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July was the hottest month ever recorded, according to Nasa

nytimes.com

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Re: July was the hottest month ever recorded, according to Nasa

#91

Post by runeb »

oliv__ wrote: post #62
redwood wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tend to agree: you can't go "back to nature" when you have 8 billion people running around, a larger and larger portion of which want to live like those of us in developing countries do (especially in the basic sense of having AC to escape this increasing heat). AC is a great little allegory for the whole thing... would you rather have AC and deal with hotter and hotter days, or forego AC and wait a century, have n…

Before AC, did people not live without it?

In my part of the world (northern Europe) basically nobody has AC, but that is probably because of the cooler temperatures here. I'm curious, at what temperatures do people who live with AC start using it? Or is it going all year round?

Re: July was the hottest month ever recorded, according to Nasa

#92

Post by konschubert »

snarfy wrote: post #78
harryh wrote: post #44

Personally I think that the idea that these trends can ever be revered by some sort of world wide agreement to lower consumption is a pipe dream. People want to eat meat and drive cars and fly on airplanes. As long as they're rich enough to do so you'll never stop them. The only solution to this problem is technology. Some combination of green energy sources plus probably very large scale terraforming.

There is another solution: less people.

What are you trying to say?

Re: July was the hottest month ever recorded, according to Nasa

#93

Post by guptaneil »

oliv__ wrote: post #62
redwood wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tend to agree: you can't go "back to nature" when you have 8 billion people running around, a larger and larger portion of which want to live like those of us in developing countries do (especially in the basic sense of having AC to escape this increasing heat). AC is a great little allegory for the whole thing... would you rather have AC and deal with hotter and hotter days, or forego AC and wait a century, have n…

Before AC, did people not live without it?

Yes, but it wasn't as hot... It's a vicious self-fueling cycle. By using AC, we're making the world warmer, which makes us use more AC.

Re: July was the hottest month ever recorded, according to Nasa

#94

Post by Stubb »

collyw wrote: post #65
harryh wrote: post #44

Personally I think that the idea that these trends can ever be revered by some sort of world wide agreement to lower consumption is a pipe dream. People want to eat meat and drive cars and fly on airplanes. As long as they're rich enough to do so you'll never stop them. The only solution to this problem is technology. Some combination of green energy sources plus probably very large scale terraforming.

Having kids especially in the west is probably the least environmental friendly thing you could do.

I'll refer you to the opening scene from season 2, episode 6 of "Utopia": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcx-nf3kH_M

Re: July was the hottest month ever recorded, according to Nasa

#97

Post by guptaneil »

lallysingh wrote: post #89
snarfy wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is another solution: less people.

Populations past a certain level of prosperity for a generation or two do seem to drop reproductive rates. Perhaps the answer here is higher educational costs to discourage people from having many kids, and lots of alternative activities instead (Pokemon)?

Higher education costs would lead to the opposite of what you're hoping for. Generally poor and uneducated families have more kids than educated ones, for a variety of reasons. You'd be better off lowering education costs.

Re: July was the hottest month ever recorded, according to Nasa

#98

Post by SixSigma »

harryh wrote: post #44

Personally I think that the idea that these trends can ever be revered by some sort of world wide agreement to lower consumption is a pipe dream. People want to eat meat and drive cars and fly on airplanes. As long as they're rich enough to do so you'll never stop them. The only solution to this problem is technology. Some combination of green energy sources plus probably very large scale terraforming.

> People want to eat meat and drive cars and fly on airplanes

Not only that but try telling the billions in India and China "ok, now you're out of poverty you can't have a refrigerator or cooker"

Re: July was the hottest month ever recorded, according to Nasa

#99

Post by scrollaway »

runeb wrote: post #91
oliv__ wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Before AC, did people not live without it?

In my part of the world (northern Europe) basically nobody has AC, but that is probably because of the cooler temperatures here. I'm curious, at what temperatures do people who live with AC start using it? Or is it going all year round?

In greece, summers are atrocious without AC. But it gets even worse in the middle of polluted cities like athens.

Some corners of Athens are disgustingly unbearable. Tall buildings, narrow streets filled with parked cars. The entire thing is a dust, smoke and heat trap. Temperatures feel 10 degrees warmer in those corners. Not to mention it smells horrible.

Re: July was the hottest month ever recorded, according to Nasa

#100

Post by jMyles »

oliv__ wrote: post #62
redwood wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tend to agree: you can't go "back to nature" when you have 8 billion people running around, a larger and larger portion of which want to live like those of us in developing countries do (especially in the basic sense of having AC to escape this increasing heat). AC is a great little allegory for the whole thing... would you rather have AC and deal with hotter and hotter days, or forego AC and wait a century, have n…

Before AC, did people not live without it?

Not in huge concrete jungles in hot latitudes in the summer.
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