Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Global warming will exceed 1.5-degree limit, UN says

pbs.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

241–250 of 398 posts

Re: Global warming will exceed 1.5-degree limit, UN says

#241

Post by ch4s3 »

lukeify wrote: post #218
ch4s3 wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No country will ever vote for degrowth so it either has to be done secretively which will cause a populist backlash like in the UK or at gun point. Degrowthers are IMO all basically eco fascists.

The reality of the situation is if you don’t embrace degrowth principles, the planet will probably do it for you. Think mega-wildfores that cause so much devastation that hundreds of thousands of people die from air pollution, or collapse of entire crops and food supply chains due to drought, or mega-heatwaves that wipe out millions. Degrowth is coming. And you don’t have a say in the matter.

Most of these large wildfires are started by people and a result of bad land management in the form of stopping small fires in fire adapted landscapes. Moreover meddling in insurance markets and NIMBYism causes people to build in burn zones.

There just aren’t mega heatwaves causing famines and there won’t be at 1.5c of warming either.

Re: Global warming will exceed 1.5-degree limit, UN says

#242

Post by paimapi »

epistasis wrote: post #27
ThrowawayIP wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The technology-will-save-us mentality is part of the reason we are here. We live in a society that doesn't do anything unless it makes money for some set of decrepit old men. We had the means to avoid this (strict vegan diets, ground based mass transit, dense development & re-wilding, energy transition) but people made money doing the opposite. And more people made money sabotaging solar+battery pricing in the US. So…

No it isn't, the idea that strict vegan diets would have stoped climate change is just nonsense. Run the numbers. "Strict vegan diets" is the attitude of US activists telling the developing world that they need to change their behavior before the US activist is willing to accept driving less or adopting dense urban infill housing. "Making money" is the incentive system of society. Technology has now aligned society's…

>"Strict vegan diets" is the attitude of US activists telling the developing world that they need to change their behavior

https://woods.stanford.edu/news/meats-environmental-impact

>Livestock production accounts for 14-18 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, including 32 percent of methane gas emissions worldwide.

14-18% seems like a fairly significant chunk, no? and what if we just started with not eating beef, all of us, especially the USA? that'd cut down the emissions by quite a large bit

I also feel like the idea that technology will save us can only exist if you're fully ignorant of the sheer amount of money poured into lobbying by various industries into deregulation (like, for eg, the beef industry: https://www.ucs.org/about/news/agribusiness-industry-lobbyin... or Taylor Farms https://www.wired.com/story/diarrhea-outbreak-taylor-farms-m...)

not to mention the abandonment by state energy companies like Georgia Power of their solar/renewable goals and full buy-in to building yet more gas turbines in order to attract hyperscale data centers. I was part of some organizing against this in my city: https://atlpresscollective.com/2025/12/18/public-service-com...

just look at the funding for renewable R&D in the past few years - the reason we have the market we do now is that huge spike (thanks, Obama) in 2009 that drove down the cost of manufacturing and drove up conversion efficiency. that much investment into the renewables sector hasn't been the same since, especially now: https://www.theinvadingsea.com/2025/11/05/fossil-fuels-oil-c...

Re: Global warming will exceed 1.5-degree limit, UN says

#243

Post by epistasis »

tcfhgj wrote: post #227
epistasis wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No it isn't, the idea that strict vegan diets would have stoped climate change is just nonsense. Run the numbers. "Strict vegan diets" is the attitude of US activists telling the developing world that they need to change their behavior before the US activist is willing to accept driving less or adopting dense urban infill housing. "Making money" is the incentive system of society. Technology has now aligned society's…

> Technology has now aligned society's incentive systems to promote climate action. no, it has not

https://www.irena.org/News/pressreleases/2025/Jul/91-Percent...

https://www.climaterealityproject.org/blog/why-clean-energy-...

https://www.lazard.com/news-announcements/lazard-releases-20...

Re: Global warming will exceed 1.5-degree limit, UN says

#244

Post by lukeify »

Supermancho wrote: post #233
lukeify wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn’t ask for the world to have 8 billion people in it, and I sure as hell won’t be stopping enjoying fairly basic luxuries like consuming protein just because others tell me to do so. If we need to make such drastic changes to human consumption, have people considered if we have a overpopulation problem?

The demographic collapse was a forgine conclusion in the 80s. There is no global overpopulation problem over the next century. There will be food shortages due to a lack of labor and dessicated farmland. It will be rough for the average human.

> There is no global overpopulation problem over the next century

Sure there is. If the mere act of eating a staple food item causes so many carbon emissions it contributes to planetary-scale climate change, you have an overpopulation problem.

Re: Global warming will exceed 1.5-degree limit, UN says

#245

Post by brabel »

xnx wrote: post #64
multiplegeorges wrote: post #2

Not much of a surprise. Government action has been anemic at best. Industry action (overall) has been net negative. The only hope now is exponential growth of (solar and wind)+batteries making other sources uneconomic. This seems to be slowly happening, so I hope we hit the exponential curve soon and we're there quicker than we expect. This only stops it. Then, to fix it, we'll need a massive Direct Air Capture indus…

Population decrease will have the biggest impact.

