Can YOU Fix Climate Change?

>Cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, the most-popular decentralized digital currency, have a notoriously large carbon footprint (bitcoin mining alone consumes about half as much electricity in a year as all of the UK). So to leverage a cheap source of energy to run their bitcoin mining operations, Lochmiller and Cavness found themselves partnering with oil companies to repurpose a byproduct, primarily methane, that’s typically vented or burnt off in flares. Aren't crypto miners using GPUs to "mine" bitcoins? Doesn't that also mean every person who plays video games is also responsible for stressing the power generation system. And as GPUs become more powerful to give better frame rates and fancy tech like RTX, they also become more power hungry. Doesn't that also mean the massive data centers like the what Google is running for Stadia with massive number of GPUs is responsible for taxing the power generation system? Or people who train Deep Learning models with billion of parameters on GPUs? I do see people pointing fingers at Deep Learning and how it isn't "carbon neutral" but the other things are not really talked about. That being said, I am not people/companies who use GPUs aren't the cause of global warming or are somehow singlehandedly making it worse I believe that as a society we are kind of involved in this. Finger pointing will really keep going in circles. I am not the biggest fan of pop science as it often oversimplifies problems but this video by Kurzgesakt is very

in “A ‘false solution’? How crypto mining became the oil industry’s new hope” · View on HN

Kurzgesagt made a video about it, and they say, and I agree with them, the answer can only be political pressure: ▶ this video They also mentioned the stat that if 1 person lived totally carbon neutral for 70 years, that would offset only 1 second of current global CO2 emissions, which I'm going to presume is sourced properly. I'm not very optimistic. Politicians follow the polls and go with what's popular, and if the people living in the rich nations have to pay more to fly to Asia for cheap holidays, and iPhones, etc, get more expensive because of carbon tax, the majority probably won't support the governments and will instead vote in populist idiots that will make things "great again". In the poorer countries, being told that the decades-old luxuries they've envied from richer nations will cost more because of government policies will also not be popular, never mind that the policies are meant to save the future.

in “The Pentagon’s view of climate change and the risks of state collapse” · View on HN

Kurzgesagt: Can YOU Fix Climate Change? ▶ this video Link in response to people asking what everyone is doing, should be doing, and can be doing...

in “Climate Clock” · View on HN

That's nice, but the unfortunate thing is: ▶ this video It's a Kurzgesagt video about why individual action is far from enough, and why we need systemic action. Do your part, but also pressure politicians, because that's where the main pain point is.

in “Carbon-neutrality is a tale: the race for renewables is burning Europe's forests” · View on HN

Only in aggregation when everyone else changes their behaviour as well. Each individuals contribution is too tiny to have an impact, which is why we need a systematic change or legislation, so that its no longer a choice/personal responsibility to take action. Kurzgesagt's recent video (sponsored by bill gates notes)e xpressed the issue much better then I ever could, so i'll only link to it here. ▶ this video

in “Europe’s energy crisis is about to go global as gas prices soar” · View on HN

Some argue that another form of climate denial is the denial that we're headed for certain doom. Of course it's an easy cop-out, to say "well the planet's doomed anyway, let's book those flights to the Maldives! (Before the sea swallows them)". Or to deny responsibility by saying "Why should I change, look at those private jets!". I agree when Kurzgesagt argues, the fix is to push for political change ▶ this video . I like meat, petrol cars and flying vacations, but if they get heavily taxed to help save the planet, I'll sign up for that! I'll grumble that meat is such a luxury, but that's how it's supposed to be...

in “The 3-degree limit could be exceeded as early as 2050” · View on HN

God, what a tired argument to deflect responsibility. Not to say I'm holy, I've also given up trying to save the planet and am just going to enjoy my life until the climate kills me either directly or indirectly (lack of resources will lead to conflict, even in the West food and water might not be guaranteed), which I think will be in the next decade. What are the corporations doing anyway? They're selling crap to you and me, which we all addictively buy. iPhone 15, faster, shinier, newer, on sale now! RTX 4000 series, it needs a kilowatt power supply! Get Windows 11, the billions of laptops without TPM will be worthless when Windows 10 is EOLed in 2 years (Install Linux? But it's too hard to understand, I want my fucking convenience!). Wikipedia says there are 2640 billionaires in the world[1], if they all adopted the middle class lifestyle, would that save the planet? Hmm 2640 people flying on private jets vs the billions of planetary middle class with their cars and air-conditioned homes and taste for steak and jet-setting vacations. We're all "environmentally friendly" up to the line where beyond it it inconveniences us. For the billionaires flying commercial is inconvenient; for me, being vegan, using old tech, not allowing myself to ever see Japan again would be inconvenient. I admit that I like my luxuries, I'm not going to use the excuse that the billionaires have to do it first, even if they all turn green I'd still want my comforts, but I will support laws that forc

in “Study finds the gulf stream is warming and shifting closer to shore” · View on HN

