Live data from Hacker News

Oceans 'soaking up more heat than estimated'

bbc.co.uk

111–120 of 225 posts

Re: Oceans 'soaking up more heat than estimated'

#111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't say it was a conspiracy. It's a net, systematic effect caused by individual decisions in their self-interest. The concentration of power is an aggregate effect of the method of economic production we have. That said, don't kid yourself for a minute that the people with large amounts of capital don't meet and discuss these things amongst themselves. They have both public-facing institutions (political parties…

Ok, but so what? BREAKING NEWS: Rich guys also hope their families survive the water wars.

The point is that 'rich guys' have the ability to make sure they survive 'the water wars' while you do not. And also it's in their interest to stay rich before then. And to stay rich, that means continuing to do what we're doing. Which results in the 'water wars'.

Not sure what/why we're arguing about here.

Re: Oceans 'soaking up more heat than estimated'

#112

1) Go watch the movie cowspiracy on netflix. Go vegan. 2) Get an energy audit and see if your home needs more insulation. If a solar panel installation will pay for itself in a reasonable time where you live (rebates - SRECs - etc) consider getting one. 3) If you live in a warmer climate with safe biking paths - get an electric bike to go to work. 4) The next car you get should be electric or plugin hybrid. Even if i…

How should we got about people saying: "It's too late. It's now an open bar and I won't shoot myself in the foot by restricting my lifestyle or paying more than others for the same goods and services to soften the inevitable coming disaster. If this is the last ride and I have a seat I might as well enjoy it." Eg: "Why buy a green car if it's going to cost me way more than a good old diesel and the apocalypse is comi…

A used Prius isn't that expensive. Or keep the diesel and consolidate/limit trips. I would argue if we all drove less people would have a better lifestyle due to less traffic, better health, less wasted time, etc. regardless of climate change.

Re: Oceans 'soaking up more heat than estimated'

#113

I keep asking. How to organize at the middle layer ? Not govt or nation wide, but smaller areas. I believe starting small reactions in parallel could accelerate things. Otherwise it's still talk.

State level politics might help. California is trying to be carbon-neutral by 2045: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/can-california-ac...

Even that is too large IMO. At least in my view of things, I'm cool with states working on this. I wanted something like communities. I'll see.

Re: Oceans 'soaking up more heat than estimated'

#114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That 'but' is an excuse. Government opinion will always lag the peoples opinion - its a reactive organisation. Making a change yourself and normalising it is a huge signal to those you come into contact with that they should do the same. Governments change when politicians realise they are growing out of touch with the people they are trying to coerce.

I've done all of the following at various points, and announced that it was for environment reasons: - Gone vegetarian - Bought a tiny used car instead on new one or one with more space. - Moved to a neighborhood where I could walk to work. - Declined for my employer to send me on an expenses paid trip to a conference 2000 miles away. This has had ZERO effect on the behavior of any of the witnesses. And if I voice to…

Except for the last action, though, the first three had the benefit of saving you money and thus bringing you closer to financial freedom, as well as putting you in a less painful position when we all finally have to reduce our consumption. Show how excellent your life still is at this lower consumption level - not wasting all that time commuting, for starters.

Re: Oceans 'soaking up more heat than estimated'

#115
post #56

1) Go watch the movie cowspiracy on netflix. Go vegan. 2) Get an energy audit and see if your home needs more insulation. If a solar panel installation will pay for itself in a reasonable time where you live (rebates - SRECs - etc) consider getting one. 3) If you live in a warmer climate with safe biking paths - get an electric bike to go to work. 4) The next car you get should be electric or plugin hybrid. Even if i…

What I am finding in my road to eating less meat is that vegetarian food seems to take a lot longer to prepare. I can knock up a steak with mushrooms and brocolli in about 10 minutes. I am finding to create something just as satisfying that's vegetarian is some form of pie or lasagne that is delicious but takes an entire evening to cook. What would the vegetarian equivalent to a quick steak be?

Pressure cookers are magic, turning 1.5-2 hr cooking times into 30-40 minutes.

For red beans and rice, I soak the beans the night before, which reduces the needed cooking time.

Re: Oceans 'soaking up more heat than estimated'

#116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That 'but' is an excuse. Government opinion will always lag the peoples opinion - its a reactive organisation. Making a change yourself and normalising it is a huge signal to those you come into contact with that they should do the same. Governments change when politicians realise they are growing out of touch with the people they are trying to coerce.

