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

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

#51
I do:

1. Run a small solar array on my balcony, with recycled lithium batteries for storage. I've made ~100kW of power which I use to basically charge all my devices.

2. Growing Algae two do two things- producing biomass to convert into bio-fuel down the road, and remove carbon from the air.

Rooftop solar & going electric (and destroying your gas car so you're taking it off the road) is the easiest to do, followed by helping others do the same. Off the top of my head, if you own your house see if you can work out a group deal with your neighbors and subsidize their cost. https://ecologi.com and https://www.arcadia.com can give you a feeling of doing something (while actually doing something, even if it's very small.

None of these things really move the needle. If you want to do something, the cold reality of it is some constructive destructive actions need to be taken against the largest polluters- energy companies, major food conglomerates that consume large amounts of plastic, commercial shipping, and others. Pick your poison.

Yoooo. So here's an actual, legit idea I have. A community platform to raise money to donate roof-top solar systems to public schools. Has to be focused, where it's clear the goal and the target area. "We're raising $1,000,000 to fund a solar system in this region. Here are our candidates and our local contract partner." Once that's accomplished, you find a school and get the green light. You work with the contractor to secure an actual cost, and then fundraise for the rest. Then it's installed. Target schools and districts in areas of high coal/dirty power and fund-raise for a full roof-top system for them with some energy storage.

This does two things- allows the schools to spend money elsewhere which helps improve the quality of life in the are (and I'm sure it will be known where the money comes from, but also removes a fairly large consumer of municipal energy.

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

#52

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…

> Real problem and solutions: - energy -> Need hydro or nuclear. Everything else is just marketing bullshit.

Agree in general, yet from what i've read most of the worlds hydro (read: river) resources are already being tapped extensively. Although hydro makes up a healthy chunk today, can it expand and grow along with our increasing energy demands when we've already tapped the largest rivers? I am curious if you have sources that show hydro can grow.

I recall reading this counter to hydro in a Smil book (Growth I believe) although I will have to double check which one.

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

#53
There are two things you can do.

1. Think about how many kids you want to have and then have at least one less than that number (assuming your number was greater than zero to begin with).

2. Give these two answers whenever you are asked this question in the future.

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

#54

I don't think my skills are super applicable to working on climate change directly, so instead I work for big tech and donate to charities from this list. https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/12/2/20976180/climat... If you're not totally set on doing direct work for climate change, you could consider a similar strategy. In my case, I think it's probably more impactful than I could be if I tried to pivot into a cli…

Rather than donating to charities (who are typically constrained to operating according to the rules that got us into this mess), I would suggest donating to groups like Extinction Rebellion, who try to put real political pressure on governments using civil disobedience tactics, in order to get policy changes made.

This, or starting/joining a worker's union that can similarly exert political power through the labor force. We need radical change right now and that will need radical tactics.

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

#56
Convince people to have less children would be the biggest lever in that fight. Do what you can to advance and promote wind, solar, and nuclear power, and electric transportation. If you do the latter without also addressing the former, you fall afoul of Jevon's Paradox.

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

#57
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not having kids would help a lot in reducing future emissions and pollution though. Would reduce consumption. Bill Burr put it quite succinctly: “that’s not a family photo; it’s an environmental disaster and you’ve framed it!” [0] --- [0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wq_edHqpdA

Ending your own life would be even more helpful, I’m surprised no one has suggested that yet /s

Jerry Springer had guests of this persuasion on the episode "I want to join a suicide cult." The group is being satirical but honestly they make some pretty salient points.

https://youtu.be/C_TtTEw9w4s

https://www.churchofeuthanasia.org/coefaq.html

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

#58
post #51

I do: 1. Run a small solar array on my balcony, with recycled lithium batteries for storage. I've made ~100kW of power which I use to basically charge all my devices. 2. Growing Algae two do two things- producing biomass to convert into bio-fuel down the road, and remove carbon from the air. Rooftop solar & going electric (and destroying your gas car so you're taking it off the road) is the easiest to do, followed by…

NYC has begun installing solar panels on the schools. https://solstice.us/solstice-blog/nyc-solar-schools/

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

#59
Work for a PR firm or something similar that supports government action to fight climate change. I know that political marketing probably feels like the dirtiest profession out there, but the biggest obstacle to fighting climate change in the present day isn't can't, it's won't. And recent elections have shown the unreasonable (although frankly dangerous) effectiveness of data science in modern politics. As long as we can't beat 'em, we might as well join 'em.

If you don't want to do politics, it seems like something related to modeling and/or controlling machinery is probably relevant. Solar concentrators for high-temperature manufacturing (particularly cement/aluminium), ultra-high-temperature electrolysis of steel, and better heat pumps to replace gas heaters, all come to mind as important carbon-reducing technologies that might require a software component, although I can't say exactly how.

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

#60

You'll probably make the biggest impact by working at a hedge fund and use your excess disposable income to lobby for change

A lower cost solution here is just to call your congressman. Not many people do it and it can actually make a significant impact. This site walks you through all the steps to do it (which are not many): https://www.codered4climate.org/
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