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It's amazing to me how most of these predictions refrain from calling out the single largest polluters in the world, China, from changing their behavior or doin
by bleh123 7y ago
It's amazing to me how most of these predictions refrain from calling out the single largest polluters in the world, China, from changing their behavior or doing anything substantial. In particular, this paragraph at the end:
> In Chicago Thursday, he prosecuted a moral argument that implicates university administrators who refuse to divest from fossil fuels, journalists who fail to fact-check false statements made by political candidates, and executives of fossil fuel companies who continue to pursue activities that are exacerbating climate change—especially those who mislead the public about those effects.
Really? Can you, as a man of science stand behind such vitriol as an outburst for what is arguably at best a theory with a lot of room for error? Specifically:
> "The chance that there will be any permanent ice left in the Arctic after 2022 is essentially zero," Anderson said
Based on WHAT? This man is making a claim for the complete wipe out of roughly seven million cubic miles of ice in the next three years? Even if one were to be charitable and entertain a massive error margin on this claim, based on data about the polar cycles it seems extremely unlikely. This is nothing but an attempt to use "Science" to create panic.
I strongly agree that we need to do more on the environment, but there's got to be a better answer than killing off a major chunk of the commercial markets and industry that have contributed to the single most prosperous period in human history. Can scientists please not make recommendations on policy? I'd love to hear scientific solutions . . just the other day, there was a discussion here on HN about using energy from a nuclear reactor to recycle atmospheric carbons. Practical or not, i'd love to see us innovate our way out of this hole while continuing to be reasonably responsible with our environmental decisions.
- gdubs 7y agoThe US has double the emissions per capita as China. [1] China is also steadily moving towards one of the most ambitious carbon tax / cap and trade systems in the world. [2] Don’t have the exact source in front of me but I read in a paper recently that China’s new carbon market will cover a significant percentage of global carbon emissions when it’s in full swing. 1: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions_per_capita https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_... 2: https://www.icf.com/blog/policy-and-regulation/china-carbon-price https://www.icf.com/blog/policy-and-regulation/china-carbon-...
- bleh123 7y agoThis isn’t reddit. Please don’t downvote because you disagree, try and have a reasonable discussion. Read my comment again and please tell me where I cited emissions per capita. If you’re simply going to normalize data without an explainer, might as well do emissions over GDP and find the most efficient economies since the crux of the argument is around economic value of energy. Your wiki source is based on world bank data and only goes through 2014. Here’s a more recent estimate: [1] I have my doubts on the efficiency of the carbon tax as a mechanism to effectively reduce emissions but am willing to be persuaded by data that shows otherwise. But that is a topic for another time and does nothing to disqualify any of the points I made above. [1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapier/2018/07/01/china-emits-more-carbon-dioxide-than-the-u-s-and-eu-combined/#569dae55628c https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapier/2018/07/01/china-emits-...
- bryanlarsen 7y ago"Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones"
- bleh123 7y ago“Snarky comments do nothing to further a discussion”