I've done all of the following at various points, and announced that it was for environment reasons: - Gone vegetarian - Bought a tiny used car instead on new one or one with more space. - Moved to a neighborhood where I could walk to work. - Declined for my employer to send me on an expenses paid trip to a conference 2000 miles away. This has had ZERO effect on the behavior of any of the witnesses. And if I voice to…

How do you know this had ZERO effect on the witnesses? I used to be a climate change denier, and I’m not anymore. This is probably due to enough people like you convincing me to get informed. But people like you who knew me 15 years ago probably despaired (incorrectly) that they didn’t impact me.

Re: Oceans 'soaking up more heat than estimated'

#117

At what level of crisis does one country with a large enough arsenal of intercontinental ballistic missiles target the largest population centres of the world as the last resort to reach sustainable levels of humanity? Is this being war-gamed at the highest level of any of the big three world powers that have this kind of arsenal? Countries that are net exporters of primary materials and foods would be more valuable…

You might "enjoy" this book about conflict in the age of global warming: "Ultimatum" by Matthew Glass -- it's like "West Wing" with a little more action in it: https://www.amazon.com/Ultimatum-Matthew-Glass-ebook/dp/B002...

Re: Oceans 'soaking up more heat than estimated'

#118
post #24

1) Go watch the movie cowspiracy on netflix. Go vegan. 2) Get an energy audit and see if your home needs more insulation. If a solar panel installation will pay for itself in a reasonable time where you live (rebates - SRECs - etc) consider getting one. 3) If you live in a warmer climate with safe biking paths - get an electric bike to go to work. 4) The next car you get should be electric or plugin hybrid. Even if i…

I do that stuff but it's not going to save the world. To save the world we need: a substantial price on carbon, a faster path to developing advanced nuclear power (in addition to continuing renewables deployment), a major rollout of lab-grown meat as soon as it's affordable with decent quality, negative emissions methods both technological (direct air capture) and biological (kelp, reforesting), and maybe some kind o…

> To save the world we need: a substantial price on carbon,

No we don't. Global warming is a self-reinforcing effect. So there's no point to slowing down emissions. No point at all. Even if you get it to zero, the resulting concentrations will still accelerate into the right. Even if you get it negative at the same rate we're producing it today (which would eliminate all human co2 contributions EVER in ~60 years) would do nothing but delay.

So why bother ? This avenue is closed, and useless.

We glued a grenade to our hand, and pulled the pin. Messing around trying to insert the pin back in provides nothing but comic relief. We need to adapt. To limit the damage, and fix things.

As you say, only direct geoengineering can work. On the plus side: doesn't require global cooperation. On the downside: that'll make someone clearly directly responsible for the (MUCH worse) effects global cooling will have, especially locally ... so it's extremely incompatible with how current green parties think and "influence policy".

Whereas the current "complain and do nothing but token efforts" is very good at getting constant attention, votes and money. But only if the problem keeps getting worse.

So just like everyone they accuse, green and leftist parties themselves are dependent on global warming happening and getting worse. Maybe that, too, is a reason why we have nothing but token efforts. Also, they would have to admit that "mother nature"/gaia is definitely NOT going to save our ass, even if we stop polluting.

Additionally, Gaia, so to speak, has already decided to inflict global warming on us, as a punishment or just because, take your pick, effectively for what humanity did at the end of the 19th (not 20th) century. So we need to inflict further damage on the ecosystem artificially controlling the temperature to prevent worse. But that'll futher destroy habitats, and on a much larger scale than what we've seen so far.

Not eating meat, capturing co2, lab-grown meat, even nuclear power ... just can't work. Only geoengineering can work.

Re: Oceans 'soaking up more heat than estimated'

#119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about travel by plane? Are you willing to do that?

And then - how about not having children? An impact of a single child is greater than lifetime of eating meat by a single person.

...or you can raise them to have a net positive impact on the environment, like Ben Falk.

Re: Oceans 'soaking up more heat than estimated'

#120
post #73
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think all of these things are set in motion by people making efforts like going vegetarian.

No, people making personal efforts like that has the opposite effect. It makes them think they are doing something that matters so they don't put any effort into pushing for the drastic changes required to fix the problem. People making individual efforts like that is about as useful as praying when it comes to preventing tragedy of the commons scenarios.

both are true depending on the circumstance. for example going vegetarian encourages restaurants to offer more vegetarian options making entry into a vegetarian diet easier for others. Riding a bicycle makes car drivers more aware of cyclists, more awareness means it's safer to bike, means more will be willing to do it regularly, and more people who will advocate for bicycle friendly communities.
Post reply on HN