Live data from Hacker News

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

youtube.com

161–170 of 884 posts

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

#161

@dang Is it just my impression that HN is drifting rigtwards on this topic? I remember HN being more in favour of proactive action against anthropic climate change. This thread feels dominated by attitudes reflecting inaction.

Im not dang but I would like to share a hypothesis why this maybe isn’t so terrible.

The thing that always stood between the world and climate action was the fact that fossil fuels were the best energy source.

Since a few years, the tables have turned and solar seems to be marching towards absolute dominance.

So there isn’t much to do in terms of political climate action, since the incentives are now mostly economical.

I agree though, the extend to how people are happy to just roll over and accept that the world will go down with them is surprising.

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

#163
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…

i don't think overpopulation is the problem, but maybe it's a symptom. the problem is we've forced our way up to an unrealistically high standard of living which is completely unsustainable, and now we're trapped in an inescapable death spiral because nobody wants to go back. people aren't willing to stop paying for conveniences because they're cheaply available, corporations aren't willing to stop selling them becau…

Even if it all grinds to a halt tomorrow, at this point it won’t make a difference anymore. It’s the end of an era, possibly of civilization too, at least this particular flavor of it.

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

#164
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…

We also hitched a large portion of government spending and the economy to the population pyramid. If we don't have growth then we're in trouble.

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

#165
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…

The big problem is the way that people want US-style lifestyles with big houses and cars. This consumes way more energy than European or Asian style living in apartments with public transport. Overpopulation will solve itself as countries develop. We’ve seen that over and over.

nobody specifically wants shitty us style suburban planning with shitty us style houses. Plus it would hard to replicate that because its an artifact of historical cultural and political developments. In short it would be harder to replicate that instead of doing better.

But yes they want a better life for themselves.

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

#166

@dang Is it just my impression that HN is drifting rigtwards on this topic? I remember HN being more in favour of proactive action against anthropic climate change. This thread feels dominated by attitudes reflecting inaction.

Im not dang but I would like to share a hypothesis why this maybe isn’t so terrible. The thing that always stood between the world and climate action was the fact that fossil fuels were the best energy source. Since a few years, the tables have turned and solar seems to be marching towards absolute dominance. So there isn’t much to do in terms of political climate action, since the incentives are now mostly economica…

[flagged]

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

#168
post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i don't think overpopulation is the problem, but maybe it's a symptom. the problem is we've forced our way up to an unrealistically high standard of living which is completely unsustainable, and now we're trapped in an inescapable death spiral because nobody wants to go back. people aren't willing to stop paying for conveniences because they're cheaply available, corporations aren't willing to stop selling them becau…

Yea, yea, people making their life better is now the reason. We must all live in poverty, because that is the natural state, where we obey the needs of nature. Nature is healing!! And for that we need to abandon demoncracy. And the leader should be who? Of course you, because only you know the solution! Cheeky ;)

you can put your fingers in your ears and say "la la la" all you want, it doesn't change the undeniable and objective truth.

everybody knows the solution, *you* know the solution, it's just a hard pill to swallow so mental gymnastics are preferable.

as a species we know that the overconsumption of resources is the problem. there are exactly zero valid arguments against that. anybody who claims that consuming less resources *isn't* the solution is either ignorant or lying.

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

#169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Overpopulation isn’t the source of the problem, IMHO. A wild human being in their natural environment pollutes thousands of times less than an industrialised consumer. Each American or European, whose food is grown thousands of km away, is plenty more only to make their salad. Can they be blamed for their Carbon Footprint^TM? I think we should blame the fossil fuel corporations which have turned us into fuel junkies

Is that actually true? Nature has a very low capacity per area for "wild humans". I don't think the planet would support anywhere near 8 billion "wild" (hunter-gatherer) humans.

Nah, its not true. Look at the overpopulated areas, look at how dirty the rivers are and how much trash is at the shore. Why should they care? Most of the people do not own anything. And owning something is considered evil as of late on HN. There is some socialist government in place and most likely it takes years to open a business when it is not a soup kitchen. Ah, business, thats evil now too.

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

#170

I no longer worry. I'm extremely pessimistic about the impending climate change. I believe Sabine isn't pessimistic enough about what to anticipate. Consider the tundra methane emissions and the explosive release of methane-hydrates from the oceans, along with water vapor, a potent greenhouse gas. The disaster looming over all ecosystems (a mass extinction event) that will happen in decades and the doom-phase could l…

I think extreme doomers like this create a shitty world to live in where you're surrounded by people that adopted an extreme "nothing matters the world is doomed soon" perspective that is depressing.
Post reply on HN