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>Seems to me that tech is going to be much better at solving this problem than the government. Whatever "the solution" in the end may be, we can all play our p

by KoenDG 7y ago

>Seems to me that tech is going to be much better at solving this problem than the government. Whatever "the solution" in the end may be, we can all play our part. Individual, company or government. Personally, I feel it's both wrong and harmful to play up feelings of "government should leave things to tech". That was never at play, in terms of working out a solution. >Maybe after all that time we can start looking to other means to help address the issue rather keeping trying to alter it with legislation The issue isn't being altered. Are you perhaps trying to say you think it's bad that the governments regulate what companies can do on their territory? It makes perfect sense to fine companies that come onto the territory you own and are responsible for, when those companies pollute said territory. Fining indeed doesn't solve the problem directly. It does offer a chance for reflection and study on the side of the companies. The problem isn't that the government is trying to protect its territory and its people. The problem is that companies continue harming the environment despite the knowledge that this eventually kills people, animal and plant life. What you're saying sounds a lot like the rethoric of "Don't fine us because we're not going to listen anyway". Which is downright evil. >Of course even if the entire USA went carbon nuetral tomorrow it wouldn't do much because the biggest contributer to CO2 emissions right now is China at almost 2x what the US producing. Respectfully, that is complete and utter bullshit. The impact would be gigantic. It's not because there's still more to fix, that this means one action won't fix anything. That's absurd. Also, the idea of "going carbon neutral tomorrow" is a strawman. A total exaggeration meant to portray the plans of one side as impossible. While those are not actually the plans to begin with. Your entire post feels like anti-government propaganda.

hpoe 7y ago
I apologise if it came off that way I wasn't trying to government bash or anything like that. But we've spent the last 20 years or so trying to use a legaslative solution to produce results but that is seeming to be in large part ineffective as the issue is appearing to be exactrebated rather than shrinking. But we need action now in order to help ameloriate the effects. If the political route has failed to produce results then it seems to me that we need to try a different avenue than what has not been working. In this case leaving it to invention and innovation to help address the problem. It might not solve the problem on its own, but it won't be hurting it either and maybe it will lead to breakthroughs that do solve the problem. I meant my last paragraph not as a critique of current carbon reduction efforts but rather to show that all the United States legaslative power in the world isn't going to solve the CO2 problem by itself as China is producing twice as much and increasing emissions whereas the US is shrinking emissions. After all this isn't a US only issue this is a world wide issue and although we should do all that lies within our power we should also be cognizant of the fact the US isn't the only nation on Earth and other countries should also be considered in this global climate change issue.
- m0zg 7y ago
  That's because international law is largely a fiction. Sovereign nations can't be made to do anything except if threatened with economic sanctions or a war. As you point out yourself, emissions by the United States are declining (and, broadly, the trend continued under Trump, indicating this is an economically viable, rather than regulatory, decline), but when you let the largest emitter by far to continue spewing more than 2x the US CO2 into the atmosphere, there's very little we can do about CO2 for the planet as a whole. In fact their 2018 grew at the fastest rate in the preceding six years. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/dec/05/brutal-news-global-carbon-emissions-jump-to-all-time-high-in-2018 https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/dec/05/brutal-n...

by KoenDG 7y ago

hpoe 7y ago

I apologise if it came off that way I wasn't trying to government bash or anything like that. But we've spent the last 20 years or so trying to use a legaslative solution to produce results but that is seeming to be in large part ineffective as the issue is appearing to be exactrebated rather than shrinking. But we need action now in order to help ameloriate the effects. If the political route has failed to produce results then it seems to me that we need to try a different avenue than what has not been working. In this case leaving it to invention and innovation to help address the problem. It might not solve the problem on its own, but it won't be hurting it either and maybe it will lead to breakthroughs that do solve the problem. I meant my last paragraph not as a critique of current carbon reduction efforts but rather to show that all the United States legaslative power in the world isn't going to solve the CO2 problem by itself as China is producing twice as much and increasing emissions whereas the US is shrinking emissions. After all this isn't a US only issue this is a world wide issue and although we should do all that lies within our power we should also be cognizant of the fact the US isn't the only nation on Earth and other countries should also be considered in this global climate change issue.

m0zg 7y ago
That's because international law is largely a fiction. Sovereign nations can't be made to do anything except if threatened with economic sanctions or a war. As you point out yourself, emissions by the United States are declining (and, broadly, the trend continued under Trump, indicating this is an economically viable, rather than regulatory, decline), but when you let the largest emitter by far to continue spewing more than 2x the US CO2 into the atmosphere, there's very little we can do about CO2 for the planet as a whole. In fact their 2018 grew at the fastest rate in the preceding six years. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/dec/05/brutal-news-global-carbon-emissions-jump-to-all-time-high-in-2018 https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/dec/05/brutal-n...