Good news then: most of the world already has a decreasing population or about to start decreasing. Only exception being Africa.

Re: Global warming will exceed 1.5-degree limit, UN says

#246

Post by epistasis »

breuleux wrote: post #199
epistasis wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You're assuming that we keep the same system and that no sacrificing can be made. No. I am not. I'm saying that unless the incentive system is aligned with our goals, then it's not actually climate action. Technologists succeeded at doing that. People who decided to use non-policy driven political action failed utterly at this. The degrowthers are particularly bad at this, but then all their thinking was muddled an…

> Technologists succeeded at doing that. Have they? How have they done that? I just want to know what you mean here.

I mean this: https://www.climaterealityproject.org/blog/why-clean-energy-...

Technology did that. With lots of government subsidies, and in particular with Germany kick starting a ton of solar industrial development.

Even in the US, with concerted anti-renewable sentiment at all levels of decision makers in both electric utility leadership and government leadership, new electricity is overwhelmingly carbon-free, because the technologists made it the cheapest:

https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=67205

Technologists caused massive social change, by changing the technology. Far more than the people that focused only on culture and changing society through those means.

Re: Global warming will exceed 1.5-degree limit, UN says

#247

Post by guy200 »

hallole wrote: post #215
guy200 wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even mildly advocating for veganism as a vegan would be infuriating if it wasn’t so comedic. The mental contortions that even intelligent people will put themselves into in order to either avoid the topic or keep their head in the sand are truly something to behold. And ultimately it often feels like arguing with a past version of yourself, who perhaps held some of the same views.

I just don't advocate, at least not without prompting; it's too maddening. That I'm vegan often becomes known naturally, and once it's established, people in the know tend to start bringing it up on their own. I hardly ever go into advocacy unprompted. I think this is more effective. Just by being present, you might spark the thoughts that lead someone to changing their mind... :)

Yeah, I have noticed this too. and I’m much the same now, over time my “advocacy” is mostly stating my reasons when asked. And sometimes bringing it up in online spaces.

it can be difficult, at least for me, to politely model in the face of what I see as a great injustice. But as you say, it can be maddening to do otherwise and still see no change.

So I do understand and support those who participate in a less passive advocacy as that can be effective for a different group. And keeps “our” voice in the mainstream, even if it is often vilified by popular culture.

Re: Global warming will exceed 1.5-degree limit, UN says

#248

Post by irishcoffee »

xienze wrote: post #214
b40d-48b2-979e wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah? We need millions of personal, individual trucks? For work, of course, ignore all those white collar job parking lots full of extended cab pickups that get 10mpg.

Have you considered that sometimes people buy automobiles that can accommodate multiple use cases? Just because you don't need to haul hundreds of pounds of supplies every single day doesn't mean that you don't need to do it a couple times a month, or sometimes every day for short bursts of time. With vehicles being as expensive as they are, some people prioritize the one vehicle that can suit their regular _as well…

The current potus was directly elected because “know-it-alls” kept trying to jam ideologies down peoples throats. I have this awful feeling we’re going to swing back that way, and the escalation on “both sides” will be an absolute disaster.

Re: Global warming will exceed 1.5-degree limit, UN says

#249

Post by Tade0 »

croes wrote: post #184
epistasis wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No it isn't, the idea that strict vegan diets would have stoped climate change is just nonsense. Run the numbers. "Strict vegan diets" is the attitude of US activists telling the developing world that they need to change their behavior before the US activist is willing to accept driving less or adopting dense urban infill housing. "Making money" is the incentive system of society. Technology has now aligned society's…

> "Making money" is the incentive system of society. Then explain voluntary work or all the people risking their lives for other people they don’t even know. Human society existed before money. And nobody said that a vegan diet would have stopped climates change, they said strict vegan diets, ground based mass transit, dense development & re-wilding, energy transition. Just picking one and say that would help is a na…

> And nobody said that a vegan diet would have stopped climates change, they said strict vegan diets, ground based mass transit, dense development & re-wilding, energy transition.

That just makes it less possible.

Consuming and producing less is just not going to happen because there are at least four billion people who don't live the western lifestyle, but want to and there's not much that can stop them.

Re: Global warming will exceed 1.5-degree limit, UN says

#250

Post by lukeify »

ch4s3 wrote: post #241
lukeify wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reality of the situation is if you don’t embrace degrowth principles, the planet will probably do it for you. Think mega-wildfores that cause so much devastation that hundreds of thousands of people die from air pollution, or collapse of entire crops and food supply chains due to drought, or mega-heatwaves that wipe out millions. Degrowth is coming. And you don’t have a say in the matter.

Most of these large wildfires are started by people and a result of bad land management in the form of stopping small fires in fire adapted landscapes. Moreover meddling in insurance markets and NIMBYism causes people to build in burn zones. There just aren’t mega heatwaves causing famines and there won’t be at 1.5c of warming either.

None of that changes that we now have substantially larger and less controllable fires than we used to. Are you really denying that extreme weather and droughts don’t play a part in dramatically increasing combustibility?

> There just aren’t mega heatwaves causing famines and there won’t be at 1.5c of warming either.

Oh we’re going way past 1.5C.

Post reply on HN