Tropical forests facing increasing risks of exposure to critical temp thresholds • Hacker News Board

Re: Tropical forests facing increasing risks of exposure to critical temp thresholds

#31

Post by pstuart » Sun, Jul 12, 2026, 8:45 PM UTC

spwa4 wrote: post #29

netsharc wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> how horrible a large segment of humanity is. The well-off don't want to give up even an inch of luxury. Climate refugees from South America, Africa, Middle East (1)? Why not view them as people who are trying to steal jobs, live off of social benefits, and eat our cats and dogs, if we manage to dehumanize them, then we don't have to see their human suffering... (1) The Syrian conflict happened after prolonged droug…

The middle east is refrigerating entire cities. They are obviously capable of fixing the climate for their entire population, they just choose not to, while using incredible amounts of fossil fuels on extreme comfort for the rich. https://www.treehugger.com/largest-air-conditioned-city-to-b...

The bitter irony is that every locale that requires extensive air conditioning has ample sun exposure that should be able to power all of that air conditioning.

In a different timeline, the US would be investing in zero/low-interest loans to anybody who wants to install solar/battery power, as well as a smart grid that can better leverage that.

Re: Tropical forests facing increasing risks of exposure to critical temp thresholds

#32

Post by pstuart » Sun, Jul 12, 2026, 8:47 PM UTC

blooalien wrote: post #21

pstuart wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's beyond disheartening. In a sick way, we totally deserve getting hit now because it seemed like a lot of climate "reasoning" was "this is going to be bad for future generations, we don't have to worry about it now". > A couple years ago, I would have expected some kind of awakening with global efforts, but the opposite is the case. I'm a literal greybeard who has lived in liberal bubbles on the Left Coast my enti…

> We have the resources, science, technology and people to live in an approximation of utopia, but instead we have.... this. I've argued this exact thing (and been ridiculed as "naive" and "tree-hugging hippie" for it) most of my adult life (until recently where I no longer care because humanity has already made the choice now and nothing I can say or do will change it). We've had the technology, and we've been addin…

I'm too stupid to stop caring -- but it's a delicate dance because it's so easy to have one's hopes crushed these days.

A small bright spot is that solar and battery tech is improving at a rate far greater than was forecast earlier. The economics of that can only be denied for so long.

Re: Tropical forests facing increasing risks of exposure to critical temp thresholds

#33

Post by spwa4 » Sun, Jul 12, 2026, 9:57 PM UTC

pstuart wrote: post #31

spwa4 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The middle east is refrigerating entire cities. They are obviously capable of fixing the climate for their entire population, they just choose not to, while using incredible amounts of fossil fuels on extreme comfort for the rich. https://www.treehugger.com/largest-air-conditioned-city-to-b...

The bitter irony is that every locale that requires extensive air conditioning has ample sun exposure that should be able to power all of that air conditioning. In a different timeline, the US would be investing in zero/low-interest loans to anybody who wants to install solar/battery power, as well as a smart grid that can better leverage that.

Given what is actually wrong with the world's finances that would actually be a good solution. I mean you'd have to match China's solar panel production first, then issue the loans, neither which is going to provide much profit in the short term. But that would solve a whole number of issues, not just energy.

But somehow I think that requires a lot more cohones than are currently found anywhere near the white house.