3 ms·

Perhaps i misunderstand things, but i feel like carbon-neutral solutions are not the answer in the long term struggle against climate change. The entire world c

Perhaps i misunderstand things, but i feel like carbon-neutral solutions are not the answer in the long term struggle against climate change. The entire world contributes greenhouse gasses, but only a few nations are taking steps to mitigate these emissions. Even then, the large focus is on carbon specifically. it strikes me that greenhouse-negative technologies will be the only real answer here.

danieltillett 11y ago
It is not a case of either/or but both. We need to stop dumping GHG into the atmosphere and we need to work on ways to remove the GHG we have already dumped. We need to do both.
epistasis 11y ago
CO2 is the dominant forcing greenhouse gas, and accounting on it is fairly straightforward so it makes sense to focus on that. I agree that it's not enough though. We need both carbon neutral technology now as well as carbon capture in the future. However it is an order of magnitude or more easier to not emit now than it is to capture in the future, so we absolutely mush transition to carbon neutral as soon as possible, then use excess intermittent renewable energy to capture co2 from the air. We also need to incentivize that with carbon credits of some sort so that there are market forces. That's what Paris is about, and why we need to be pushing our US politicians to ask for much more than what the Obama administration is going to ask for. We need much more aggressive strategies.
- steve19 11y ago
  To be fair to Obama, it matters little what he does or does not want. He has no hope in getting anything really meaningful approved by the Senate before his term is over. It is just not going to happen.
  - natmaster 11y ago
    Senators, 'dellow felegates', in response to this direct threat to the Republic, Mesa propose that the Senate give immediately emergency powers to the Supreme Chancellor.
ScottBurson 11y ago
As I posted yesterday: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10642179 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10642179

danieltillett 11y ago

It is not a case of either/or but both. We need to stop dumping GHG into the atmosphere and we need to work on ways to remove the GHG we have already dumped. We need to do both.

epistasis 11y ago

CO2 is the dominant forcing greenhouse gas, and accounting on it is fairly straightforward so it makes sense to focus on that. I agree that it's not enough though. We need both carbon neutral technology now as well as carbon capture in the future. However it is an order of magnitude or more easier to not emit now than it is to capture in the future, so we absolutely mush transition to carbon neutral as soon as possible, then use excess intermittent renewable energy to capture co2 from the air. We also need to incentivize that with carbon credits of some sort so that there are market forces. That's what Paris is about, and why we need to be pushing our US politicians to ask for much more than what the Obama administration is going to ask for. We need much more aggressive strategies.

steve19 11y ago
To be fair to Obama, it matters little what he does or does not want. He has no hope in getting anything really meaningful approved by the Senate before his term is over. It is just not going to happen.
- natmaster 11y ago
  Senators, 'dellow felegates', in response to this direct threat to the Republic, Mesa propose that the Senate give immediately emergency powers to the Supreme Chancellor.

ScottBurson 11y ago

As I posted yesterday: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10642179 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10642179