Climate Change/Mass Extinction Megathread

[viper37]

Maybe you missed the point where if declining world oil demand will in turn help Alberta reduce our greenhouse gas emissions from oil production (which are massive).  That will have the unhappy effect of throwing hundreds of thousands of Albertans out of excellent high-paying jobs.

Like with every technological change.  Lots of people had high paying job (for the time) in tobacco plant.  Not so many nowadays.  Yet, we ain't all unemployed.

Transition takes time.  The longer Alberta tries to hide its hand in the sand, the harder the shock will be.

[Jacob]

I'm not. I'm also not proposing that everyone leave Canada, or Canada curtail immigration.

I'm pointing out that the standard political approach is going to be ineffective: identifying a series of problems, and in isolation coming up with pithy strategies to deal with each that will appeal to middle brow dilettantes such as ourselves. Though maybe self satisfying and electorally successful.

There are so many downstream effects to any number of policies when it comes to climate change that if you actually want to prioritize it, it needs to be in every policy decision. And Canada alone is just a smart of a global topic.

A fair criticism.

What do your propose instead?

[crazy canuck]

Fun fact. BC and Quebec are entirely energy self sufficient and green - Hydro.

I know there are a lot of pluses of hydroelectric power over fossil fuel extraction, but to call building a gigantic hydroelectric dam on a major (or any size, really) river system "entirely green" is quite a stretch.

Is there any entirely green generation of electricity which is constructed in a way that is green?

[Jacob]

I know there are a lot of pluses of hydroelectric power over fossil fuel extraction, but to call building a gigantic hydroelectric dam on a major (or any size, really) river system "entirely green" is quite a stretch.

Is there any entirely green generation of electricity which is constructed in a way that is green?

"The perfect is impossible, so we might as well not bother" is something we're going to be hearing a lot of in the next long while I expect.

[crazy canuck]

Yeah

[Sheilbh]

Can't remember the game but Sky just advertising for what they're aiming - in partnership with the Premier League and for COP26 - to be the Premier League's first net zero game.

[HVC]

Surprise surprise, another scoreless soccer game.

[grumbler]

I know there are a lot of pluses of hydroelectric power over fossil fuel extraction, but to call building a gigantic hydroelectric dam on a major (or any size, really) river system "entirely green" is quite a stretch.

Is there any entirely green generation of electricity which is constructed in a way that is green?

"The perfect is impossible, so we might as well not bother" is something we're going to be hearing a lot of in the next long while I expect.

What we will hear equally is lies about how some solutions are "entirely green" when they are not.

People would rather emote than think, unfortunately.  Rational analysis of costs and benefits will sink under the weight of the chest-pounding about how one's tiny locality is greener than another tiny locality, when that fact is utterly meaningless in the face of the problem.

[crazy canuck]

We can always count on Grumbles.

[Sheilbh]

Seems like COP26 announcements are starting to heat up and this one is particularly striking as I understand China finances about 70% of international coal plant building:

Karl Mathiesen
@KarlMathiesen
BREAK: Xi Jinping says China will stop building coal plants overseas. This almost completely ends the international finance of coal in a single sentence.

Also Biden is doubling the US commitment to support developing countries' energy transition.

Edit: For wider context - South Korea and Japan are also ending funding this year:

[Josquius]

A minor bit of positive news

https://reasonstobecheerful.world/reflective-white-streets-urban-heat-island-effect/

[The Minsky Moment]

Sweden has around 4 depending on who you ask, and has a roughly similar climate to Canada.

Norway is a better comp.  They are at 9.

[The Brain]

Sweden has around 4 depending on who you ask, and has a roughly similar climate to Canada.

Norway is a better comp.  They are at 9.

How is it better?

[crazy canuck]

Sweden has around 4 depending on who you ask, and has a roughly similar climate to Canada.

Norway is a better comp.  They are at 9.

Agreed, but our oil sands extraction projects are worse that the methods used by Norway in terms of generation of emissions so that largely explains the difference.  If that extraction activity was reduced or they could figure out a better way to extract the resource, our number would go down - considerably.

[crazy canuck]

Sweden has around 4 depending on who you ask, and has a roughly similar climate to Canada.

Norway is a better comp.  They are at 9.

How is it better?

Oil