4 ms·

Do what? Normal people can't do anything worthwhile. Unless you're in a position to personally bankroll the research and buildout of fusion power (hi, Jeff) t

Do what? Normal people can't do anything worthwhile. Unless you're in a position to personally bankroll the research and buildout of fusion power (hi, Jeff) the only thing you can do at this late date is get in the face of your government representatives: Jam up their phone lines, sit in at their offices, back primary challengers who will address the problem.

GuiA 7y ago
I’ve been to a number of museum presentations, general audience scientific talks, etc recently where the speaker presents the evidence for climate change, future predictions, etc., and their main takeaway is “try to drive your car less and check out this website to see how you can curb your CO2 emissions!”. It makes me so mad.
- saagarjha 7y ago
  They're not wrong, though.
adrianN 7y ago
I agree that changing your lifestyle is not terribly useful compared to pestering politicians, but you can actually do a number of things to delay the catastrophe. The easiest are probably eating less beef and flying less. Not taking that transatlantic flight saves about as much carbon as the average European emits in a year.
munin 7y ago
> the only thing you can do Don’t have kids.
- klenwell 7y ago
  They fuck you up, your mum and dad. They may not mean to, but they do. They fill you with the faults they had And add some extra, just for you. But they were fucked up in their turn By fools in old-style hats and coats, Who half the time were soppy-stern And half at one another’s throats. Man hands on misery to man. It *melts off* like *an artic* shelf. Get out as early as you can, And don’t have any kids yourself. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48419/this-be-the-verse https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48419/this-be-the-ver...
  - mempko 7y ago
    Beautiful. Love the changes.
- lp0onfire 7y ago
  “Oh, I meant something feel-good and useless like turning my empty soda bottles into bird feeders.”
- Will_Parker 7y ago
  So, breed a future full of inconsiderate people, I guess? If there's one best point thoughtful conservatives have, it's that for a sustainable planet, we need to value good people producing and raising the next generation. The inability to understand this (ending in antinatalism at the extreme) is perhaps the root of my problems with the left side of politics. It's hard to get behind a side that is mathematically predestined to disappear completely.
Aloha 7y ago
We could just build fission power plants, they're reasonably safe, not too expensive and we know how to store the waste safely, heck - we've built a place to store it, but until there is political will to overcome the NIMBYism of not wanting to live in the next potential Pripyat (no matter how remote that risk is) nothing will change, except the climate of course.
- adrianN 7y ago
  We could also just build renewables.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - toomuchtodo 7y ago
    We're moving fast, but not fast enough. https://www.utilitydive.com/news/hawaiian-electric-finalizes-largest-ever-renewables-procurement/559033/ https://www.utilitydive.com/news/hawaiian-electric-finalizes... (Hawaiian Electric finalizes largest-ever renewables procurement) https://www.utilitydive.com/news/new-york-awards-record-1700-mw-offshore-wind-contracts/559091/ https://www.utilitydive.com/news/new-york-awards-record-1700... (New York awards record 1,700 MW offshore wind contracts) https://www.utilitydive.com/news/regulators-unanimously-approve-georgia-power-plan-including-80-mw-energy-s/558919/ https://www.utilitydive.com/news/regulators-unanimously-appr... (Regulators unanimously approve Georgia Power plan, increasing renewables 72% by 2024) https://www.utilitydive.com/news/aep-plans-2b-15-gw-wind-purchase-in-oklahoma/558828/ https://www.utilitydive.com/news/aep-plans-2b-15-gw-wind-pur... (AEP plans $2B, 1.5 GW wind purchase in Oklahoma) https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/12/5/18126920/xcel-energy-100-percent-clean-carbon-free https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/12/5/1812692... (Xcel Energy, one of the biggest utilities in the US, committed to going completely carbon-free by 2050 (and 80 percent carbon-free by 2030).) https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jul/09/eon-uk-to-supply-3m-customers-with-100-renewable-electricity https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jul/09/eon-uk-to-s... (E.ON UK to supply 3.3m customers with 100% renewable electricity)
  - Aloha 7y ago

GuiA 7y ago

I’ve been to a number of museum presentations, general audience scientific talks, etc recently where the speaker presents the evidence for climate change, future predictions, etc., and their main takeaway is “try to drive your car less and check out this website to see how you can curb your CO2 emissions!”. It makes me so mad.

saagarjha 7y ago
They're not wrong, though.

adrianN 7y ago

I agree that changing your lifestyle is not terribly useful compared to pestering politicians, but you can actually do a number of things to delay the catastrophe. The easiest are probably eating less beef and flying less. Not taking that transatlantic flight saves about as much carbon as the average European emits in a year.

munin 7y ago

> the only thing you can do Don’t have kids.

klenwell 7y ago
They fuck you up, your mum and dad. They may not mean to, but they do. They fill you with the faults they had And add some extra, just for you. But they were fucked up in their turn By fools in old-style hats and coats, Who half the time were soppy-stern And half at one another’s throats. Man hands on misery to man. It *melts off* like *an artic* shelf. Get out as early as you can, And don’t have any kids yourself. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48419/this-be-the-verse https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48419/this-be-the-ver...
- mempko 7y ago
  Beautiful. Love the changes.
lp0onfire 7y ago
“Oh, I meant something feel-good and useless like turning my empty soda bottles into bird feeders.”
Will_Parker 7y ago
So, breed a future full of inconsiderate people, I guess? If there's one best point thoughtful conservatives have, it's that for a sustainable planet, we need to value good people producing and raising the next generation. The inability to understand this (ending in antinatalism at the extreme) is perhaps the root of my problems with the left side of politics. It's hard to get behind a side that is mathematically predestined to disappear completely.

Aloha 7y ago

We could just build fission power plants, they're reasonably safe, not too expensive and we know how to store the waste safely, heck - we've built a place to store it, but until there is political will to overcome the NIMBYism of not wanting to live in the next potential Pripyat (no matter how remote that risk is) nothing will change, except the climate of course.

adrianN 7y ago
We could also just build renewables.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- toomuchtodo 7y ago
  We're moving fast, but not fast enough. https://www.utilitydive.com/news/hawaiian-electric-finalizes-largest-ever-renewables-procurement/559033/ https://www.utilitydive.com/news/hawaiian-electric-finalizes... (Hawaiian Electric finalizes largest-ever renewables procurement) https://www.utilitydive.com/news/new-york-awards-record-1700-mw-offshore-wind-contracts/559091/ https://www.utilitydive.com/news/new-york-awards-record-1700... (New York awards record 1,700 MW offshore wind contracts) https://www.utilitydive.com/news/regulators-unanimously-approve-georgia-power-plan-including-80-mw-energy-s/558919/ https://www.utilitydive.com/news/regulators-unanimously-appr... (Regulators unanimously approve Georgia Power plan, increasing renewables 72% by 2024) https://www.utilitydive.com/news/aep-plans-2b-15-gw-wind-purchase-in-oklahoma/558828/ https://www.utilitydive.com/news/aep-plans-2b-15-gw-wind-pur... (AEP plans $2B, 1.5 GW wind purchase in Oklahoma) https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/12/5/18126920/xcel-energy-100-percent-clean-carbon-free https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/12/5/1812692... (Xcel Energy, one of the biggest utilities in the US, committed to going completely carbon-free by 2050 (and 80 percent carbon-free by 2030).) https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jul/09/eon-uk-to-supply-3m-customers-with-100-renewable-electricity https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jul/09/eon-uk-to-s... (E.ON UK to supply 3.3m customers with 100% renewable electricity)
- Aloha 7y ago