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I used to not worry about climate change. Now I do [video]

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Re: I used to not worry about climate change. Now I do [video]

#71

There’s nothing much to do. An environmentalist told me that it’s a few big companies that are causing it all but that I was greenwashing it by buying Terrapass so now I’ve stopped. I grew up in the city, too, but apparently that was the problem because you’re surrounded by a concrete jungle so now I’m buying a home in the hills. It’s pretty cool, honestly. I don’t understand why everyone doesn’t just live in the hil…

Not an unreasonable argument, though I can't help but remember the empirical evidence we saw when everyone stopped driving for a period in 2020.

That said, I've tried to open my eyes to greenwashing. For example, most plastic recycling is a lie sold by oil companies (#1 and #2 are really the only ones that have a hope of being recycled), so I've worked hard to avoid plastic packaging.

Re: I used to not worry about climate change. Now I do [video]

#72
post #45

It's taboo to say this, but people worldwide have had far too many children, and I believe that overpopulation is the root of the sustainability crisis, including climate change and pollution. And that taboo is probably rooted in evolutionary psychology, people have a genetically driven tendency to criticize those who advocate having less children? So could there be an instinctual drive behind it? https://www.flashpa…

It's not really taboo, it's just straight-up a racist right-wing talking point.

Treat it as a software optimisation problem - should you go after a large number of very minro problems, or take an axe to the single large problem that dominates your metrics?

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/nov/20/richest-...

Re: I used to not worry about climate change. Now I do [video]

#73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stop burning stuff. Tell other people to stop burning stuff. Tell your representatives to work on alternatives to burning stuff. Don't invest in companies that burn a lot of stuff. Avoid waterfront property.

What's wrong with waterfront properties?

My all-time favorite response to this problem was I think from Ben Shapiro who said that people who experience flooding should just sell their houses and buy somewhere else and it won't be any big deal. Lol.

Re: I used to not worry about climate change. Now I do [video]

#74
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Encourage other people (especially if you're in a developing country) not to have too many children. The absolutely unsustainable population levels worldwide are behind the climate and pollution crises. We are an incredibly destructive species to the planet. All countries, developing and developed are part of the problem. Not only that the overcrowding and fighting over limited resources causes psychosocial stress, w…

Medical condition gave me a built-in vasectomy, and my wife and I tried IVF (getting the sperm out without a vas deferens wasn't a fun surgery, FWIW) but it wasn't successful. You're welcome.

Yes, for me it's because of childrens' rights, I don't want my kids to potentially go through what I went through, including the soul crushing compulsory education system.

I feel that natural learning is so much superior, if you can encourage and cultivate it. Coercion destroys the fun in learning and it teaches us how to procrastinate very well indeed. Treat people like slaves, and what do you expect? You get poor productivity as a result, too.

Overall I think the treatment of children and young people in society is terrible and unjustified. It is inhumane.

I think they are being (sort of) micromanaged and exhibit the same behaviors as adults do when micromanaged, this is especially applicable for older teens.

Re: I used to not worry about climate change. Now I do [video]

#75
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah this is the irony: whether or not climate change is bad is relative, like everything else. (Tongue in cheek, but there’s a nugget of truth)

Many studies over years that some countries are net winners (i.e. more arable land in higher latitude etc). And sometimes winning is simply your competitors doing worse (i.e. some countries need to divert more resources than others). Competition increasingly > cooperation in geopolitics.

Do these studies consider collapsing supply chains and unequal global fossil resource distribution necessary for food security beyond arable land? Because modern agriculture sure won't do without phosphorus supply from Morocco. Is the local fauna and flora diverse and robust enough to adapt to rapidly changing ecosystems? Can those "net winners" build their MRI machines, when lethal wet bulb temperatures close rare earth mines in China? Will they have the means to defend their prosperous islands against billions of refugees and enemy soldiers at their borders? Do reactionary authoritarian governments qualify for "net winning" societies?

I presume "net winning" suggests something very misleading here. It certainly won't mean a net gain over the status quo in wealth and welfare.

Re: I used to not worry about climate change. Now I do [video]

#76
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sort of anecdote is exhausting. Growing up, I was skeptical of "global warming" and heard endless admonishments about how "weather is not climate" any time anyone around me made a comment about a particularly cold day proving anything about climate. But now, it's acceptable to make this kind of anecdote on an unseasonably warm day.. and on unseasonably cold days! Now you're an idiot if you don't see that weather…

I dont get it. Every scientist & 5yo kid will prove you that things accelerate with 9.81 m/s^2 when falling, and guess this is still science? Which is a proof of cobtradiction that your point doesnt hold.

It doesn't really make sense when talking about physical constants. But if someone told you that things always fall at that speed everywhere, including on space stations and on the moon, you might suspect something had gone wrong.

The point dingnut makes is that science has to be falsifiable. That means you have to be able to articulate what set of observations would lead you to abandoning your theory. If someone showed there was a place on Earth where things did not fall at that speed you would consider the claim falsified.

So what dingnuts is saying is that he feels that claims about climate are becoming unfalsifiable. If it's hot, that's evidence for climate change. If it's cold, that's also evidence for climate change. If there's no snow, climate change. If there's snow, also climate change. If it's just a sort of average week, then that's ignored and considered to not mean anything.

It's maybe more of an issue of journalists, but the trend towards presenting every possible weather event as leading to the same conclusion leads to the question of what kind of short term weather would be accepted as evidence against the theory. Is there any?

Re: I used to not worry about climate change. Now I do [video]

#77
post #45

It's taboo to say this, but people worldwide have had far too many children, and I believe that overpopulation is the root of the sustainability crisis, including climate change and pollution. And that taboo is probably rooted in evolutionary psychology, people have a genetically driven tendency to criticize those who advocate having less children? So could there be an instinctual drive behind it? https://www.flashpa…

It's not really taboo, it's just straight-up a racist right-wing talking point. Treat it as a software optimisation problem - should you go after a large number of very minro problems, or take an axe to the single large problem that dominates your metrics? https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/nov/20/richest-...

I am confused as to how discouraging procreation is racist?

Re: I used to not worry about climate change. Now I do [video]

#79
post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not really taboo, it's just straight-up a racist right-wing talking point. Treat it as a software optimisation problem - should you go after a large number of very minro problems, or take an axe to the single large problem that dominates your metrics? https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/nov/20/richest-...

I am confused as to how discouraging procreation is racist?

LOL. You wrote a comment on how India is the main problem not the west (either now flagged or deleted). You singled out a race as being the problem.
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