Live data from Hacker News

Climate change: IPCC report is 'code red for humanity'

bbc.com

61–70 of 1001 posts

Re: Climate change: IPCC report is 'code red for humanity'

#61
post #16

> This pact aims to keep the rise in global temperatures well below 2C this century and to pursue efforts to keep it under 1.5C. It seems to me that continuing to communicate just the average temperature increase is a missed opportunity to engage with a greater portion of the population. 1.5 or 2 degrees do not seem like much, but once one understands that’s an average made out of much bigger positive and negative sw…

Just expressing it in Fahrenheit for Americans would help.

Re: Climate change: IPCC report is 'code red for humanity'

#62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just tax carbon instead of trying to pick winners and losers

On what evidence is your opinion based?

It's economics 101. If there's an externalized cost it leads to over-consumption. By correcting the price you make consumption levels optimal.

Re: Climate change: IPCC report is 'code red for humanity'

#63
post #27

Edit: bad boy

> World crisis! Quick! Give your money to or help elect these people! Save the world! Do it for the children. Stupid. Nothing about this is quick. Climate scientists have told us for > 20 years. But sure let's post stupid bullshit on the internet and continue to do nothing.

I agree with everything you say here but feel the ">20 years" hides something.

We can easily say 30 years, there are very good arguments to say ~50 years and to get truly technical we could say 70-100 years.

Re: Climate change: IPCC report is 'code red for humanity'

#64
post #59

> Climate change: IPCC report is 'code red for humanity' What almost alarms me more than the thought of a climate apocalypse is that I don't think this (a UN report) is going to have any effect on the opinions of 40% of the public who see climate change as some kind of job destroying conspiracy. Nothing short of Florida disappearing under the sea is going to make any difference, perhaps we (as a species) don't deserv…

> 40% of the public who see climate change as some kind of job destroying conspiracy. These people are not the ones who need to take action, so who cares? Policy makers are the ones who need to act, and they are already well aware for most of the consequences of global warming. The issue is that a lot of big corporations (The ones which really control police makers) are not going to be advantaged by transforming the…

Policy makers who rely on the ignorant 40%’s vote to stay in a job aren’t going to risk their salary and pension.

Re: Climate change: IPCC report is 'code red for humanity'

#65

Edit: bad boy

I prefer we don't do anything, so that people such as this can suffer so that future generations can learn from their foolishness.

If you're wishing for people to suffer, do you ever wonder if you might be on the wrong team?

Re: Climate change: IPCC report is 'code red for humanity'

#66
post #34

> Climate change: IPCC report is 'code red for humanity' What almost alarms me more than the thought of a climate apocalypse is that I don't think this (a UN report) is going to have any effect on the opinions of 40% of the public who see climate change as some kind of job destroying conspiracy. Nothing short of Florida disappearing under the sea is going to make any difference, perhaps we (as a species) don't deserv…

It seems fairly obvious that climate change is going to be solved before the bigger existential risks we face, which are for the most part unknowable or largely ignored. There are a lot of people working on climate change now, it's well established in the public's mind, and there are many incentives in place to accelerate solutions.

Let's optimistically assume you are correct. If you could flip a magic switch right now and stop releasing carbon and fix all the other related problems, you would still have a massive delay of many decades (40 or more years) in bringing down air temperatures. The problem then becomes how do you survive the climate interregnum? This is why governments and private industry need to be working closely together, and nations with other nations. On the one hand, this will probably be the greatest job creation sector in human history, but on the other hand, we aren't all going to make it.

Re: Climate change: IPCC report is 'code red for humanity'

#67
The article, and many like it, does a poor job of explaining the consequences we will face. 1.5°C doesn't mean much to the lay man. Explain that uncertain harvests, tied to speculation on risks, will much likely lead to an increase in the price of bread. Add to that an increase in oil will also lead to a price increase.

Heatwave in Greece ? Greece is usually hot in summer so one doesn't care. Now explain how many houses were burnt in fire, how many people died, how much it costs to rebuild houses, where that money will be taken from, etc.

Consequences... Not prediction. Interestingly, my kids have hard time understanding the word "consequence". It's a difficult concept to get.

Re: Climate change: IPCC report is 'code red for humanity'

#68
post #59

> Climate change: IPCC report is 'code red for humanity' What almost alarms me more than the thought of a climate apocalypse is that I don't think this (a UN report) is going to have any effect on the opinions of 40% of the public who see climate change as some kind of job destroying conspiracy. Nothing short of Florida disappearing under the sea is going to make any difference, perhaps we (as a species) don't deserv…

> 40% of the public who see climate change as some kind of job destroying conspiracy. These people are not the ones who need to take action, so who cares? Policy makers are the ones who need to act, and they are already well aware for most of the consequences of global warming. The issue is that a lot of big corporations (The ones which really control police makers) are not going to be advantaged by transforming the…

The public elects the policy makers.

Re: Climate change: IPCC report is 'code red for humanity'

#69

So now we can get rid of fast fashion, mandate reusability for products, reintroduce basic woodworking, metalcrafting and sewing/repair work in school and with that get rid of a huge chunk of the needless shipping? Or are we still going to go after individuals eating traditional food while thought leaders fly across the globe in private jets (no kidding) telling us we need to change our diet? PS: I'm already a enthus…

I think we should do neither. Impose a co2 emissions tax and let the market figure it out.

Re: Climate change: IPCC report is 'code red for humanity'

#70

So now we can get rid of fast fashion, mandate reusability for products, reintroduce basic woodworking, metalcrafting and sewing/repair work in school and with that get rid of a huge chunk of the needless shipping? Or are we still going to go after individuals eating traditional food while thought leaders fly across the globe in private jets (no kidding) telling us we need to change our diet? PS: I'm already a enthus…

Individual action won’t solve this problem. We need to leave the fossil fuels in the ground, which means switching energy sources, which is not something individuals have much influence on. Reducing energy use at the individual level is good, but insufficient if the energy used comes from fossil fuels.

I’m not sure we need to switch lifestyles that much, but we will need to radically change energy production. There has to come a global moratorium on fossil fuel production and the wells that exist need to be capped. If it comes out of the ground it will be used somewhere and the carbon will end up in the atmosphere. The more low carbon our lifestyle the cheaper fossil fuels will get and someone somewhere will always buy and use them. Regrettably politicians dare not talk about this elephant in the room.

Post reply on HN