3 ms·

I think one of the reasons governments are reluctant to act is because most of the models used to calculate the social cost of carbons are based on Integrated A

I think one of the reasons governments are reluctant to act is because most of the models used to calculate the social cost of carbons are based on Integrated Assessment Models [0] which are very limited. The effects of climate change are not fully understood and we need our brightest minds to be working on that instead of how to sell us more ads. Just my 2c. 0.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_assessment_modelling https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_assessment_modell...

rapind 5y ago
I mean if we all just stopped using advertising based products then they couldn’t afford to pay our best and brightest.
- ClumsyPilot 5y ago
  That does not follow..
  - rapind 5y ago
    If no one uses Facebook, they can’t afford to pay the brightest engineers. Same for Google, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. Obviously not going to happen. I just don’t think it’s fair to put the onus on the workers instead of the consumers who enable the business model.
    - ClumsyPilot 5y ago
      Facebook/google/etc. don't have to be add funded. Microsoft employs great people too, they charge money for their products instead of duping people into sharing data, a much fairer business practice in my mind. Put it another way: the fastest money you can make is by drug dealing, if there are no drug addicts we can't pay our brightest!
nikhilsimha 5y ago
I read the last sentence as "Just my 2°C". I blame it on the over use of 2°C in all these reports.
bko 5y ago
I think you're overcomplicating things. The reason governments are reluctant to act is because most tax payers don't support higher taxes or prices to respond to the problem. There were protests that lasted months in France over higher gas prices [0]. In the US, only 57 percent of Americans are willing to pay a $1 monthly fee, 23 percent are willing to pay a monthly fee of $40. [1] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_vests_movement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_vests_movement [1] https://mleverything.substack.com/p/americans-arent-willing-to-pay-to https://mleverything.substack.com/p/americans-arent-willing-...
- Robotbeat 5y ago
  And I don't think the Degrowther movement is helping anything. Hair shirt decarbonization is a non-starter. Stop trying to make it about scarcity. Make it about abundance. People understand that fossil fuels are limited. So make it about solar, wind, nuclear energy abundance and energy independence. Gas taxes are unpopular. EPA fuel efficiency mandates are popular. Why? One costs you money and the other saves you money, from the consumer's perspective. They BOTH have the effect of reducing emissions and increasing efficiency.
layoric 5y ago
> The effects of climate change are not fully understood and we need our brightest minds to be working on that instead.. The implication here, and maybe I’m reading it wrong, is that _before_ action is taken on what we do know to the best of our knowledge, we should learn more? I don’t know the exact fracture pattern on a skull from a high speed spinning projectile but am still going to take action to avoid getting shot in the head..
- SpicyLemonZest 5y ago
  Climate change can't be avoided in the same way as a gunshot. Even if we started doing everything right tomorrow, we'd still face significant climate change, so we need people to research what the likely effects are and how we might mitigate them.

rapind 5y ago

I mean if we all just stopped using advertising based products then they couldn’t afford to pay our best and brightest.

ClumsyPilot 5y ago
That does not follow..
- rapind 5y ago
  If no one uses Facebook, they can’t afford to pay the brightest engineers. Same for Google, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. Obviously not going to happen. I just don’t think it’s fair to put the onus on the workers instead of the consumers who enable the business model.
  - ClumsyPilot 5y ago
    Facebook/google/etc. don't have to be add funded. Microsoft employs great people too, they charge money for their products instead of duping people into sharing data, a much fairer business practice in my mind. Put it another way: the fastest money you can make is by drug dealing, if there are no drug addicts we can't pay our brightest!

nikhilsimha 5y ago

I read the last sentence as "Just my 2°C". I blame it on the over use of 2°C in all these reports.

bko 5y ago

I think you're overcomplicating things. The reason governments are reluctant to act is because most tax payers don't support higher taxes or prices to respond to the problem. There were protests that lasted months in France over higher gas prices [0]. In the US, only 57 percent of Americans are willing to pay a $1 monthly fee, 23 percent are willing to pay a monthly fee of $40. [1] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_vests_movement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_vests_movement [1] https://mleverything.substack.com/p/americans-arent-willing-to-pay-to https://mleverything.substack.com/p/americans-arent-willing-...

Robotbeat 5y ago
And I don't think the Degrowther movement is helping anything. Hair shirt decarbonization is a non-starter. Stop trying to make it about scarcity. Make it about abundance. People understand that fossil fuels are limited. So make it about solar, wind, nuclear energy abundance and energy independence. Gas taxes are unpopular. EPA fuel efficiency mandates are popular. Why? One costs you money and the other saves you money, from the consumer's perspective. They BOTH have the effect of reducing emissions and increasing efficiency.

layoric 5y ago

> The effects of climate change are not fully understood and we need our brightest minds to be working on that instead.. The implication here, and maybe I’m reading it wrong, is that _before_ action is taken on what we do know to the best of our knowledge, we should learn more? I don’t know the exact fracture pattern on a skull from a high speed spinning projectile but am still going to take action to avoid getting shot in the head..

SpicyLemonZest 5y ago
Climate change can't be avoided in the same way as a gunshot. Even if we started doing everything right tomorrow, we'd still face significant climate change, so we need people to research what the likely effects are and how we might mitigate them.