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World Scientists’ Warning of a Climate Emergency

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Re: World Scientists’ Warning of a Climate Emergency

#31

Post by jawilson2 »

makerofspoons wrote: post #24
excalibur wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The topic is very politically divisive, because half the country refuses to acknowledge it. It's unfortunate that such controversies occur here. We're supposed to be an "idea lab".

That's a very American problem though. In the rest of the world climate change isn't nearly as controversial and HN has a global userbase.

Clearly America is doing little about it. Is the rest of the world doing any better? I'm asking this seriously. What notable changes have any other countries or populations made to combat climate change? It feels like (and I would LOVE to be wrong about this) other massive polluters know it is a problem, but STILL don't really change anything.

Re: World Scientists’ Warning of a Climate Emergency

#32

Post by the-dude »

quest1 wrote: post #12

Articles about Climate Change seem to get very few comments on Hacker News. I think nearly every other article on the home page right now has more comments including an articles about building a flying taxi (47 comments). Honest Question: Why is there seemingly such little interest in what very well could be a huge threat to the survival of humanity? I asked a similar question here - and it got 0 comments! https://ne…

Let's please remember you have asked for it.

I have lived through :

- The end of the cold war, we were all going to die a horrible death, all at once.

- Acid rain, all forests would die and consequently we would die too or have a terrible planet

- The hole in the ozone layer, we would all get skin cancer ( I can't remember if we would die )

- Tchernobyl with elevated radiation stretching into Europe. Could not eat apricot-jam and damn I love apricot-jam

Furthermore, I have studied Computer Science, which was basically 50% math. I have worked with people developing physical models, advanced computing and simulations are freaking hard.

In my time, the hockey-stick would be an indication there is something wrong with the model ( instability ). "Nature does not behave this way"

The earth is getting greener and yields are up, partly because of increased CO2 in the atmosphere.

It is completely unclear if "climate change" is either good or bad.

The sea level has been rising for thousands and thousand of years : about 6-8k years ago, I would be able to walk to the UK ( from NL ).

Re: World Scientists’ Warning of a Climate Emergency

#33

Post by dunnevens »

quest1 wrote: post #12

Articles about Climate Change seem to get very few comments on Hacker News. I think nearly every other article on the home page right now has more comments including an articles about building a flying taxi (47 comments). Honest Question: Why is there seemingly such little interest in what very well could be a huge threat to the survival of humanity? I asked a similar question here - and it got 0 comments! https://ne…

Here's my American-centric hot take. People here feel powerless. This isn't a problem which can be dealt with on the personal level. The politicians are largely useless. One party completely denies there's a problem and actively derails any governmental attempt to address it. The other party is often timid, scared of its own shadow, and only proposes weak remedies.

Furthermore, most of us here agree that it's happening and don't argue much about the root causes. All of that adds up to lack of discussion. Can't do much about it. Have had little luck influencing those that can. There's little for amateurs to discuss regarding the underlying science. It's sometimes cathartic to publicly pronounce one's feelings of fear & loathing in threads like this, but that also doesn't lead to good conversation.

And so we end up talking about silly things like flying taxis because that lets us avoid the soul-crushing doom for another hour.

Re: World Scientists’ Warning of a Climate Emergency

#34

Post by jawilson2 »

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #19

> The climate crisis is closely linked to excessive consumption of the wealthy lifestyle. > Excessive extraction of materials and overexploitation of ecosystems, driven by economic growth, must be quickly curtailed to maintain long-term sustainability of the biosphere. > Profoundly troubling signs from human activities include sustained increases in both human and ruminant livestock populations, per capita meat produ…

> No leader of a developing country is going to go to their people and say, "Sorry, for the sake of the planet we are going to remain poor." And no leader of developed country is going to go to their people and say, "Sorry, for the sake of the planet, we are going to have to give up our lifestyle, and curtail our economic growth."

Then we will all die, and will deserve it.

Re: World Scientists’ Warning of a Climate Emergency

#35

Post by fumar »

quest1 wrote: post #12

Articles about Climate Change seem to get very few comments on Hacker News. I think nearly every other article on the home page right now has more comments including an articles about building a flying taxi (47 comments). Honest Question: Why is there seemingly such little interest in what very well could be a huge threat to the survival of humanity? I asked a similar question here - and it got 0 comments! https://ne…

This went from first page to second page in about 10 minutes.

