Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The only thing we should be talking about is the climate crisis

latimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 198 posts

Re: The only thing we should be talking about is the climate crisis

#11

Post by plaguepilled »

tim333 wrote: post #3

There are lots of things to talk about other than the 'climate crisis' and exaggerating it can lead to a misallocation of resources really.

The climate crisis coalesces wealth inequality, war tension, national resources, economy, and a host of other pressing current issues. It is trivial to find the link to each of these topics.

I mean this respectfully, but there is absolutely no way a nation can 'over-allocate' to the climate crisis. Please provide a precise example or retract your claim.

Edit: I'm getting a lot of down votes for this comment but not a lot of conversation to explain how I have gone wrong here, and I think the request for a precise argument is not unreasonable.

Perhaps one of my critics could enlighten me to my error?

Re: The only thing we should be talking about is the climate crisis

#12

Post by YATA1 »

egberts1 wrote: post #2

Here are some of the many of Los Angeles Times’ newspaper headlines that they used to help with their circulations: 1966 - Oil gone in 10 years 1968 - Overpopulation will spread worldwide 1969 - Everyone will disappear in a Cloud of Blue Steam in 1989 1970 - World will use up its natural resources by 2000 1970 - Urban citizens will require gas mask by 1985 1970 - Nitrogen buildup will make all lands unusable 1970 - D…

I remember reading something somewhere in the 1990s that the entirety of New Orleans was going to be underwater by 2020 and the only way you'd be able to visit Bourbon Street was by boat.

Re: The only thing we should be talking about is the climate crisis

#13

Post by Isinlor »

tim333 wrote: post #3

There are lots of things to talk about other than the 'climate crisis' and exaggerating it can lead to a misallocation of resources really.

We are nowhere near exaggerating it.

We should be simple executing what was agreed in the Paris Agreement as it reflects our best evaluation of the cost to benefits ratio.

But current policies are aiming at 1.5 degree higher than what we evaluated as the optimal solution.

Re: The only thing we should be talking about is the climate crisis

#14

Post by graeme »

egberts1 wrote: post #2

Here are some of the many of Los Angeles Times’ newspaper headlines that they used to help with their circulations: 1966 - Oil gone in 10 years 1968 - Overpopulation will spread worldwide 1969 - Everyone will disappear in a Cloud of Blue Steam in 1989 1970 - World will use up its natural resources by 2000 1970 - Urban citizens will require gas mask by 1985 1970 - Nitrogen buildup will make all lands unusable 1970 - D…

How did you compile this 14 min after the article was posted?

Re: The only thing we should be talking about is the climate crisis

#15

Post by civilized »

I agree that we should be giving a lot more attention to climate change. I don't think it's the only thing we should be talking about, but we should be regularly asking ourselves if there is more that we can do (and there certainly is).

I highly recommend this video from the wonderful Kurzgesagt science video series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxgMdjyw8uw

Climate change is bad and we need to take it seriously, but there is a lot of reason for hope. A lot of trends are pointing in the right direction and we need to support those trends. Climate policy is still in a bad state, in large part because of the gerontocracy, but younger people are entering politics with a different view.

Re: The only thing we should be talking about is the climate crisis

#16

Post by vasco »

> Nothing matters as much as our bone-headed, mass-suicidal march toward extreme-weather oblivion. Not COVID-19, not the invasion of Ukraine, not even “The Godfather.”

Says a reporter living in Los Angeles, the 49th most expensive city in the world to live in. For a lot of people, what they need to talk about is how they're getting their next meal, how they're going to make rent, or survive a current war.

Maybe go to a war zone or a poor area and try to make the same point with a straight face.

Re: The only thing we should be talking about is the climate crisis

#19

Post by toper-centage »

egberts1 wrote: post #2

Here are some of the many of Los Angeles Times’ newspaper headlines that they used to help with their circulations: 1966 - Oil gone in 10 years 1968 - Overpopulation will spread worldwide 1969 - Everyone will disappear in a Cloud of Blue Steam in 1989 1970 - World will use up its natural resources by 2000 1970 - Urban citizens will require gas mask by 1985 1970 - Nitrogen buildup will make all lands unusable 1970 - D…

While some of those were hard misses, maybe were indeed possible scenarios if nothing had been done. Since the 60s governments world wide have enacted progressively stricter regulations for industry emissions, industrial waste treatment, car emissions, appliance efficiency, CFC use, car fuel chemistry, etc etc. We would be in a much, much worse state if nothing had been done. And yet some of those are happening now. Permanent snowy mountains are now bare; insects are dying at alarming rates; yearly record temperatures, both harsher summers and harsher winters.

It's not news that newspapers use sensational headlines to sell more.

Post reply on HN