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Global warming: The state of the climate in 2016

economist.com

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Re: Global warming: The state of the climate in 2016

#161

Post by mzw_mzw »

DennisP wrote: post #107
sqeaky wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Carbon sequestering is not as hard as it would seem. We have several technologies, but we can also just plant trees.

First we'd have to stop the massive deforestation that's happening right now. A lot of that is for agriculture, so we'd have to find another way to feed those people. We might also want to stop clearcutting vast forests in the Southeastern U.S. to ship wood pellets to Europe, which burns them. Then we'd have to save the rest of our existing forests, many of which are struggling due to various effects of climate chang…

> First we'd have to stop the massive deforestation that's happening right now. A lot of that is for agriculture, so we'd have to find another way to feed those people.

You speak about deforestation in the US, but there are more forests in the United States now than there were at the time of the Revolutionary War.

Re: Global warming: The state of the climate in 2016

#162

Post by mzw_mzw »

sanderjd wrote: post #138
sqeaky wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who is "we"? I think the US is about equalized because industries like the the US paper industry plant about as many trees as we cut. If "we" is the world the lots of poor countries are unsustainably slash and burning. Starving people want to not die today so they make places to plant crops. If we is people afraid of the expanding growth of the Sahara southward then things like the great green wall are interesting: h…

This is why the US should not just be "about equal". We can afford to improve the situation, not just maintain the status quo. Instead, we often find ourselves sitting in judgement of developing countries doing the same things we did to develop.

Do you think American voters are going to be happy about sacrificing their own well-being explicitly so that other people can pollute/deforest more? Do you think that's a platform that will win elections?

Re: Global warming: The state of the climate in 2016

#163

Post by [deleted] »

derrickdirge wrote: post #124
botexpert wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/20/chinas-meat-co... This too, additional to other links. Meat consumption has a huge carbon footprint. Their government institutions see the problem and invent guidelines. We'll see the same stuff from the USA, most likely never.

>We'll see the same stuff from the USA, most likely never. So at what point does the rest of the world intervene?

[deleted]

Re: Global warming: The state of the climate in 2016

#164

Post by mzw_mzw »

tzs wrote: post #154
mzw_mzw wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don't post spammy messages like this on HN.

In a discussion of climate change, on a subdiscussion about whether or not the DoD can convince Trump that it is real, how exactly is posting a list of a large number of Trump's tweets on climate change "spammy"?

You posted a literal wall of text that makes the comment section impossible to read. That's spammy in my book. Five examples would have been more than sufficient; do you really think some masochist was going to click through every single one?

Re: Global warming: The state of the climate in 2016

#165

Post by [deleted] »

jules wrote: post #76
kristopolous wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Biggest problem is that climate change aggressively challenges many foundations of capitalism and consumerism. That's a religion to some people. And this is akin to changing it.

Capitalism has been and will be an essential ingredient to solve the problem and switch to other sources of energy. The issue is that the costs to the global environment are not borne by the polluters. Put a price tag on pollution and the market will do the best it can.

[deleted]

Re: Global warming: The state of the climate in 2016

#166

Post by ams6110 »

Al-Khwarizmi wrote: post #133
sammydavis wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By all reports, Trump can't stay focused on any one thing more than a few minutes, whether it was 20 years ago talking to reporters, people working for him, whatever. So he's not likely to be the person who will care about a long term, non-immediate risk. I still can't believe someone like him can be president. If Jeb Bush had won, I would have been a little disappointed, but I would have gone to sleep and not worrie…

Honest question: do you think a person like you describe could have his record in business management? Reportedly he was almost bankrupt in the 90's and recovered a quite large fortune afterwards. While I'm not a big believer in the capitalist mythology that people get rich by their effort and skills, and I'm aware that luck plays a huge factor, I do suppose that there is a bare minimum of cleverness and focus needed…

Playing dumb is a basic negotiating tactic. As is making outrageous demands and statements.

Re: Global warming: The state of the climate in 2016

#167

Post by rybosome »

mike10010100 wrote: post #96
stouset wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

4˙C is already reaching an extinction-level event for humanity.

Not really for humanity directly. We'd survive. But the plants and animals we depend on probably wouldn't have a very good time, and our biodiversity as a planet would significantly decrease. Not quite extinction level, perhaps another Great Dying, though.

> Not really for humanity directly...perhaps another Great Dying, though.

It seems hard to believe that such a drastic shock to our planet won't trigger panic and resource wars which have the potential to finish us off.

Re: Global warming: The state of the climate in 2016

#168

Post by 551199 »

tzs wrote: post #154
mzw_mzw wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don't post spammy messages like this on HN.

In a discussion of climate change, on a subdiscussion about whether or not the DoD can convince Trump that it is real, how exactly is posting a list of a large number of Trump's tweets on climate change "spammy"?

I'll worry when Leo stops using his private jet. Goalposts move all the time and the end is here in every tenth year or so.

Climate change is happening and some of it is due to humans. I doubt Trump disagrees with that. Shipping 'dirty' business to overseas does not help the planet.

No policy is going to fix climate change. Technology maybe.

Re: Global warming: The state of the climate in 2016

#169

Post by cbennett »

pmarreck wrote: post #115

Can someone point me to a URL with an arguably good prediction of how these increasing temperatures would negatively effect the ecosystem specifically? Are we talking mass extinctions? More powerful storms/more extreme weather events? And/or something else?

http://climate.nasa.gov/effects/

Re: Global warming: The state of the climate in 2016

#170

Post by codecamper »

grzm wrote: post #156
codecamper wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Peter has invested in clean tech before. He's a technologist. He wants to live forever (on a stable climate planet). We can assume he believes in global warming.

I could be cynical and view his clean tech investments as a capitalist assessing the market, independent of his beliefs in global warming. If enough people want clean tech for whatever reason (including false beliefs in climate change), investing in clean tech can be a smart move. That said, I did find a quote that indicates he cares about the environment. Thiel told the TechCrunch Disrupt crowd that "one potential r…

Thanks for posting this. I guess I was wrong to think he believes in global warming. He has made investments into clean tech along with Vinod Khosla however & did found that personal payments thing along with Elon. So. Maybe there is a chance for discussion?

I'm hoping.

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