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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]

#171

Post by yungporko »

lacrimacida wrote: post #163
yungporko wrote: post #149

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…

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.

it would make a huge difference. sure, we can't undo the damage that has been done, but things can and will get way, way worse as we carry on without changing anything.

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

#172

Post by Aerroon »

lancebeet wrote: post #136
Erratic6576 wrote: post #127

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.

It's estimated that we couldn't support much more than half the world population without the Haber-Bosch process. Industrial fertilizers are just that important. With hunter gatherers you'd be talking about orders of magnitude fewer people.

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

#173

Post by andbberger »

konschubert wrote: post #161
alexvoda wrote: post #140

@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…

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

this has not been true since 1951

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

#174

Post by vladms »

kleiba wrote: post #156
alexvoda wrote: post #140

@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.

The whole Western world has shifted rightwards in recent years as can be witnessed in election results.

Politics works in cycles and maybe we are seeing the backlash of a lot of people starting believing in climate issues. Now that actions start being taken, people not caring about climate start pushing back because they need to change their lifestyle, and some parties (right wing/populists) promise them nothing has to change.

I think though that is getting harder and harder to ignore actual climate issues (storms, floods, heat), wonder what will be these parties next claim to convince voters "is the left wing/immigrants that generated the floods?"...

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

#175

Post by chii »

kleiba wrote: post #156
alexvoda wrote: post #140

@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.

The whole Western world has shifted rightwards in recent years as can be witnessed in election results.

it's because the left has been attempting to make progress too fast, without regard to the people who lean towards the right as tho their point of view is universally regarded as being wrong. Reactionary politics is real, and the left ought to be more aware.

Leaning towards left (aka progressive) is good, but if you're not paying a cost for it, someobody else is - and it's likely someone leaning right that's being forced to do so. They're not gonna like it regardless if whether it's generally a good thing.

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

#176

Post by 127361 »

Aerroon wrote: post #164
127361 wrote: 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.

And in the really long term that's completely unsustainable. So it's like a pyramid scheme scam, it requires a constant influx of new entrants. Whilst destroying the planet.

I guess people even have their pension funds tied up into the system, so nearly everyone is forced to participate in it, against their wishes even.

Update: Something to back that up: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2019/04/05/the-worl...

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

#177

Post by tomtomistaken »

coalteddy wrote: post #125
tomtomistaken wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why it is important to know your local super-emitter: https://climatetrace.org/explore

This site looks very interesting but I'm not quite sure what I'm looking at. What is that map for and how does it filter sources, since it seems like it doesn't include all airports.

There’s a lot of information there. They literally answer the question “What am I looking at?” in the first popup you get (How to use, top left corner).

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

#178

Post by Charlie_26 »

johnea wrote: post #86
declan_roberts wrote: post #16

Weird. I used to worry about climate change and now I don’t. I guess the world has a way of finding its equilibrium. I do however worry about the accidental introduction of invasive species and diseases, which seems to be accelerating (see: citrus greening disease).

> Weird. I used to worry about climate change and now I don’t. That's funny! I was going to start my post with the exact same sentence! But for a totally different reason: I'm now convinced that there is no stopping the massive destruction of the natural environemnt. A much MUCH bigger problem than that of the climate alone. I'm not a "doomer", I'm a "realist". It's clear at this point that the world's ownership clas…

> So, I've learned to take this in stride, like with gun ownership: most gun deaths in the US are suicide. As more and more gun owners shoot themselves, this is the only mitigation to this crisis.

I’m sure you’re being facetious, but don’t the suicidal people buy guns? It’s not that gun owners are suicidal

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

#179

Post by maigret »

johnea wrote: post #86
declan_roberts wrote: post #16

Weird. I used to worry about climate change and now I don’t. I guess the world has a way of finding its equilibrium. I do however worry about the accidental introduction of invasive species and diseases, which seems to be accelerating (see: citrus greening disease).

> Weird. I used to worry about climate change and now I don’t. That's funny! I was going to start my post with the exact same sentence! But for a totally different reason: I'm now convinced that there is no stopping the massive destruction of the natural environemnt. A much MUCH bigger problem than that of the climate alone. I'm not a "doomer", I'm a "realist". It's clear at this point that the world's ownership clas…

Some capitalists want you to believe that there is no solution. There will be lots of money to be made from this change by new entrepreneurs. We can also all do our part by reducing our own fossil fuel use, investing wisely, declining working for companies who consume or produce lots of fossil fuels, and make renewable energies get forward. Unfortunately the fossil fuel lobby (which comprises big & rich states) has put lots of energy convincing a lot of citizens otherwise. But this is not lost. Solar is progressing very fast and we have lots of potential in simple solutions like better house insulation and middle size batteries (especially the ones we'll soon be able to get cheap from used TVs).

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

#180

Post by crucialfelix »

pvaldes wrote: post #159

Until the war is over, we can't know if exploding things non stop for two years is having a part in making the last years warmer. The models could be incomplete, or obsolete

The amount of energy accumulating in the oceans is equivalent to detonating five Hiroshima atomic bombs per second, every second over the past 25 years.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00376-020-9283-7

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