, don’t they? And I mean actual…

They're investing in apocalypse bunkers.

https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2018-rich-new-zealand-doo...

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

#344

Post by apacheCamel » Mon, May 06, 2019, 5:57 PM UTC

matz1 wrote: post #338

apacheCamel wrote: post #332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally, I have a moral issue with it. Bees are living creatures. No amount of tech will ever replace the beauty of a living, breathing creature. This moral issue can be translated to any other creature that we are affecting. They depend on us to be good to them and treat them with the same respect we show any other creature, and we depend on them to sustain us and the planet as a whole.

I see, I personally don't have moral issue with it. I don't consider non-human well being as important. Well, if anything the only time I concern about non-human well being is because it affecting human who care about them.

Thank you for sharing, while I disagree with you, I understand your viewpoint and I respect you for sharing it.

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

#345

Post by turk73 » Mon, May 06, 2019, 5:58 PM UTC

rjf72 wrote: post #284

kilroy123 wrote: post #120

I have a theory, and I have no evidence to back this theory up. The increases in anxiety in the general public over the last decade or so is in large part to people knowing we're on an unsustainable path. We're all collectively marching towards the edge of the cliff to jump off together. More people than ever have anxiety because we subconsciously (or consciously) know this. We're unsustainable with how we pollute an…

There was an absolutely phenomenal piece written recently: "How the news took over reality" [1] It goes into some degree of depth about why it is exactly that ever more people are increasingly feeling every pulse of every issue. And why it's not necessarily a great thing. Consider something. Today, by most metrics, is by far the most stable and safe time that we've ever lived in during humanity's existence. This seem…

The above is why I said that 9/11 was really nothing in the grand scheme of things, but a lot of people got mad at me. Were we not the nation that faced down the Germans and the Japanese at the same time? And then a few years later, a couple planes hit a couple buildings and everyone lost their minds and let the government take away most of their rights. Makes no sense. And yes, they dug deep--look at all the spying they do on us now, all the rules for bank accounts, drivers licenses, the TSA, the PATRIOT Act and the absolute dragnet put on the Internet.

9/11 was the biggest bunch of nothing (yes, it sucks if you were victim or the family of a victim). We let the big gov statist MIC get such wonderful mileage out of it! Then that bastard Chertoff with the shoe bomber got his naked body scanners sold, too. Never forget!

The people who run the US since the 1950s are such pieces of shit. We the people deserve better and we need to do better at stopping this scourge.

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

#346

Post by andbberger » Mon, May 06, 2019, 6:02 PM UTC

komali2 wrote: post #223

rv-de wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The best reason for exactly these individual changes you are describing is that - and this is a really funny and convenient coincidence - you are benefiting of them first and foremost yourself! > - Stop flying to conferences. Go to a local meetup. It's fun. And cheaper. If you really need to get out of town, take a train. No unnecessary hassle and stress from flying to far away places or getting stuck in traffic jams…

Chicken, fish, and turkey are some of the healthiest delivery mechanisms for protein on the planet. They can be grown sustainably, as well, so again, veganism isn't required. At the supermarket, just get the expensive chicken breasts - I'm guessing the vast majority of us on this website can afford it.

Nah man, just eat the plants those animals are eating. You can't get away from the 10x energetic penalty.

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

#347

Post by thangalin » Mon, May 06, 2019, 6:07 PM UTC

holoduke wrote: post #324

Unpopular to say, but people as a group will not change. it won't just happen. We will destroy part of earth and as a consequence we will engineer a fix for it. It is maybe an unfortunate thing. But that's how we people work. We mess up first and clean after. It's quite unrealistic to expect the world to look the same in 100 years from now. We will slowly take control over every single square feet on this planet. Tha…

There are a number of ways we, as individuals, can help.

Choose air conditioner and refrigerator coolants based on hydrocarbon refrigerants; urge politicians to invest in on-shore wind turbines; reduce food waste; eat less meat; and support restoration of tropical forests.

The summary (https://bit.ly/2Jg5XY1) is addressed primarily at policymakers who will enact laws that direct us, as a group, into making helpful changes.

For example, if corporations aren't legally allowed to sell gasoline-powered vehicles, then hybrids, EVs, and hydrogen-powered will be the only options available to the general public. I hope any enacted policies are sufficiently broad, meaningful, and timely to actually help.

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

#348

Post by wcoenen » Mon, May 06, 2019, 6:09 PM UTC

kpennell wrote: post #271

wcoenen wrote: post #200

Someone else commented: > If you have any investments shift them from fossil to green. I'm interested in ideas about how to do this. There are some MSCI indices along these lines like the "low carbon" ones[1]. But these still include fossil fuel companies, just with a lower weight. There are also "ex fossil fuel" indices[2], but these only exclude companies that dig up the fossil fuels, and not necessarily those that…

SPYX was a simple one to get for me: https://us.spdrs.com/en/etf/spdr-sp-500-fossil-fuel-reserves...

That's similar to the "ex fossil fuel" indices I mentioned. It does not eliminate or lower the weighting of big emitters. For example, airline companies are built around the burning of kerosene, but they don't own fossil fuel reserves so they will be fully present in that index.

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

#349

Post by ethagnawl » Mon, May 06, 2019, 6:09 PM UTC

TaylorAlexander wrote: post #294

ivanhoe wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Individual actions in this context are like trying to put down the fire with a single glass of water. It will certainly not hurt if you do it, but for it to have any significant effect you need everybody else to do the same at the same time. And the best way to have everyone do it is to push politicians to commit to it and create public policies to enforce it. The huge problem with individual actions is that they mak…

I don’t think this is universally a reasonable outlook. For example, I’ve become vegan in the last year. It is extremely politically infeasible to legally force a vegan diet on everyone, so individual action is the only way to participate in veganism. However now that I am vegan I can legitimately tell you this: being vegan is super awesome. I no longer contribute to the insane environmental destruction of the beef i…

To make an orthogonal point to yours: I gave up meat a few years ago and this has lead to (more than) a few friends either giving up meat themselves or reducing their meat consumption now that they've seen (because of _my individual action_) that it's a viable option.

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

#350

Post by matz1 » Mon, May 06, 2019, 6:10 PM UTC

inflatableDodo wrote: post #323

matz1 wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you inferring that you are going to throw me into active volcano, then I see few issue with that solution : - I don't live near active volcano - I am going to fight back - Even, when I fail to fight back, you might be living the rest of your live in prison. Which I think it going to be suck.

Sorry, I probably went a bit far there. I don't want to throw anyone into an active volcano, not even people who can't see the value of another creature beyond how it benefits themselves, though I must admit, that does increase the temptation. It is good to know where the line is though. Evidently you can suggest enslaving someone for the amusement of bees and they don't even notice, but one little mention of sacrifi…

I didn't suggest enslaving someone. I favor automation to replace bee. Did I suggest sacrificing bee ? Yes