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The risk of a hothouse Earth trajectory

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Re: The risk of a hothouse Earth trajectory

#41

Post by exitb »

bayindirh wrote: post #16
aperrien wrote: post #7

Are there any attempts to start geo-engineering to fix this? I'm assuming there will be no attempt to stop dumping carbon into the atmosphere, can we at least do something to take it back out? Can we use solar or renewables to possibly do that at scale?

There are currently no power efficient and scalable ways to remove carbon dioxide from air or water. Renewables are considered woke technology which mock old and masculine fossil fuel tech, which feel threatened by all these white spinny things, hence renewable energy projects are being actively discouraged or canceled altogether. You know, we'd be all woke and weird if our cars don't have 8 cylinders and make wroom…

The rich don’t care which side you’re on, as long as you’re fighting each other.

Re: The risk of a hothouse Earth trajectory

#42

Post by adolph »

Carrok wrote: post #28
smartmic wrote: post #18

It is important to keep reminding ourselves that climate change is a real problem for humanity and that each and every one of us contributes to its intensification or mitigation through our decisions. It is a problem that requires solutions, but implementing these solutions involves so much inertia that it can sometimes be painful. And let's contrast that with the AI hype. It's more the opposite, a kind of solution t…

I've started composting. I'm sure that'll outweigh the average Vegas visitor's emissions. /s I'm being a bit facetious obviously, but it does feel a bit like tilting against windmills. We need policy and systemic changes, if we're relying on individuals to all collectively start doing the "right thing", we're sunk.

Sorry to be a debbie-downer but

the composting process is also a source of greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9933540/

Re: The risk of a hothouse Earth trajectory

#44

Post by candiddevmike »

smartmic wrote: post #18

It is important to keep reminding ourselves that climate change is a real problem for humanity and that each and every one of us contributes to its intensification or mitigation through our decisions. It is a problem that requires solutions, but implementing these solutions involves so much inertia that it can sometimes be painful. And let's contrast that with the AI hype. It's more the opposite, a kind of solution t…

If you're looking to experience a "climate change" simulator, kind of, the game Oxygen Not Included is an interesting chemistry sandbox where you need to balance things like O2, heat, food, etc in a "terrarium" of sorts. The parallels to climate change are similar to real life--most of the game ending problems you encounter are from short sighted thinking earlier on/kicking the can down the road.

Re: The risk of a hothouse Earth trajectory

#45

Post by vdupras »

maybelsyrup wrote: post #40
vdupras wrote: post #30

And yet, the only reasonable action to take is to flag this topic and move along with the "humanity has always found a way out, technology will save us. Remember, we were supposed to drown in horse manure!" Why? Because candidly looking at those risks as a society means deep collective existential dread, which automatically means an immediate civilizational collapse. So I'm guessing some of our elite is actually igno…

> It's unfortunate because a rapid civilizational collapse could give humanity as a species a better chance of survival. How's that?

An effective way to cut carbon emissions before feedback loops are triggered

Re: The risk of a hothouse Earth trajectory

#46

Post by swiftcoder »

bayindirh wrote: post #16
aperrien wrote: post #7

Are there any attempts to start geo-engineering to fix this? I'm assuming there will be no attempt to stop dumping carbon into the atmosphere, can we at least do something to take it back out? Can we use solar or renewables to possibly do that at scale?

There are currently no power efficient and scalable ways to remove carbon dioxide from air or water. Renewables are considered woke technology which mock old and masculine fossil fuel tech, which feel threatened by all these white spinny things, hence renewable energy projects are being actively discouraged or canceled altogether. You know, we'd be all woke and weird if our cars don't have 8 cylinders and make wroom…

> Renewables are considered woke technology which mock old and masculine fossil fuel tech...

This is mostly a US problem at this point. The rest of the world is adopting renewables considerably faster than anyone expected (and despite the best efforts of the current administration, the adoption curve is accelerating even in the US).

That said, it's still apparent that even optimistic estimates of renewable energy adoption aren't fast enough to fix the climate crisis on their own.

Re: The risk of a hothouse Earth trajectory

#47

Post by reactordev »

Carrok wrote: post #28
smartmic wrote: post #18

It is important to keep reminding ourselves that climate change is a real problem for humanity and that each and every one of us contributes to its intensification or mitigation through our decisions. It is a problem that requires solutions, but implementing these solutions involves so much inertia that it can sometimes be painful. And let's contrast that with the AI hype. It's more the opposite, a kind of solution t…

I've started composting. I'm sure that'll outweigh the average Vegas visitor's emissions. /s I'm being a bit facetious obviously, but it does feel a bit like tilting against windmills. We need policy and systemic changes, if we're relying on individuals to all collectively start doing the "right thing", we're sunk.

You laugh but if everyone changed just some of their behavior, we would be in a much better place.

We used to reuse glass jars, now it’s plastic. We used to can goods, now it’s plastic. We used to use refillable bottles, now it’s plastic. We used to have car doors that went “thunk” when you slammed them shut, now it’s plastic.

If we each are mindful of the amount of trash/litter/waste we produce and take an active step towards minimizing it, we would all be in a better place.

Re: The risk of a hothouse Earth trajectory

#48

Post by davidw »

aleda145 wrote: post #9

Very alarming. I feel like especially the West is regressing on climate change with the rise of the far right ( https://www.politico.eu/article/robert-lambrou-alternative-f... ) I don't know what to do.

Work on local things to make your own city better. Plenty of stuff that's not too difficult, even if it won't fix everything:

* Multifamily housing is much more energy efficient. Is it legal to build throughout your city, or does zoning prevent it?

* Is there good bicycle infrastructure so people don't have to drive for everything?

* Does your city still have expensive parking mandates that lock in car dependency? Get rid of those. They also get in the way of places becoming more walkable.

* This one hurts, but: eat less beef.

* Advocate for good transit as another way for people to get around without driving a personal vehicle.

* What can be done in your city/region to electrify heating for homes and businesses?

* What can your region do to build more renewable energy capacity?

Those are all things where even a few voices can sometimes make a difference.

Re: The risk of a hothouse Earth trajectory

#49

Post by bayindirh »

exitb wrote: post #41
bayindirh wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are currently no power efficient and scalable ways to remove carbon dioxide from air or water. Renewables are considered woke technology which mock old and masculine fossil fuel tech, which feel threatened by all these white spinny things, hence renewable energy projects are being actively discouraged or canceled altogether. You know, we'd be all woke and weird if our cars don't have 8 cylinders and make wroom…

The rich don’t care which side you’re on, as long as you’re fighting each other.

I don't play that game. I only do what I can do with what I have and don't care about losing time with pointless fights.

I may not be able to save the whole planet, but at least I'll leave my area a bit better as my capacity and time allows.

Re: The risk of a hothouse Earth trajectory

#50

Post by bamboozled »

anon84873628 wrote: post #11
bayindirh wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think most people bet that they'd be dead until that transition happens, so the problem won't be theirs to address.

It's a classic multi-agent coordination problem. Should I stop taking jet liners and eating meat, when everyone else is anyway? (Edit: purely illustrative rhetorical question, but I appreciate the responses)

It’s hard to convince people not to eat food and take a plane when billionaires do whatever they like at 1000x the carbon footprint, when millions of people drive to work and when base load power is built on fossil fuels. To me eating protein and taking a plane seem benign.
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