7 ms·

This might be off topic but I just don't know what else to do. I don't understand why we're not in full-on panic mode yet. It makes me scared. Really scared. As

This might be off topic but I just don't know what else to do. I don't understand why we're not in full-on panic mode yet. It makes me scared. Really scared. As in I've never been so scared in my life. We knew about climate change for decades. Scientists keep producing report after report after report. Every one grimmer then the preceding. Yet the global GHG emissions just keep going up. Governments and politicians have failed to act. I am tired of waiting for systemic change. I am tired of waiting for technological breakthrough. While we should keep fighting for systemic change, I begin to believe individual action is paramount and a prerequisite for any broader change to take place. The time for signing petitions is over. It's time to act. There are no low-hanging fruits here. There will be no silver bullet. There will be lots and lots of tweaks across the board. People don't like being told what to do. I get that. But I am not a politician telling you what to do. I am your peer crying for help. Please do something. Please don't say "most people" wan't sacrifice this or that. I am not talking to most people. I am addressing you, the HN crowd. So what an honorable member of the HN community can do - Stop flying to conferences. Go to a local meetup. It's fun. And cheaper. If you really need to get out of town, take a train. Don't think about it as not flying for the rest of your life. Rather, can we declare a moratorium on conferences for like three years? Let's hope by then Prometheus will give us carbon-neutral jet fuel https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19842240 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19842240 - Shift your investments from fossil to green. If you can't find enough worthy greens, shift it to anything else. Some say it won't impact your returns http://www.lse.ac.uk/GranthamInstitute/news/the-mythical-peril-of-divesting-from-fossil-fuels/ http://www.lse.ac.uk/GranthamInstitute/news/the-mythical-per... Move your deposits and savings to a more sustainable bank. This might be one of the most underappreciated yet simple and powerful tools https://fairfinanceguide.org https://fairfinanceguide.org - Work less. Work part time, and part of that part time remotely. Reduce your commute. If your boss won't let you, find a job that will. In the current job market you can negotiate almost anything, and remote work must be the easiest thing to negotiate. http://cepr.net/documents/publications/climate-change-workshare-2013-02.pdf http://cepr.net/documents/publications/climate-change-worksh... A firm lets its employees work four days a week while being paid for five. Everyone is happy, lower electricity bills, fewer cars on the road https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/19/world/asia/four-day-workweek-new-zealand.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/19/world/asia/four-day-workw... - I noticed that this one is quite controversial but I'll mention it anyway. Reduce your meat consumption as much as you can. It's fine to not go fully vegan, but make meat a special treat, something you are looking forward to, not an everyday snack. They say these new vega burgers are not too bad. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/30/dining/climate-change-food-eating-habits.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/30/dining/climat... Apparently it takes 3.5% of the population to take an active stance to cause a change (https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=YJSehRlU34w https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=YJSehRlU34w). I don't know how true it is or if it applies in all circumstances. But I want to believe it's true. That's what makes me tick.

Slimbo 7y ago
You know why. Most of the world has market economies that rely on growth. The measure of growth is GDP and put simply GDP doesn't measure how much you're wasting, just how productive you are. Short term political aims are in conflict with long term environmental stewardship. The current US president only cares about his numbers, not the mess he's leaving behind. We'll be in full panic mode when it negatively impacts GDP, which will of course be too late.
- tty2300 7y ago
  The problem is the feedback cycle is far to long for us to handle. Most learning works by doing something, seeing a bad result and then stop doing the thing. Problem is by the time the bad result comes things will be so far gone there is no hope for fixing it. For a lot of older people alive today they will never see the consequences of their actions so the selfish option is to carry on.
- badestrand 7y ago
  It is not about politics, it is about nobody doing anything. Just look on the streets, millions of cars all burning away litres of gas every day, releasing even more CO2 into the atmosphere. Everyone knows it and noone does anything about it. It is not "the elite" who is ignoring the issue, it is literally 99% of the people who don't care enough to even take the bus or bycycle. I am not saying I am better, but is not anonymous "others" or our "GDP-based system", it is 7 billion people who don't care much.
  - Slimbo 7y ago
    Disagree. The reason fuel is so cheap to permit the cars burning gas is because it's priced artificially low. If you were to charge based on replacement value (it's almost priceless given the production time), the cost of fuel would go up massively, productivity would stop and Mr Trump (and all the other world leaders) would no longer be able to boast about their growing numbers. I'm not denying individual responsibility, that's vital too but the big change also has to occur at the top and a market that lives on growth is a problem.
7y ago

Slimbo 7y ago

You know why. Most of the world has market economies that rely on growth. The measure of growth is GDP and put simply GDP doesn't measure how much you're wasting, just how productive you are. Short term political aims are in conflict with long term environmental stewardship. The current US president only cares about his numbers, not the mess he's leaving behind. We'll be in full panic mode when it negatively impacts GDP, which will of course be too late.

tty2300 7y ago
The problem is the feedback cycle is far to long for us to handle. Most learning works by doing something, seeing a bad result and then stop doing the thing. Problem is by the time the bad result comes things will be so far gone there is no hope for fixing it. For a lot of older people alive today they will never see the consequences of their actions so the selfish option is to carry on.
badestrand 7y ago
It is not about politics, it is about nobody doing anything. Just look on the streets, millions of cars all burning away litres of gas every day, releasing even more CO2 into the atmosphere. Everyone knows it and noone does anything about it. It is not "the elite" who is ignoring the issue, it is literally 99% of the people who don't care enough to even take the bus or bycycle. I am not saying I am better, but is not anonymous "others" or our "GDP-based system", it is 7 billion people who don't care much.
- Slimbo 7y ago
  Disagree. The reason fuel is so cheap to permit the cars burning gas is because it's priced artificially low. If you were to charge based on replacement value (it's almost priceless given the production time), the cost of fuel would go up massively, productivity would stop and Mr Trump (and all the other world leaders) would no longer be able to boast about their growing numbers. I'm not denying individual responsibility, that's vital too but the big change also has to occur at the top and a market that lives on growth is a problem.

7y ago