61–70 of 111 posts
Can people for once stop virtue signalling like plastic bags bans or estimating carbon footprint of bitcoin transactions and finally get to the root of the problem: fixing failed states? Because in the course of you planting a single tree some corrupt government destroys a whole ecosystem.
Can people for once stop virtue signalling like plastic bags bans or estimating carbon footprint of bitcoin transactions and finally get to the root of the problem: fixing failed states? Because in the course of you planting a single tree some corrupt government destroys a whole ecosystem.
Offer actionable and measurable alternatives.
Can people for once stop virtue signalling like plastic bags bans or estimating carbon footprint of bitcoin transactions and finally get to the root of the problem: fixing failed states? Because in the course of you planting a single tree some corrupt government destroys a whole ecosystem.
Now onto the actual topic -- While I agree with you that fixing failed states should be of utmost concern I don't think it's a bad thing to be banning plastic items now, one at a time, because we don't currently have a good way to truly recycle plastic, and the material should be avoided at all costs for anything not intended to be reused for years.
Plastic is an immediate environmental problem and the bans are actionable.
However, my opinion is that the bans are suboptimally directed. I frequently get served drinks in plastic non-compostable cups with bamboo straws now, and see supermarket vegetables on goddamn styrofoam trays wrapped in plastic wrap, and "harmless" coconut water sold in plastic drink bottles. I'm cool with plastic bag bans but they need to extend beyond plastic bags. Ban the cup, then the straw. Ban the foam trays and plastic wrap on vegetables, then the bag.
Interestingly enough, a side effect of CO2 emissions IS reforestation. Earth is getting greener because of increased CO2 in the air. What is not obvious though, is if this is going to make the problem worse. For one, the green albedo is often darker than what was previously in place, and retains more heat. However, obviously a fair amount of that energy presumably goes towards photosynthesis. Trees also tend to bring…
But I am not completely sure, too much misinformation circulates.
Can people for once stop virtue signalling like plastic bags bans or estimating carbon footprint of bitcoin transactions and finally get to the root of the problem: fixing failed states? Because in the course of you planting a single tree some corrupt government destroys a whole ecosystem.
This argument is never productive. I can use fewer plastic bags. I can plant trees (or pay to plant trees, whatever). I can't fix a failed state. Offer actionable and measurable alternatives.
You can't fix a failed state. But You can educate yourself (and others) on what the hell is happening with this world and vote for representative that cares.
Many of these tree planting schemes are a bit dubious; can you really be sure that they are planting new trees that wouldn't have grown in that area anyway, and will they still be around in 40 years time to make sure the trees grow to maturity and are not cut down and burned? The only tree planting scheme that I really trust is the Green Belt Movement: http://www.greenbeltmovement.org/ started over 40 years ago by Pr…
You can also plant trees by yourself. Last year I planted 10 Siberian and Korean pines in one day. 7 trees survived, 3 trees died because I over watered them. So those 7 trees don't actually need any extra care from me.
Before I sign up for this feel good thing, does anyone know whether it makes any meaningful difference/is enough to make any kind of impact? From looking at CO2 levels, we will be reaching 1000 ug/m^3 in my lifetime (threshold for headaches and other health problems). At 2000 it becomes a serious health hazard. Would money be better spent lobbying for abolishing coal burning power plants and making agriculture more c…
I recently listened to the audiobook of How to Avoid a Climate Disaster by Bill Gates. It was a fine tour of the landscape of solutions. My main takeaway is that we're going to need to do a wide variety of things in a wide variety of sectors. He gets into stuff like concrete, which is very important in growth but also big on emissions. With respect to reforestation: Gates says it would help, but possibly not as much…
I totally agree that we need to do a wide variety of things. Stopping deforestation, reforestation, less meat, electric cars, etc. We need to do it all.
I don't get the point. Why not just send monthly payments to a programme like Ecologi ( https://ecologi.com/ )? Of course, if you can convince people who you can't convince otherwise, this is helpful too.
https://ecologi.com/ is great! Whatever works for you. Montly payments, Continuous Reforestation, donation to reforestation organizations, etc. Let's plant billions of trees.
Can people for once stop virtue signalling like plastic bags bans or estimating carbon footprint of bitcoin transactions and finally get to the root of the problem: fixing failed states? Because in the course of you planting a single tree some corrupt government destroys a whole ecosystem.