Climate Change/Mass Extinction Megathread

Started by Syt, November 17, 2015, 05:50:30 AM

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Berkut

"If you think this has a happy ending, then you haven't been paying attention."

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The Brain

Quote from: Berkut on September 08, 2019, 02:37:58 PM
Well this is rather depressing:

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/what-if-we-stopped-pretending?fbclid=IwAR0vrMXAocKkOH64rdVFarJR_H-eTN3qjuutqPfYXK6UIJqjBtb45hMagcM

QuoteJonathan Franzen is a frequent contributor to The New Yorker and the author of, most recently, the novel "Purity."

What does he actually know about climate change, government action, or global cooperation? Maybe we should listen to experts on this critical issue.
Women want me. Men want to be with me.

Eddie Teach

To sleep, perchance to dream. But in that sleep of death, what dreams may come?

Oexmelin

Quote from: The Brain on September 08, 2019, 03:26:27 PM
What does he actually know about climate change, government action, or global cooperation? Maybe we should listen to experts on this critical issue.

Do you think experts are experts at communicating their expertise to a general audience?
Que le grand cric me croque !

grumbler

The future is all around us, waiting, in moments of transition, to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain.   -G'Kar

Bayraktar!

The Brain

Quote from: Oexmelin on September 08, 2019, 04:11:35 PM
Quote from: The Brain on September 08, 2019, 03:26:27 PM
What does he actually know about climate change, government action, or global cooperation? Maybe we should listen to experts on this critical issue.

Do you think experts are experts at communicating their expertise to a general audience?

Some of them are, some of them are not.
Women want me. Men want to be with me.

Zoupa

Quote from: The Brain on September 08, 2019, 10:45:41 PM
Quote from: Oexmelin on September 08, 2019, 04:11:35 PM
Quote from: The Brain on September 08, 2019, 03:26:27 PM
What does he actually know about climate change, government action, or global cooperation? Maybe we should listen to experts on this critical issue.

Do you think experts are experts at communicating their expertise to a general audience?

Some of them are, some of them are not.

Great insight there buddy.

The Brain

Quote from: Zoupa on September 09, 2019, 12:41:45 AM
Quote from: The Brain on September 08, 2019, 10:45:41 PM
Quote from: Oexmelin on September 08, 2019, 04:11:35 PM
Quote from: The Brain on September 08, 2019, 03:26:27 PM
What does he actually know about climate change, government action, or global cooperation? Maybe we should listen to experts on this critical issue.

Do you think experts are experts at communicating their expertise to a general audience?

Some of them are, some of them are not.

Great insight there buddy.

It wasn't obvious to everyone.
Women want me. Men want to be with me.

crazy canuck

Quote from: The Brain on September 08, 2019, 03:26:27 PM
Quote from: Berkut on September 08, 2019, 02:37:58 PM
Well this is rather depressing:

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/what-if-we-stopped-pretending?fbclid=IwAR0vrMXAocKkOH64rdVFarJR_H-eTN3qjuutqPfYXK6UIJqjBtb45hMagcM

QuoteJonathan Franzen is a frequent contributor to The New Yorker and the author of, most recently, the novel "Purity."

What does he actually know about climate change, government action, or global cooperation? Maybe we should listen to experts on this critical issue.

Not maybe, we definitely should be listening to the climate experts, which is one of the points he makes  ;)

Legbiter

Posted using 100% recycled electrons.

The Brain

What we can do right now is a massive expansion of nuclear power. It's a proven concept that would help in a significant way. But noooo, so called environmentalists are against it... "Ew, the color of this lifeboat is so not me! Sorry I can't do this."
Women want me. Men want to be with me.

Valmy

Quote from: The Brain on September 09, 2019, 01:47:17 PM
What we can do right now is a massive expansion of nuclear power. It's a proven concept that would help in a significant way. But noooo, so called environmentalists are against it... "Ew, the color of this lifeboat is so not me! Sorry I can't do this."

Environmentalists have been that way about most solutions to the climate problem. I tend to view them with exasperation.
Quote"This is a Russian warship. I propose you lay down arms and surrender to avoid bloodshed & unnecessary victims. Otherwise, you'll be bombed."

Zmiinyi defenders: "Russian warship, go fuck yourself."

Legbiter

Quote from: The Brain on September 09, 2019, 01:47:17 PM
What we can do right now is a massive expansion of nuclear power. It's a proven concept that would help in a significant way. But noooo, so called environmentalists are against it... "Ew, the color of this lifeboat is so not me! Sorry I can't do this."

Yeah it's very aggravating.
Posted using 100% recycled electrons.

The Minsky Moment

There are practical limitations to an immediate massive expansion of nuclear power.  The upfront capital commitments are tremendous and the pool of skilled engineers and workers has shrunk quite a bit.  The time to make that commitment was a decade ago if we wanted to ramp up now.
The purpose of studying economics is not to acquire a set of ready-made answers to economic questions, but to learn how to avoid being deceived by economists.
--Joan Robinson

Malthus

The levelized cost of energy of wind power is now so cheap that it appears to be the power generation of the future. It now significantly beats fossil fuels on cost alone, never mind environmental effects.

Problem with nuclear (aside from regulatory and environmentalist protest nonsense) was always the huge upfront financing gamble of building such plants: if other forms of energy decrease in cost, the poor suckers who invested in a nuclear plant supposed to generate power for twenty plus years at a certain fixed rate are screwed ... and that seems to be exactly what is happening: other forms of generating energy (particularly wind turbines) are getting much cheaper. Solar is making strides too, but is still I think more expensive than wind.
The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane—Marcus Aurelius