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Global Warming at 3 °C by 2050? What's Behind the New German Climate Warning

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121–130 of 209 posts

Re: Global Warming at 3 °C by 2050? What's Behind the New German Climate Warning

#122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh well ok I will get right on raising taxes. So simple I should have done it sooner. FairTax is regressive and does nothing to stop a trillionaire from launching dick rockets to nowhere. Each rocket and launch using more resources than a poor person will their entire life.

Not sure why the snarky response, obviously most people have very little direct influence over these things. So you oppose green tax policy on the grounds that it isn't punitive enough against rich people? A rich person living a miserly life would pay little in taxes, I see no problem with that. I assume that you are alluding to someone specific with the rocket launching trillionaire quip. That would be the same pers…

I don't think having rich people pay more taxes relative to their income should be considered punitive. Progressive taxation has a long history going back to the first modern income taxes in the 18th or 19th centuries on the basis that low income people have a more reduced capacity to pay (due to non-discretionary spending on necessities being a higher portion of income when it is lower) and I think it's reasonable to expect it out of taxes.

Though, I do recognise that having one regressive tax wouldn't necessarily make the entire tax-and-transfers system regressive (or even more regressive, if that tax money is spent).

Re: Global Warming at 3 °C by 2050? What's Behind the New German Climate Warning

#123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh well ok I will get right on raising taxes. So simple I should have done it sooner. FairTax is regressive and does nothing to stop a trillionaire from launching dick rockets to nowhere. Each rocket and launch using more resources than a poor person will their entire life.

Not sure why the snarky response, obviously most people have very little direct influence over these things. So you oppose green tax policy on the grounds that it isn't punitive enough against rich people? A rich person living a miserly life would pay little in taxes, I see no problem with that. I assume that you are alluding to someone specific with the rocket launching trillionaire quip. That would be the same pers…

[dead]

Re: Global Warming at 3 °C by 2050? What's Behind the New German Climate Warning

#124

One of the most important solutions is never taken seriously enough, because most people are just big children: eat less meat.

Consumer choices are only going to get you so far

And so will regulatory solutions so long as we have different states competing for resources.

Re: Global Warming at 3 °C by 2050? What's Behind the New German Climate Warning

#125
post #27
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We _are_ doing something about this. We’re locating concentrated millions of years of trapped fossil energy and moving it into our atmosphere as fast as we possibly can. To a first approximation, that is the world economy. Or did you mean to do something differently?

Both Europe and US's emissions are significantly (18%-30%) below their peak (which was 20 years ago. The rest of the world is also moving towards renewables.

> Both Europe and US's emissions are significantly (18%-30%) below their peak

Because they outsource their dirty work. To get a true picture of US/EU emissions you need to factor in the factories in Asia that are producing their consumer goods, as well as the global transport network that supports this.

Re: Global Warming at 3 °C by 2050? What's Behind the New German Climate Warning

#126
post #8

If we don’t do something about this, I fear future generations will not view us in a positive light.

At this point I'll be happy if there are future generations with the capacity to look back and understand what happened.

Re: Global Warming at 3 °C by 2050? What's Behind the New German Climate Warning

#128
But there is the problem:

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/ranked-world-carbon-emissio...

Note: a lot of the countries on this graph are quite famous for not only refusing to implement any climate policy, but not having the necessary government control (or will) to do it even when agreeing to it.

Re: Global Warming at 3 °C by 2050? What's Behind the New German Climate Warning

#129

One of the most important solutions is never taken seriously enough, because most people are just big children: eat less meat.

Consumer choices are only going to get you so far

True. Review on it from two years ago here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221479932...

Might be worth shifting subsidies away from meat and towards plant protein to a level consistent with the social cost of carbon, but one could probably expect resistance from a certain demographic, maybe loudly exclaiming on social media that it's a secret government plot to emasculate them or something. (and opposition from industry groups as well probably)

Re: Global Warming at 3 °C by 2050? What's Behind the New German Climate Warning

#130
post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is the most important part most people don't get I wouldn't say "people don't get" it when it's not well-communicated. When the headline always says 2-3 degrees, of course people are going to shrug.

It was always explained that way to me though. the "Our house is burning, and we are looking away" speech was like 20 years ago and it was pretty clear then than average increase in temps mostly mean higher maximums and minimums. Nowadays, people who never did anything to consume less (and made fun of people who stopped taking the plane) can't hide behind the "we didn't know" because everybody knew, so they hide behi…

What do you mean? Both Europe and America moved industrial production to China (which was an explicit choice/policy) which as a side effect radically increased the amount of coal used to power industrial production, BUT lets Europeans and Americans both pay less (ie. make workers poorer) AND lets them claim innocence for CO2 increases, while in fact increasing their CO2 use indirectly.
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