Ask HN: What can I do to actively fight climate change?

Just promote education and economic opportunity for women. They will consequently have less kids and later in life.

Biggest problem about climate change is political correctness. We're too afraid to talk about the real problems and solutions because of "votes". Instead, we focus on small wins without any real impacts because it's "safe" and make people happy, like recycling.

Real problem and solutions:

  - energy -> Need hydro or nuclear. Everything else is just marketing bullshit. Windmills aren't reliable, you still need a way to store the energy and have a backup. If you factor in the cost of that backup and other solutions, you soon realize that hydro (or nuclear if hydro isn't possible) is way more cost efficient.

  - transportation -> Living in a suburb should have a penalty cost. Just compare the environmental impact between an apartment in a city and a mansion in a suburb with 5 cars. One is killing the planet much faster, there should be a penalty for it. I'm not saying forbid living in a suburb, I'm saying there should be an additional cost to living in a suburb because of the environmental impact.

  - greenhouse gases -> penalty cost in proportion to the damage caused (for instance, buying meat from livestock should be WAY more expensive.)

I'm not a climate change expert, but I do know that people react to incentive. And right now, there's no penalty to killing the planet so we can't blame people for making the decisions they're making. And policy makers can't set real policies because of fear (rightfully so) of not being elected.

It seems like we'll need to wait until the Earth is almost doomed before implementing these policies, but then it might be too late. Maybe another way is to have a "bad guy climate change" that all political party would need to take into account as part of their mandate, so the votes would be about who can best solve these issues rather than whether they should be tackled.

> how does that happen except at an individual level

I can see changing subsidies around to make meat more expensive as a matter of public policy being more effective at changing individual behavior than trying to convince them on moral grounds.

I feel the same way. My current company almost runs itself, so I've been spending a lot of time exploring ways I can help with climate change. Here is what I have been doing:

* Reading a lot! I recommend Bill Gates' "How to Avoid a Climate Disaster" and Paul Hawken's "Drawdown". The path to zero carbon emissions seems impossible, but the more I read, the more the solutions seem intertwined, which gives me hope.

* Writing down my ideas and the information I learn. Helps me to organize my thoughts and find the holes in my thinking. Here is a link to my blog (this is the first time I've shared it with anyone other than my wife): https://simpleclimatefixes.herokuapp.com/

* Talking to people. I have a few friends that work in sustainability and in the energy sector. I have also been calling and meeting with local solar panel installers and manufacturers. Trying to understand the challenges they face.

* Coming up with ideas and trying to build them. I'd be happy to help other businesses (probably part-time, but potentially full-time), but I think I'll be more useful if I have a better understanding of the landscape and there is no better way to be acquainted with an industry than trying to start a business in it.

I'm currently in the early stages of vetting an idea in the residential solar panel industry. I'd be happy to share it if anyone is interested. Love to hear feedback!

How "don't have kids" is any different than "kill yourself now"?

Surely that'll help even more, since it includes everything at once - no meat consumption, no travel, no cars, etc.