This event will be a good mine in refining and implementing models for pollution control and reduction.
Never have we had events as large as this to observe.
Traffic and Pollution Plummet as U.S. Cities Shut Down
41–50 of 185 posts
Re: Traffic and Pollution Plummet as U.S. Cities Shut Down
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Technology must be the answer here. This doesn't require new technology. We know how to make electric cars, electric heat pumps, solar panels, nuclear reactors etc. This is all existing technology. But take a look at oil prices right now. That's what happens if you start to reduce world demand for oil, and that's the real problem. All we need from governments is to put a sufficient tax on carbon that keeps carbon m…
All great points, and the time to start taxing carbon is now at this low price, as the shock to consumers won’t be as great.
You could make a great case for carbon tax + dividend right now, because people aren't driving as much and the people staying at home get the dividend too, so in addition to the economic impact of the tax being blunted by the low oil prices, you're also creating a net transfer to the people most impacted by having to stay at home. And giving people more financial incentive to stay at home instead of going out and spreading the infection.
Re: Traffic and Pollution Plummet as U.S. Cities Shut Down
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
I also have hope that this tragedy brings humanity forward. Not only with climate change, but a lot of other things. More contacts between people (video calls to friends and family far away). Doctors are increasing the use of video calling and sending prescriptions via email already. Bill Gates' 2015 TED now doesn't seem just a faraway prediction now, so hopefully governments will form a "health NATO". Seeing Venice…
Doesn't Venice have "clean water" because all the silt that was suspended in the water due to gondola traffic has now settled on the bottom of the canals?
clear water doesn't necessarily mean clean water.
Turbidity, which is how cloudy water is, is on a different axis from pollution, toxicity, and mineral content of water. There are heavily stained lakes in Florida with a lot of silt mixed up that you can't see further than a couple feet in that would be fairly safe to drink out of.
Mono Lake https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mono_Lake, by contrast is very clear, but it's a soda lake and most normal aquatic life can't live there.
Re: Traffic and Pollution Plummet as U.S. Cities Shut Down
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
> So many people and businesses are able to live beyond their means because of access to credit. If we eliminate the ability to create credit, then consumption would drop to a sustainable level and pollution would also drop and we would see an end to wasteful businesses, products, processes, and ways of life. What about housing? A mortgage is going to be the only way for a lot of people to ever afford their own home.
Well, to question your premise - Why is universal home ownership desirable or necessary?
At least in the current system, a home is the best hope that for many people if they wish to have an 'asset' that is concrete and tangible. The practicality of it (i.e. basic human need for shelter) also makes it one of the best 'assets' to pass to your children.
Remember: unless the house was seriously overvalued, as long as you held onto/maintained your house through the 2008 housing crash, it's still worth more than it was pre crash.
Re: Traffic and Pollution Plummet as U.S. Cities Shut Down
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
Doesn't Venice have "clean water" because all the silt that was suspended in the water due to gondola traffic has now settled on the bottom of the canals?
Venice doesn't have clean water. They're images from another town at another time in the latest iteration of "take an old picture, make up a lie relevant to current news, and pass it around for clicks"
Citation? I was also fooled into believing those photos if your coment is accurate.
Ty
Re: Traffic and Pollution Plummet as U.S. Cities Shut Down
#46Is anyone else wondering if the shutdown for COVID-19 will have a significant impact on carbon emissions? If it does, then it could actually save far more lives than it takes.
Also traffic fatalities.
Re: Traffic and Pollution Plummet as U.S. Cities Shut Down
#47Looks like we've found the solution to global warning.
All it took was a government mandate that folks who can and should be working from home do so.
Hopefully we all have the common sense to continue this long term, mother earth deserves a break
Re: Traffic and Pollution Plummet as U.S. Cities Shut Down
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
Venice doesn't have clean water. They're images from another town at another time in the latest iteration of "take an old picture, make up a lie relevant to current news, and pass it around for clicks"
Citation? I was also fooled into believing those photos if your coment is accurate. Ty
"The swans in the viral posts regularly appear in the canals of Burano, a small island in the greater Venice metropolitan area, where the photos were taken. The “Venetian” dolphins were filmed at a port in Sardinia, in the Mediterranean Sea, hundreds of miles away. No one has figured out where the drunken elephant photos came from, but a Chinese news report debunked the viral posts: While elephants did recently come through a village in Yunnan Province, China, their presence isn’t out of the norm, they aren’t the elephants in the viral photos, and they didn’t get drunk and pass out in a tea field."
Ref: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2020/03/coronavir...
Re: Traffic and Pollution Plummet as U.S. Cities Shut Down
#49I’ve been thinking a lot about the next looming crisis: Climate Change. On Bloomberg radio a few weeks ago, an analyst / money manager was talking about how his firm was looking at satellite imagery of pollution in China to measure their economic recovery. More pollution == “better”. Something is clearly unsustainable with that formula. Like the virus, the longer we wait to take action, the more expensive it is and t…
Tangentially, this crisis may accelerate transition from fossil fuels to renewables.
Reduced demand lowers both prices and cash flow. Many operators will no longer be able to service their debts. Resulting in bankruptcy.
Coal was already in a downward spiral.
Now that crude oil is down to $30, fracking is no longer viable.
IIRC, Shale was off the board at $60/barrel.
Etc.
Even more tangentially: I support keeping our current nuke power generation running as long as possible (to ease transition to renewables). Like coal's economics, nuke aren't doing well, and will need help just to keep running.
Re: Traffic and Pollution Plummet as U.S. Cities Shut Down
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Technology must be the answer here. This doesn't require new technology. We know how to make electric cars, electric heat pumps, solar panels, nuclear reactors etc. This is all existing technology. But take a look at oil prices right now. That's what happens if you start to reduce world demand for oil, and that's the real problem. All we need from governments is to put a sufficient tax on carbon that keeps carbon m…
All great points, and the time to start taxing carbon is now at this low price, as the shock to consumers won’t be as great.
But it's not a great point. The oil industry has had a 100 year head start on the art of money, power, and influence. Human power dynamics are the primary drivers of societal and global change.
That is to say, the reality is you have a zilch chance of passing a carbon tax in the US government sufficient enough to facilitate the change you are hoping to see. The only way oil and gas goes for a carbon tax is if it ends up being a net benefit to them, and as long as there is oil to burn, I don't see that happening any time soon.
I would think California, for as progressive and liberal as it claims to be on the outset would pass something like this, but it's tough for me to be too optimistic there considering the influence and power Chevron has over the state.