Re: World Scientists’ Warning of a Climate Emergency

#36

Post by mantap »

the-dude wrote: post #32
quest1 wrote: post #12

Articles about Climate Change seem to get very few comments on Hacker News. I think nearly every other article on the home page right now has more comments including an articles about building a flying taxi (47 comments). Honest Question: Why is there seemingly such little interest in what very well could be a huge threat to the survival of humanity? I asked a similar question here - and it got 0 comments! https://ne…

Let's please remember you have asked for it. I have lived through : - The end of the cold war, we were all going to die a horrible death, all at once. - Acid rain, all forests would die and consequently we would die too or have a terrible planet - The hole in the ozone layer, we would all get skin cancer ( I can't remember if we would die ) - Tchernobyl with elevated radiation stretching into Europe. Could not eat ap…

The hole in the ozone layer was stopped because countries got together and signed a treaty to ban CFCs. It is the most successful example of international collaboration on an environmental issue ever.

Re: World Scientists’ Warning of a Climate Emergency

#37

Post by seiferteric »

blondie9x wrote: post #21
quest1 wrote: post #12

Articles about Climate Change seem to get very few comments on Hacker News. I think nearly every other article on the home page right now has more comments including an articles about building a flying taxi (47 comments). Honest Question: Why is there seemingly such little interest in what very well could be a huge threat to the survival of humanity? I asked a similar question here - and it got 0 comments! https://ne…

I think the issue is that people feel hopeless. A lot of people probably wonder what’s the point of anything or programming in general if the planet itself is currently under siege. I think it’s hard to know what to do as a software engineer which is what most of hacker news readers are. The most we can really do right now is live as sustainable as possible and lead sustainable lives. What is kind of sad is many of u…

Yes I think this is it really. The message we are hearing recently is that in order to prevent the worst of climate change we must effectively shut down what most people think of as "modern society". This is a hard pill to swallow, even if you believe it. I actual see resistance across the political spectrum. Also tons of cognitive dissonance, like one article talking about how we are entering a utopic age where nobody needs to work anymore, u.b.i. and machines will provide everything we need, followed by another article saying we are 10-20 years away from going extinct essentially. Or articles saying we need to build denser cities in order to live more efficiently while ignoring the massive demand for steel, concrete, glass etc that would require etc... Nobody has any answers I don't think, just wishful/naive thinking.

Re: World Scientists’ Warning of a Climate Emergency

#38

Post by cjaro »

dunnevens wrote: post #33
quest1 wrote: post #12

Articles about Climate Change seem to get very few comments on Hacker News. I think nearly every other article on the home page right now has more comments including an articles about building a flying taxi (47 comments). Honest Question: Why is there seemingly such little interest in what very well could be a huge threat to the survival of humanity? I asked a similar question here - and it got 0 comments! https://ne…

Here's my American-centric hot take. People here feel powerless. This isn't a problem which can be dealt with on the personal level. The politicians are largely useless. One party completely denies there's a problem and actively derails any governmental attempt to address it. The other party is often timid, scared of its own shadow, and only proposes weak remedies. Furthermore, most of us here agree that it's happeni…

I agree - I don't eat meat and I'm not having children, but it feels very futile when you take into consideration the levels of corporate pollution, pollution from China, wasteful practices, corruption and apathy from our government leaders, attacks on personal liberties... it all gets so dismally depressing very quickly. It's great to frequent subreddits like r/antinatalism and r/collapse, just for the pure support, but if you stay too long it gets way too real because the science is there and it's not a good outcome, and we're barreling towards it strapped to the backs of a political system that does not care about it.

Re: World Scientists’ Warning of a Climate Emergency

#39

Post by the-dude »

mantap wrote: post #36
the-dude wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's please remember you have asked for it. I have lived through : - The end of the cold war, we were all going to die a horrible death, all at once. - Acid rain, all forests would die and consequently we would die too or have a terrible planet - The hole in the ozone layer, we would all get skin cancer ( I can't remember if we would die ) - Tchernobyl with elevated radiation stretching into Europe. Could not eat ap…

The hole in the ozone layer was stopped because countries got together and signed a treaty to ban CFCs. It is the most successful example of international collaboration on an environmental issue ever.

I am glad you agree on that point. And it wasn't a 'crisis'.

Re: World Scientists’ Warning of a Climate Emergency

#40

Post by adamch »

Perhaps 30 years ago climate change could have been stopped or kept under control by a series of taxes and trading schemes. However, world governments have squandered that opportunity.

If climate change continues unfettered, millions of people living on coastlines will be displaced and agriculture will become difficult in many regions. This is likely to lead to political chaos and instability.

I think climate change should be the most important issue on in any election. We still have time to keep warming manageable, but it will mean halving the amount of greenhouse gas we produce. This is going to require fighting climate change on multiple fronts, including changes to almost every industry - energy, housing, transportation, commerce - and possibly even geoengineering as a last resort. But it can be done. The Green New Deal is the only family of solutions that can plausibly halt climate change. Anything less is incompatible with the science.

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