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This is such a beautiful example. We all want change, but giving up modern conveniences is so hard. We might mock the people and their private planes but I d
by DougN7 8y ago
This is such a beautiful example. We all want change, but giving up modern conveniences is so hard. We might mock the people and their private planes but I don’t doubt someone would mock me for my cars, central air conditioning, etc.
- walrus01 8y agoAir conditioning, at least, is a natural to pair with large grid connected photovoltaic setups. The times of the day when you'll have the heaviest AC compressor motor/fan motor load in watts is also when the sun is up. Look an hourly demand curve chart for a central air conditioned house in Sacramento in mid summer, vs watt-hours produced during the same hours of the same day by a rooftop 10kW size pv system.
- rb808 8y agoSounds like you dont live in Florida. :)
- athenot 8y agoMeaning that even when the Sun is no longer shining, the dewpoint is so high that what might have been a comfortable temperature with a breeze is actually felt as oppressively hot and will cause all sorts of fun mold growing in the home. In the Southeast, AC is also about dehumidifying the air.
- Iwan-Zotow 8y ago> The times of the day when you'll have the heaviest AC compressor motor/fan motor load in watts is also when the sun is up. Not quite true, actually. Shifted by few hours.
- mattlondon 8y agoI thought to myself: "Someone who cared could probably have got a train from most of Europe to Davos!" Then I thought about the sort of people that go to these things, and how long the train takes. They're oh so terribly important (sarcasm), that they simply cannot afford the time lost by traveling in anything other than a jet. And that I think is the problem - from the Davos-attendee right down to you and I with our cars + central heating/air-con: we all want things to improve, but we also all value (consciously or otherwise) our own comfort/time/convenience more "Well OF COURSE most people should take the train to Davos. Absolutely! Its the climate friendly choice! I had to take a jet though because I am very busy."
- coryrc 8y agoOr if they were stuck with us, they'd work on better options being made available on the train.
- Dreami 8y agoI think the problem is security. Here in Switzerland, there's demos in various cities and also of course at Davos. If you would put them in trains, it would be harder to do it safely. (of course, why they even need so much security is another thing)
- rcMgD2BwE72F 8y agoAt some point, they'll have to be escorted by the military wherever they go, as more and more people will get angry at their unwillingness to fight (if not their contribution to) the ecological collapse. I hope it isn't too late to escape this vicious cycle.
- KozmoNau7 8y agoThat this level of security is needed to protect the wealthy elites from the masses really should make you think about how absurd the concentration of wealth and power is.
- trhway 8y agoMany companies bought a security and business continuity review and as a result the CEO must fly personal jet.
- rcMgD2BwE72F 8y agoThey must? But who decided, exactly? Should they really be in charge if their decisions are bad for everyone? Shouldn't the people have the last word on such matter -- in a democracy at least?
- trhway 8y agoSuch a review is usually bought from an independent consulting company. Of course it is BS, yet nobody can do anything.
- diminoten 8y agoThis is a silly and pointless conversation. The cost to the environment for 1500 jets once compared to the political improvements that could result is a drop in the bucket.
- KozmoNau7 8y agoWhen those "political improvements" inevitably end up being a further continuation of the unsustainable capitalism status quo, I would rather they not try to improve anything.
- diminoten 8y agoI guess you don't live near sea-level, then.
- KozmoNau7 8y agoI do in fact live in a city on the coast, the highest point in the entire urban area is ~35m above sea level. So I am extremely conscious of what the effects of climate change will mean for me, and for anyone living similarly close to the sea and at sea-level. Which is exactly why I don't think it matters what a bunch of stupendously wealthy capitalists can come up with. We need widespread systematic change, and it needs to come from the people, not the so-called elite. As has been shown before, the ideas and initiatives of the elite are very often explicitly harmful to the general population.
- ttcbj 8y agoExactly this! There was a good TED talk by Hans Rosling saying, basically, people in developing economies want washing machines (just like you). That is why I suspect the only solutions to climate change are: * Develop an energy source which has a lower-cost and equal practicality to carbon-emitting sources, or * Find a way to mitigate the effects of carbon emissions. Otherwise, conservation in rich countries is just going to be replaced by consumption of the now cheaper oil/coal in developing ones. I don't think it is realistic to ask people with far fewer conveniences (washing machines) to abandon their hopes of a better life by conserving (if people won't give up private jets, can you really expect much poorer people to give up more necessary conveniences?)
- mikeash 8y agoIt’s not just hard, it’s also pointless unless we all do it together. If these people had refrained from making the trip, it would have no real impact on climate change. It’s a collective action problem.
- ams6110 8y agoSomeone has to set the example. Preferably someone influential.
- mikeash 8y agoSetting an example is neither necessary nor sufficient to solve the problem.
- nimish 8y agoThat's defeatist. Small changes are not the only things that matter but saying "everything or nothing" is not helpful. The collective change that's needed to effect change begins with individual steps, like not taking a private plane when commercial will do.
- makerofspoons 8y agoOr even better- not flying at all and attending the conference virtually. Climate conferences and talks so frequently are held in resort towns- it should not be a getaway. Reserve some conference rooms and have everyone dial in! We have the technology.
- 8y ago