Climate change: IPCC report is 'code red for humanity' • Hacker News Board

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

#81

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Aug 09, 2021, 9:33 AM UTC

gfodor wrote: post #34

helsinkiandrew wrote: post #23

> 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.

[deleted]

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

#82

Post by thewhitetulip » Mon, Aug 09, 2021, 9:33 AM UTC

Climate change is bad. Govt are not doing anything.

But has any model taken into consideration about covid deaths?

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

#83

Post by hellbannedguy » Mon, Aug 09, 2021, 9:33 AM UTC

matco11 wrote: 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…

In the late 80's I took a Botney class at Sonoma State.

The professor always talked about what 1 degree of warming will do to the oceans. He talked about it all the time. It was his worst fear.

I though he might be overreacting a bit at the time, but not now.

He was an interesting guy, and was far from politically correct.

I remember his stance on people/bikes who don't walk on designated paths. The whole, "You are ruining the indiginious fauna argument". Well his unpopular stance was the surviving plants will be stronger.

I will never forget the honest worry he had over a 1 degree change in temperature.

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

#84

Post by polote » Mon, Aug 09, 2021, 9:34 AM UTC

dkdbejwi383 wrote: post #64

polote wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

The candidates all mostly have the same program. Having the choice is an illusion.

Trump is not doing what's right for his supporter, he is doing what companies who paid him ask.

Biden is not doing what's right for his supporter, he is doing what companies who paid him ask.

That's not conspiracy theory, that's the model on which our society is built on

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

#85

Post by adrianN » Mon, Aug 09, 2021, 9:34 AM UTC

Project Drawdown has a nice overview with things we could do and what their respective impact would be: https://www.drawdown.org/solutions/table-of-solutions

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

#86

Post by QasimK » Mon, Aug 09, 2021, 9:34 AM UTC

fighterpilot wrote: post #38

Yuioup wrote: post #4

Getting rid of bitcoin would be a start.

Just tax carbon instead of trying to pick winners and losers

I was recently thinking about why bitcoin shouldn't just be banned to help mitigate the ongoing climate catastrophe which led to my recent article [0] which equated banning bitcoin to banning ice cream, which I hope helps to illustrate the absurdity of picking and choosing versus just charging for carbon more directly.

[0]: https://qasimk.io/2021/bitcoin-and-ice-cream/

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

#87

Post by tux3 » Mon, Aug 09, 2021, 9:34 AM UTC

matco11 wrote: 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…

I agree that communicating the average seems very ineffective, and if you can carefully source better numbers to replace that measure, you would do well to post them here. People will be happy to copy those if you can show it to them.

I suspect it may not be trivial to find a measure for the widening that people intuitively understand, but it's worth trying.

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

#88

Post by GekkePrutser » Mon, Aug 09, 2021, 9:34 AM UTC

RandomLensman wrote: post #32

brylie wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Has any means of geoengineering been demonstrated as feasable? Given our track record, it would probably be best for us to scale back our consumption while promoting re-forestation. Nature can likely heal itself far better than our wildest geoengineering ambitions.

Clearly feasible, as demonstrated by anthropogenic climate change. Going back to a different life style is an option, but will be strongly opposed by a lot of people (and not without justification). Planet was much hotter, much colder etc. So as a species we need to learn to cope and tackle this anyway, why not start now?

Before we had tens of thousands of years to accomodate though. Not hundreds.

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

#89

Post by bb123 » Mon, Aug 09, 2021, 9:35 AM UTC

helsinkiandrew wrote: post #23

> 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…

Do you not think that "code red" fatigue is part of this? Ordinary people are bombarded with messages predicting doom at some distant point in the future for one reason or another on an almost daily basis, and yet life rolls on.

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

#90

Post by gspr » Mon, Aug 09, 2021, 9:35 AM UTC

matco11 wrote: 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…

I see this a lot, too. "It's just 2 degrees" – what the hell is wrong with you? If your body temperature is 2-3 degrees above normal, you feel like absolute shit.

Likewise for atmospheric CO₂ concentrations; "it's just 0.04 %" – dude, you surely start noticing the effects of "just" 0.04% alcohol in your blood. Or hey, try cyanide.

What is wrong with people?!