The only thing we should be talking about is the climate crisis • Hacker News Board

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

#51

Post by sirspacey » Fri, Apr 08, 2022, 3:01 PM UTC

mrfusion wrote: post #9

I’m a full on believer. I even own an EV but I think this alarmism is just making people numb. I think there’s a whole generation out there that never read “the boy who cried wolf”.

Yes but the generation after that (my kids & their friends) is

“We are probably already dead”

Facing existential suicide is something us Cold War kids remember

It does make a difference to go through the grieving process, denial is a part of it, because it takes radical commitments to break the cycle.

We’re not even close to a radical commitment yet.

We can’t even turn off Russian oil globally, much less fossil fuels as a whole.

But climatetech is (finally) established as a legitimate space.

Now we need govtech to change how we make political decisions.

Because climate change is a symptom of how our political systems work - reactionary & summative instead of proactive & iterative.

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

#52

Post by usgroup » Fri, Apr 08, 2022, 3:01 PM UTC

throwaway5752 wrote: post #30

vasco wrote: post #16

> 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…

If I told a person in a war zone there was a planetary crisis that would guarantee the death of the children or grandchildren, I don't have a doubt in the world they would care about it. Just because someone living in danger or poverty doesn't make them a fool or a coward.

Sir/madam I think you might need to do some serious re-calibration.

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

#53

Post by chimprich » Fri, Apr 08, 2022, 3:01 PM UTC

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…

Are you sure about those headlines? A Google search for 'latimes "Volcano caldera ready to wipe out civilization"' [0] reveals two hits - both of them previous comments of yours on this site.

[0] https://www.google.com/search?q=%22Volcano+caldera+ready+to+...

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

#54

Post by fullshark » Fri, Apr 08, 2022, 3:02 PM UTC

wbsss4412 wrote: post #27

vasco wrote: post #16

> 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…

Says the commenter on a website where people treat six figure salaries like they are table stakes.

What's your point? Their attempt to empathize with the impoverished / war torn is fool hardy and they should try to remain clueless of other people's experiences and whine about their own problems?

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

#55

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Apr 08, 2022, 3:02 PM UTC

throwaway5752 wrote: post #30

vasco wrote: post #16

> 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…

If I told a person in a war zone there was a planetary crisis that would guarantee the death of the children or grandchildren, I don't have a doubt in the world they would care about it. Just because someone living in danger or poverty doesn't make them a fool or a coward.

[deleted]

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

#56

Post by sleepdreamy » Fri, Apr 08, 2022, 3:02 PM UTC

graeme wrote: post #14

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?

Yeah, I am skeptical.

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

#57

Post by evocatus » Fri, Apr 08, 2022, 3:02 PM UTC

throwaway5752 wrote: post #30

vasco wrote: post #16

> 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…

If I told a person in a war zone there was a planetary crisis that would guarantee the death of the children or grandchildren, I don't have a doubt in the world they would care about it. Just because someone living in danger or poverty doesn't make them a fool or a coward.

No post body was provided.

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

#58

Post by baskethead » Fri, Apr 08, 2022, 3:02 PM UTC

I fully believe in the climate crisis but this sort of talk is religious extremism. This is what religious extremists say and if you dare to disobey oir question them, you are considered a heretic and should be essentially punished or killed. The New Left has turned into religious extremists.

The climate crisis ISN'T the only thing we should be talking about. We also have problems with straight up pollution, and other things like countries like China that fish until extinction. There are 1000+ Chinese fishing boats parked in international waters off the coast of South America that are fishing until the point of extinction and then bringing the fish back to China, leaving nothing for the South Americans.

There are companies like Nestle whose CEO doesn't believe water is a fundamental right, and places like California and Canada that let it bottle water for essentially free and then sell it for more than gasoline. We have runoff of PFAS polluting water, we have so much pollution from microplastics, we have plastics polluting the Pacific Ocean, microplastics in our blood, etc.

So, NO. Climate crisis is NOT the only thing we should be talking about. That is utterly crazy, and sounds like something ISIS would say.

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

#59

Post by Cthulhu_ » Fri, Apr 08, 2022, 3:02 PM UTC

Isinlor wrote: post #13

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.

It's not "simple" though, because this affects a lot of people's lives. I mean we're already experiencing what happens when fossil fuels get cut off; record price hikes, record inflation, and it'll have a knock-on effect for years to come.

Of course, this translates to democracy; if a sitting government decided to, for example, force a whole industry to shut down, do you think the people working in that industry would vote for the same party again? I mean granted, this issue is bigger than sitting parties and votes and I'm sure some are willing to sacrifice their political career - or the lives and livelihoods of civilians - for it, but you get what I mean.

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

#60

Post by titzer » Fri, Apr 08, 2022, 3:02 PM UTC

endisneigh wrote: post #25

Is there any solution that doesn’t either involve developed countries lowering their quality of life or preventing developing nations from cheaply industrializing?

> developed countries lowering their quality of life

I seriously disagree with this framing. Developed countries have been artificially inflating their quality of life through cheap energy available from burning fossil fuels. This is an unsustainable practice that will a.) come to end due to exhaustion of said fuels b.) have significant, compounding externalities that are subject to incredible levels of reality distortion from entities benefiting from the economies they intentionally structured to be dependent on said energy sources.

The truth is that western countries have developed too fast through the planetary equivalent of roid rage. We've gone massively into debt, dug into a huge reservoir that is emptying, and the waste products produced by our flagrant exploitation of dirty energy reserves are very bad for the planet.

So yeah, I completely disagree with the "lowering their quality of life" framing. It's true that if you've been going into debt your whole life, and suddenly stop spending like a drunken sailor, your quality of life might go down.