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Genuinely curious, since almost all (all?) of your submissions to HN seem to involve the climate in some way: what do you do for a living? What causes you to gr

Genuinely curious, since almost all (all?) of your submissions to HN seem to involve the climate in some way: what do you do for a living? What causes you to gravitate towards these types of articles and discussions?

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myshpa 3y ago
> What causes you to gravitate towards these types of articles and discussions https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/biologys-beloved-amphibian-the-axolotl-is-racing-toward-extinction1/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/biologys-beloved-... Biology's Beloved Amphibian - the Axolotl - Is Racing toward Extinction https://daily.jstor.org/the-race-to-save-the-axolotl/ https://daily.jstor.org/the-race-to-save-the-axolotl/ The Race to Save the Axolotl - when an axolotl loses a limb, it regrows, and nary a scar remains. But this incredible creature is on the brink of extinction. The first robust count of axolotls in 1998 estimated that around 6,000 animals lived in each square kilometer ... in 2015, he only found 35 per square kilometer. The axolotl is the world’s the oldest self-sustaining laboratory animal population. But it is unknown how long researchers will still be able to work with the axolotl: Like many lab animals, they are highly inbred, which could threaten their survival. To measure how small a gene pool is, scientists use an “inbreeding coefficient:” identical twins have an inbreeding coefficient of 100, completely unrelated individuals a coefficient of zero. For healthy growth, a captive population should have a coefficient of 12.5 at maximum. The notoriously inbred Spanish Habsburgs had a coefficient of 20; the coefficient for axolotls is 35.
- mcpackieh 3y ago
  Axolotl are going extinct because the tiny extent of their natural habitat is underneath what is now Mexico City. There are 10 million people living on top of their native environment, veganism does nothing to address this.
  - Grimburger 3y ago
    The immediate jump to food preferences in this thread is strange, it's very evident that changing diet, modes of transport and a plethora of other things we argue about doing is a rounding error compared to simply having one less child, overpopulation is the root cause of all this yet an incredibly taboo issue to discuss. https://i.cbc.ca/1.4204289.1499983814!/fileImage/httpImage/emissions-choices.jpg https://i.cbc.ca/1.4204289.1499983814!/fileImage/httpImage/e... Countries should work towards stabilising their populations first otherwise it's all for naught.
    - satvikpendem 3y ago
      This is already happening naturally without any sort of societal intervention. Who knew that people simply want to have fewer kids because life is better without them?
    - myshpa 3y ago
      > Countries should work towards stabilising their populations first The population growth is already starting to decline; for example, Europe is already experiencing a decline, the population growth in the US has recently flatlined. https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/12/us-population-grew-in-2021-slowest-rate-since-founding-of-the-nation.html https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/12/us-population... U.S. Population Grew 0.1% in 2021, Slowest Rate Since Founding of the Nation https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8393076/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8393076/ Major Trends in Population Growth Around the World https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/06/17/worlds-population-is-projected-to-nearly-stop-growing-by-the-end-of-the-century/ https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/06/17/worlds-po... World’s population is projected to nearly stop growing by the end of the century > overpopulation is the root cause of all this yet an incredibly taboo issue to discuss The root cause is overshoot. Climate change, resource depletion, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, pollution, overpopulation, soil erosion, and overfishing are all but symptoms of ecological overshoot. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/917471 https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/917471 Feeding 10 billion people by 2050 within planetary limits may be achievable on plant-based diets. https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/21/14449 https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/21/14449 How Compatible Are Western European Dietary Patterns to Climate Targets? Accounting for Uncertainty of Life Cycle Assessments by Applying a Probabilistic Approach “Without concerted action, we found that the environmental impacts of the food system could increase by 50-90% by 2050 as a result of population growth and the rise of diets high in fats, sugars and meat,” he continued. “In that case, all planetary boundaries related to food production would be surpassed, some of them by more than twofold.” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26231772/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26231772/ The consumption of animal-sourced food products by humans is one of the most powerful negative forces affecting the conservation of terrestrial ecosystems and biological diversity. A little math might help. environmental_impact = number_of_individuals * mean_individual_consumption We can either choose how to lower mean_individual_consumption, or wait for nature to reduce number_of_individuals forcibly. One way is better than the other.

