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Shell admits 1.5C climate goal means immediate end to fossil fuel growth
181–190 of 356 posts
Re: Shell admits 1.5C climate goal means immediate end to fossil fuel growth
#182Earlier quoted context omitted.
Our kids, who will shoulder far more of the effects of this than us, didn't get to choose this. This is their inheritance, generations of neglect for the environment and rampant profiteering culminating in a climate catastrophe.
Our kids will also benefit from the advances provided by fossil fuels. Such is life.
No, previous generations profited from easy access to energy, and let all that profit concentrate in the hands of the few, meaning that average people born today have a measurably crummier chance at a good life than previous generations.
Re: Shell admits 1.5C climate goal means immediate end to fossil fuel growth
#183Earlier quoted context omitted.
We can reforest vast swaths of land right now. For instance, most of the US east of the Mississippi. That can happen with tax code changes and land trusts. We don't need to wait for new tech to scale up. We need to prioritize the planet.
We can't stop climate change by making it profitable. That's literally what got us into this mess in the first place.
If economic forces are powerful enough to cause climate change it seems reasonable to use another economic force to revert/cancel that out.
Re: Shell admits 1.5C climate goal means immediate end to fossil fuel growth
#184Does anyone have recommendations for good reading on this subject? What this means for combustion engines as a whole? I am trying to imagine where the push for clean energy will lead. I am fully on team green but I think the switch happened too late. I feel like there is a future where you have a large percent of the population (at least in the US) where EVs are too expensive to afford the monthly payment/up front pa…
With China building 7 new coal plants everyday and cruise ships emitting more than all ICE cars combined I think the answer is either fusion or we just plant more and more trees.
Re: Shell admits 1.5C climate goal means immediate end to fossil fuel growth
#185[flagged]
I’m willing to do my part once private jets get banned
Yeah that's an insane take that unfortunately a lot of people share. Private jets are obviously a problem but there are much bigger targets to tackle first. It's like saying you won't tackle ocean pollution until your local pond is cleaned up. Private jets are flashy and easily polarize public opinion - but saying you won't do your part until those are banned is frankly a coward's move.
Re: Shell admits 1.5C climate goal means immediate end to fossil fuel growth
#186Earlier quoted context omitted.
Our kids, who will shoulder far more of the effects of this than us, didn't get to choose this. This is their inheritance, generations of neglect for the environment and rampant profiteering culminating in a climate catastrophe.
Our kids will also benefit from the advances provided by fossil fuels. Such is life.
Most of these advances rely on (actual and quasi-) resources we're doing our best to exhaust before some future generation gets to have a share.
"Peak oil" and CO2 are just the tip of the iceberg.
Some future generation is going to dig up the garbage we buried and harvest it for resources. To a degree we're already doing this ourselves looking for stuff like palladium and rhodium.
Re: Shell admits 1.5C climate goal means immediate end to fossil fuel growth
#187Earlier quoted context omitted.
How about we aim for an achievable goal instead. What’s the point of setting ourselves up for failure? That’s part of effective goal setting. Anything else is fantasy and counterproductive.
There's nothing unachievable about 1.5C It would require sacrifices and global cooperation, but any real solution to climate change will require that
There is 50% chance that in the next five years we will experience a year where the global average temperature is greater than 1.5° C. We are already in 1.2° C and the El Niño index is negative. There is high probability that 2024 will be the hottest year on record (probably getting really close to 1.5° C).
Global carbon emissions are still rising. Climate policies are not being rolled out, new fossil fuel projects are still being approved and built.
I think that even if we stop emitting all CO2 right now (which is not going to happen), we are still looking at 1.5° C. I think it is time to admit that we have failed. And climate doom is upon us all. We are all going to die.
Re: Shell admits 1.5C climate goal means immediate end to fossil fuel growth
#188Earlier quoted context omitted.
We can reforest vast swaths of land right now. For instance, most of the US east of the Mississippi. That can happen with tax code changes and land trusts. We don't need to wait for new tech to scale up. We need to prioritize the planet.
We can't stop climate change by making it profitable. That's literally what got us into this mess in the first place.
I think that's the only way we can stop it.
If we make reducing emissions profitable our existing system will do it.
The other alternative is to completely rebuild our political/social system around something other than profit. Good luck with that, that's a fools errand.
Re: Shell admits 1.5C climate goal means immediate end to fossil fuel growth
#189Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Every new fossil energy project is incompatible with a world that takes climate change seriously. Money talks. This depends on more information. It’s unlikely we’ll be using zero fossil fuels in 35 years. So the goal is to reduce over time, so a new project today could be replacing an old project going offline. Or perhaps the project has a transition path to do something else. I don’t think these are pedantic clari…
Well, here's your more information: https://i.imgur.com/B2QBY6u.png Fossil fuel investment has been climbing year-over-year. Fossil fuel companies aren't replacing existing infrastructure to taper out usage of fossil fuels. They are introducing and expanding with new infrastructure. From the Bloomberg NEF 2023 Energy Transition Investment Trends report, which is incredible reading: https://about.bnef.com/energy-trans…
This is just a 5 year graph and it seems to show level funding. Where do you see expansion in this graph?
Of course any investment is new infrastructure. I think the analysis you want to do is a long term trend line of fossil fuel investment and a projection into the future.
What we, hopefully, want to see is that the overall % energy production projected into the future is decreasing.
Re: Shell admits 1.5C climate goal means immediate end to fossil fuel growth
#190Earlier quoted context omitted.
If we can't reach 1.5°C then we should try to reach 1.6°C. If we can't reach that then 1.7°C. Ultimately: It doesn't matter whether we can reach 1.5°C, because everything we try helps making things better. And any carbon sequestation technology will only help significantly after drastic emission cuts, not as a replacement for it.: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-00953-x
Goals should be realistic. Aiming for 1.5C, then missing it and then continuously failing on 1.6C, 1.7C, 1.8C etc. is akin to a fat person missing their goal of 200lbs, and then telling themselves in front of the mirror every extra 10lb - "I'm going to stop eating junk food today! No, really, this is the day!" It's a cognitive failure to adequately process signals that the real physical world is sending to you. Or me…
Well, the goals were realistic, and only became unrealistic, because action was lacking... and is still lacking.
People are being told technology will solve the problem, you can do x only if the alternative has at least the same advantages and no more disadvantages and you can't do y, because 'freedom'. (oh and did I forget 'communism'?)
1,5 degrees aren't an arbitrary goal either, at least to climate scientists: four tipping points are triggered at about that temperature. https://twitter.com/globalcommonshq/status/16164772483740467...