Earlier quoted context omitted.
Luckily the effect is much larger in the opposite direction: weaning oneself off of foreign oil is a huge advantage both economically and militarily.
Is it though? For developing countries, having a large supply of fossil fuels has always been a huge accelerator for industrialization and overall economic growth even if that fuel has to be imported. There really is no substitute, especially when you consider that it's not used only for transportation and power generation but also for manufacturing as an industrial heat source and chemical feed stock.
There is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming (2024)
241–250 of 311 posts
Re: There is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming (2024)
#242Even the crotchetiest and most out-of-touch people I know basically accept that the Earth is warming now. They just either disagree on the cause or proportion. Some people just naturally resist hyperbole or sensationalist rhetoric, and I find it very helpful to reframe the argument from doom and gloom and fire and brimstone to something more realistic and grounded: "The longer we put off doing something, the harder a…
The problem with Pascal's wager logic is you have to change your behavior based on all kinds of crazy low-probability events. You must worship every god, be an AI-doomer, a climate-doomer, a nuclear-doomer. Pascal's wager is generally agreed to be logically unsound, so it's somewhat insane that we've revived it in all these modern contexts. If you believe in it, at least be consistent and sacrifice a goat to Zeus eve…
So it seems a mischaracterization to present the essence of the wager as going out of your way to perform random and costly rites in the hope of lifting any ill omen.
Re: There is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming (2024)
#243Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Empirical evidence is just too hard to ignore. Except it's the opposite - empirical evidence is very easy to ignore. Between herding, the replication crisis, and the overall insularity of academia, trust in "studies" has never been lower. But people still respond very well to demonstrative or pragmatic evidence. Empirically there's nothing special about a keto diet. But demonstratively the effects are very convinci…
People who know anything about the replication crisis are a single-digit percentage of the population. Doesn't help explain the public's attitudes.
[0] https://metro.co.uk/2020/07/23/health-officials-recommend-gl...
Re: There is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming (2024)
#244I agree it's warming but unequivocally at an unprecedented rate is iffy. For the article they cherry picked a stable period but if you look at the full temperature history as shown here https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2014/05/05/can-make-b...
there has been loads of instability and heating and cooling.
Also while CO2 levels are up from about 280 ppm in 1600 to about 430 now, for most of the history of life on earth they were more in the 500 to 5000 range https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxide_in_the_atmosphe...
I don't believe climate denial as in saying its not warming but I'm also skeptical of exaggerating the problem by ignoring most climate history. I guess the idea is to panic people into changing behaviour but it doesn't seem to work very well - co2 emissions are higher than ever and a lot of the population think we are doomed when we are not. Unbiased science is better in my opinion.
Re: There is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming (2024)
#245>There is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming at an unprecedented rate. Human activity is the principal cause. This document was last updated in October 2024, but I am a little surprised to see this still available on a .gov site.
Idiocy and incompetency tend to share the same bed.
Re: There is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming (2024)
#246Earlier quoted context omitted.
My impression is that almost no one denies the warming itself, just the link to greenhouse gasses. That link is unfortunately much harder to prove than rising temperatures by itself. The proof is there nonetheless, but it's easier to cast doubt on it, and that's what certain groups have been doing.
I've seen the full-court denial: - it's not warming, or not significantly - if it's warming, it's not because of humans, (or) - if it's warming, it's beneficial - if it's warming because of humans and that's bad, there's nothing we can do about it ETA: honorary mention for "what about China?" People I've argued about this with will switch interchangeably between these. Press them hard enough on one issue, and they'll…
Re: There is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming (2024)
#247Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, plastic usage world wide is less than 10% of fossil fuel usage. Only in China can the plastic increase compensate for lowering demand because they are the factory of the world.
Buddy you're really missing the point. Fossil fuels are used as inputs into a huge number of manufactured products, not just plastic.
Re: There is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming (2024)
#248Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Even the crotchetiest and most out-of-touch people I know basically accept that the Earth is warming now. POTUS tweeted "WHATEVER HAPPENED TO GLOBAL WARMING???" a few weeks ago when a record cold wave came in. I suppose you were talking about people you personally know, but it seems like there's a good chance many who voted for him would say it too. Anyway, I guess there is a growing collective admission that the c…
> Anyway, I guess there is a growing collective admission that the climate is changing even if the crotchety ones will still quip about it not being warmer at some given time and place. It's unfortunate that "global warming" caught on instead of "climate change." Rather than a collective admission, I feel what's happening is the crotchety people are dying off, leaving us millennials and GenZ to clean up the mess. Thi…
Re: There is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming (2024)
#249Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Even the crotchetiest and most out-of-touch people I know basically accept that the Earth is warming now Same. Empirical evidence is just too hard to ignore. It's quite amazing watching the "climate change isn't real" folks transition to "climate change is no big deal", then to "climate change is too hard/expensive to deal with".
Playbook is The Narcissist's Prayer That didn't happen. And if it did, it wasn't that bad. And if it was, that's not a big deal. And if it is, that's not my fault. And if it was, I didn't mean it. And if I did, you deserved it.
Re: There is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming (2024)
#250I’ve given up. I’ve long assumed for a year now we are heading for warming that is even worse than the worst projections and it’s all over. This has given me some peace, like accepting you’re going to die.
you will age, you will weaken, you will cease, no choice or circumstance will change that. endeavor to create something that will persist through the eons, and that part of your mind will live forever.
There is zero hope I will even be remembered years after death.