1. Source? 2. That's just dumb. Romania reduced its energy usage a ton since 1989 plus its per capita usage is super low, if someone needs to look in the mirror it's the US, Australia, Canada, Germany, China (China for the industrial pollution primarily), etc. 3. Also: ▶ this video

in “Europe drastically cut its energy consumption this winter” · View on HN

You have to include more than just oil refining too: - there's the CO2 emitted during manufacture of the vehicle and maintaining the vehicle - the CO2 emitted to construct and maintain the roads the vehicle is used on (apparently this is about the same as the CO2 produced in making a car, per metre of road [1]) - since society is so massively oriented around vehicle use, you would probably need to apportion some significant amount of the CO2 emitted by the bureaucratic machine that allows for widespread vehicle use -- lawmakers, financiers, road engineers and regulators, police forces that enforce traffic codes -- this all costs a lot of energy and therefore carbon so it could be a non-negligible contribution - to much lesser order, the CO2 you yourself emit in order to operate the vehicle and maybe the CO2 emitted in building your garage where you store the vehicle [1] I believe I heard that in this kurzgesagt video: ▶ this video

in “Where Our Gasoline Comes From” · View on HN

Exactly. If this Kurzgesagt video is to be believed, then the average road costs as much carbon to build PER METRE (!!) as it takes to produce one car: ▶ this video Heavier vehicles like trucks (and EVs are heavier in general) cause much quicker degradation of roads. And doubling down on private vehicle use with EVs is going to increase demand for roads across the board. It's just so far from a useful solution to go down this route.

in “Carbon dioxide now more than 50% higher than pre-industrial levels” · View on HN

> The expansion of the ‘Green New Deal’ and the rise of ‘renewable’ industrial technologies may be the death knell for these archaic and peaceful people. Make no mistake, these green initiatives – electric vehicles, wind turbines, solar batteries – these are actively destroying the last remaining strongholds of biodiversity on the planet. The future designs on the DRC include vast hydroelectric dams and intensive agriculture, stripping away the final refuges of the world. Now, more than ever, the Mbuti and other Pygmy peoples need our solidarity, an act which can be as simple as not buying that next iPhone This seems like a vast oversimplification by the author. Kurzgesagt made a video explaining how climate change is a multifaceted problem; that no solution will make everyone happy. I'm not trying to undermine the plight of the Mbuti people, but "not buying that next iPhone" is not going to solve the political, economic, and social strife that is present in the DRC. Also, the claim that green initiatives are "destroying the last remaining strongholds of biodiversity on the planet" overlooks the tradeoff in using green energy sources over fossil fuels. Link to video: ▶ this video

in “The Forest People” · View on HN

"Public transit is not attractive because its not point-to-point, and you have no control over the other passengers on your ride. Autonomous minibusses with demand-driven routes, private subscriptions, and passenger reviews are the solution. " They are not the solution, we cannot support this many cars even if they are all EV's. We also cannot support thia mich meat in our diet. The sooner people can accept that, the less pain it will be in the long run. ▶ this video Also, how much do you have to hate public thanspor that you'd rather rise a totally unsafe and uncomfortable electric scooter than take a tram?

in “Oil System Collapsing So Fast It May Derail Renewables” · View on HN

Kurzgesagt uploaded a video two days ago about climate change: ▶ this video Fighting plastic packaging is one of the environmental issues that get an unreasonable amount of attention. It is more "look we did something" than "look we actually make an impact"

in “Spain will ban selling fruit and vegetables in plastic containers starting 2023” · View on HN

Seriously, I would never have expected that somebody would unironically go on and compare VW with Ferrari. You literally have no idea what Ferarri is and what they do and where they do it and how they hire their employees. Their cars are almost exclusively hand-made and everybody who works at Ferrari is proud to do so, yes, even the dude mowing the grass - this is not cheap to maintain. There are people there whose skills can't be translated to building electric cars - which are really just oversized RC cars. There are people there who are experts in engines - and those will be laid off. In fact, everybody working on engines at Ferrari would be laid off. And those are a lot of people. The ICE is something that deserves to go on in something special like a Ferrari. This whole electric cars debacle makes me wish the planet would be blown up by aliens sooner before we all roll around in crappy BMW i3 lookalikes because there's nothing else available and there is no choice albeit industry is polluting several degrees of magnitude more than just ICE cars[1]. And certainly so in the case of a small italian sports cars manufacturer that yields true works of art, poetry on wheels. By comparison, VW is a tech giant who can afford to mass produce their stuff and will not suffer nor will they have to lay off a significant percentage of their staff. Video reference [1] ▶ this video

in “Italy wants an exception to Europe's gas-engine ban for Ferrari, Lamborghini” · View on HN