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myshpa 3y ago

> What causes you to gravitate towards these types of articles and discussions https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/biologys-beloved-amphibian-the-axolotl-is-racing-toward-extinction1/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/biologys-beloved-... Biology's Beloved Amphibian - the Axolotl - Is Racing toward Extinction https://daily.jstor.org/the-race-to-save-the-axolotl/ https://daily.jstor.org/the-race-to-save-the-axolotl/ The Race to Save the Axolotl - when an axolotl loses a limb, it regrows, and nary a scar remains. But this incredible creature is on the brink of extinction. The first robust count of axolotls in 1998 estimated that around 6,000 animals lived in each square kilometer ... in 2015, he only found 35 per square kilometer. The axolotl is the world’s the oldest self-sustaining laboratory animal population. But it is unknown how long researchers will still be able to work with the axolotl: Like many lab animals, they are highly inbred, which could threaten their survival. To measure how small a gene pool is, scientists use an “inbreeding coefficient:” identical twins have an inbreeding coefficient of 100, completely unrelated individuals a coefficient of zero. For healthy growth, a captive population should have a coefficient of 12.5 at maximum. The notoriously inbred Spanish Habsburgs had a coefficient of 20; the coefficient for axolotls is 35.

mcpackieh 3y ago
Axolotl are going extinct because the tiny extent of their natural habitat is underneath what is now Mexico City. There are 10 million people living on top of their native environment, veganism does nothing to address this.
- Grimburger 3y ago
  The immediate jump to food preferences in this thread is strange, it's very evident that changing diet, modes of transport and a plethora of other things we argue about doing is a rounding error compared to simply having one less child, overpopulation is the root cause of all this yet an incredibly taboo issue to discuss. https://i.cbc.ca/1.4204289.1499983814!/fileImage/httpImage/emissions-choices.jpg https://i.cbc.ca/1.4204289.1499983814!/fileImage/httpImage/e... Countries should work towards stabilising their populations first otherwise it's all for naught.
  - satvikpendem 3y ago
    This is already happening naturally without any sort of societal intervention. Who knew that people simply want to have fewer kids because life is better without them?
  - myshpa 3y ago
    > Countries should work towards stabilising their populations first The population growth is already starting to decline; for example, Europe is already experiencing a decline, the population growth in the US has recently flatlined. https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/12/us-population-grew-in-2021-slowest-rate-since-founding-of-the-nation.html https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/12/us-population... U.S. Population Grew 0.1% in 2021, Slowest Rate Since Founding of the Nation https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8393076/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8393076/ Major Trends in Population Growth Around the World https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/06/17/worlds-population-is-projected-to-nearly-stop-growing-by-the-end-of-the-century/ https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/06/17/worlds-po... World’s population is projected to nearly stop growing by the end of the century > overpopulation is the root cause of all this yet an incredibly taboo issue to discuss The root cause is overshoot. Climate change, resource depletion, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, pollution, overpopulation, soil erosion, and overfishing are all but symptoms of ecological overshoot. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/917471 https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/917471 Feeding 10 billion people by 2050 within planetary limits may be achievable on plant-based diets. https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/21/14449 https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/21/14449 How Compatible Are Western European Dietary Patterns to Climate Targets? Accounting for Uncertainty of Life Cycle Assessments by Applying a Probabilistic Approach “Without concerted action, we found that the environmental impacts of the food system could increase by 50-90% by 2050 as a result of population growth and the rise of diets high in fats, sugars and meat,” he continued. “In that case, all planetary boundaries related to food production would be surpassed, some of them by more than twofold.” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26231772/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26231772/ The consumption of animal-sourced food products by humans is one of the most powerful negative forces affecting the conservation of terrestrial ecosystems and biological diversity. A little math might help. environmental_impact = number_of_individuals * mean_individual_consumption We can either choose how to lower mean_individual_consumption, or wait for nature to reduce number_of_individuals forcibly. One way is better than the other.