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A project to bring back the northern white rhino from the edge of extinction

slow-journalism.com

21–30 of 38 posts

Re: A project to bring back the northern white rhino from the edge of extinction

#21
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, that's comforting to some degree. Of course, your recount is as anecdotal as mine, and unfortunately my experience (or at least, the parts of it that confirmation bias pushes into the forefront of my recollection) has been that of more enthusiasm for crystals, homeopathy, chakras, auras, tarot cards, and other mystical bullshit. The people I'm thinking of like to believe they are against the use of animal produ…

Do you think that's the majority of any significant group out there? Get f@cking real.

Please contribute with something more substantive, and avoid shallow dismissals.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: A project to bring back the northern white rhino from the edge of extinction

#23
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> She does indeed say "listen to the scientists", but the scientists say we need nuclear power[1]. Which she is against. Confusingly. She's a kid. Expecting a kid to be holistically consistent, when most adults still can't, isn't something that is reasonable. People do listen to her, but... She's a kid. Expecting her to be responsible for all of her actions isn't something that even the law expects.

You're right, but the damage is still done. As you say, people do listen to her. I'm not sure how that problem can be fixed.

Fundamentally, if you can’t listen to people that are wrong on one thing, then there’s nobody you can listen to. Everyone is wrong on one thing at least, everyone is inconsistent. A lot of people advocating for nuclear power still eat meat, while cutting back on meat usage is a substantial factor in combating destruction of wildlife habitat and reducing emissions. Not owning a car, not flying, all things that can effectively be done on a personal level now, instead of or even in parallel to advocating for nuclear power. The belief that technology will save us all and that we don’t have to change our personal lifestyles has in my opinion a strong resemblance to religious beliefs.

Re: A project to bring back the northern white rhino from the edge of extinction

#24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right, but the damage is still done. As you say, people do listen to her. I'm not sure how that problem can be fixed.

Fundamentally, if you can’t listen to people that are wrong on one thing, then there’s nobody you can listen to. Everyone is wrong on one thing at least, everyone is inconsistent. A lot of people advocating for nuclear power still eat meat, while cutting back on meat usage is a substantial factor in combating destruction of wildlife habitat and reducing emissions. Not owning a car, not flying, all things that can eff…

Again, I agree with you, so your comment feels like a bit of a strawman.

I'm not arguing in favour of ideological purity. I am merely concerned with pragmatic solutions to the problems that we face. I don't think pressing the power save button on your television makes a meaningful difference. I also don't think banning cars or planes — an idea many environmental activists are enthusiastic about — is realistic.

I think the scale of the problem we face, and the extent of impact necessary to mitigate it, requires investment in nuclear power. Other forms of clean energy are useful, but supplementary.

If Thunberg were wrong about other things, it would be inconsequential. For her to push the wrong message about her core argument though is far less forgivable.

Re: A project to bring back the northern white rhino from the edge of extinction

#25
post #22

Quoted post unavailable.

> Hippies cause climate change And don't make me talk about flappers...

Please do! I have no idea what you're talking about, but now I'm curious. The only Google search I came up with were the dancers in the 1920's... in which case I missed the joke =[

Re: A project to bring back the northern white rhino from the edge of extinction

#26
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TIL: That there is a brand of milk in Germany that involves moonlit rituals? I tried looking up this information on their website and didn't see anything about it. Could you possibly link me to more information about this? I'm really curious. I do hope that someday hippies and non hippies alike find an answer for climate change and general wellness of the planet and all it's creatures.

I only have a German reference. There’s multiple brands of bio products that are Demeter certified, milk, meat, cheese, … The Demeter Bio Label requires “Hornmist” and “Hornkiesel” as fertilizer as per their guidelines, see Section 7.3 (1) and (2) https://www.demeter.de/sites/default/files/richtlinien/richt... Hornmist is dung-filled cow horns that get buried at full moon preferably, later dig out and spread: https:/…

Is this like Van Halen's Brown M&Ms thing?

Re: A project to bring back the northern white rhino from the edge of extinction

#27

Quoted post unavailable.

I've never seen hippies buy into the part of Chinese medicine that uses weird alchemy - I see your argument as a huge straw man to set up your pro nuclear point. Hippies, stereotypically, lean into smoking weed and have a higher likelihood of vegetarianism. But yeah, they believe in stuff like acupuncture and chiropractory too.

Re: A project to bring back the northern white rhino from the edge of extinction

#28
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's most likely true that hippies aren't the largest group of believers in magical potions from animal parts — I certainly don't have the numbers and I'm going by intuition, but there's likely also a difference between the number of people and the size of the market created by those people. Not all people have equal purchasing power. Despite the difference in purchasing power, there’s no indication that rhino horn…

> Why would you lunp Greta Thunberg in there? By age alone, she’s not to blame for climate change. And what she does explicitly advocate for is in her own words: “Listen to the scientists” You're right, she isn't to blame for climate change, but she is one of the most prominent characters in the world and when she says "personally, I am against nuclear power"[0], people listen. It causes real damage. She does indeed…

I'm pretty sure we've moved past the need for nuclear. Renewables just work well enough. Given a better grid and sufficient overbuilding, combined with some storage (probably pumping water uphill) we can be on fuel free electricity.

Re: A project to bring back the northern white rhino from the edge of extinction

#29
post #4

Quoted post unavailable.

> Not much frustrates me more than the overlap of two common interests among hippies: a vocal devotion to animal welfare, and a love for Chinese medicine (among other forms of medical fraud). That’s really frustrating, but the non-hippies haven’t found an answer yet. For example, there’s no milk that you can buy in germany that has the same strict rules for animal welfare as demeter-certified milk, but Demeter also r…

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Re: A project to bring back the northern white rhino from the edge of extinction

#30
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why would you lunp Greta Thunberg in there? By age alone, she’s not to blame for climate change. And what she does explicitly advocate for is in her own words: “Listen to the scientists” You're right, she isn't to blame for climate change, but she is one of the most prominent characters in the world and when she says "personally, I am against nuclear power"[0], people listen. It causes real damage. She does indeed…

I'm pretty sure we've moved past the need for nuclear. Renewables just work well enough. Given a better grid and sufficient overbuilding, combined with some storage (probably pumping water uphill) we can be on fuel free electricity.

I provided a source to at least try to substantiate my claim. What qualifies you to make this kind of assessment?
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