On a personal note, I used to a fairly ambivalent climate change denier, but in the past few years, I have changed my mind, and really tried to change my personal consumption habits. First big step was to get rid of my car, and move us into a smaller apartment. Are there are any ways that someone can reduce their emissions footprint?
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On a personal note, I used to a fairly ambivalent climate change denier, but in the past few years, I have changed my mind, and really tried to change my personal consumption habits. First big step was to get rid of my car, and move us into a smaller apartment. Are there are any ways that someone can reduce their emissions footprint?
I'm really not an expert to be honest. Plus, I live in a completely different climate than you, where I don't really have to worry about heating my place in the winter. Personally, I could probably reduce the amount of time using electronics. I've also started to second guess how much I use air travel. Yeah, it's nice to see the world, but how much am I affecting things by doing so?
I've stopped buying and sending greeting cards because what goes into producing and mailing them seems excessive compared to their purpose.
I think there likely is going to need to be an honest re-assessment done regarding many of our entertainment choices over the next few decades. Things like music festivals and sporting events, family vacations, etc. How many of these things can we reasonably expect to sustain?
i'm really not an expert to be honest. Plus, i live in a completely different climate than you, where i don't really have to worry about heating my place in the winter. Personally, i could probably reduce the amount of time using electronics. I've also started to second guess how much i use air travel. Yeah, it's nice to see the world, but how much am i affecting things by doing so?
I think there likely is going to need to be an honest re-assessment done regarding many of our entertainment choices over the next few decades. Things like music festivals and sporting events, family vacations, etc. How many of these things can we reasonably expect to sustain?
"there isn"t enough parking at the new stadium!"
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Yeah, that and just the colossal amount of energy that goes into producing these events. Look at something like the Macy's parade. Even if every piece of decoration, the floats, etc., all come from recycled materials, there's still the environmental cost of recycling and reproducing them.
Christmas lights/decorations also chap my ass a bit. How much energy is consumed both in making them and then keeping them lit?
I also recently changed my mind on climate change. I realized that I was very pro-vaccine, pro-GMO etc based on the science, but I was not listening to the science on Climate change. It did not make any sense.
It has swung me away from being a conservative voter to being more on the fence and also made me think more about the issue.
I still feel the best thing is innovation to improve things, but am getting more supportive of a carbon tax all the time (as long as the money goes towards technology that reduces the carbon footprint).
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I have a friend who's been going to Greenland every summer to do research for his phd in Denmark. The amount of concern from those studying Greenland and Antarctica is quite disturbing.
VICE did an episode on Greenland in season 2 and season 3 on Antarctica which will send shivers down your spine.
Good to see you guys coming over to our side, I think we are slowly turning the tide against the skeptics in North America. You find very few of them for some reason in the EU, most people here just accept it, shows how effective the merchants of doubt have been in North America.
Of course the biggest problem is our media in North America doing big favors to the institutes like CATO, Heritage Foundation, giving their people face time against one real scientist making it look like there is a debate. Giving rise to doubt, this particular guy Bill Nye is speaking to was a denier of cigarettes causing cancer in the 1990s.
I don't know how we ever reach this % of people who simply will not accept facts, I run in to this all the time debating anti vaxx, anti gmo folks.
Until it is affordable for people to live close to where they work without having to pay most of their income to landlords/money lenders, or for alternate fuel sources to become affordable, there really isn't any hope for this to turnaround either. The people currently profiting from the activities that contribute the most to global warming aren't going to give it up without a fight.
Honestly, I think there has to be a complete social revolution in order to change anything that isn't a temporary stop-gap solution.
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Last edited by FlamesAddiction; 08-21-2015 at 01:12 PM.
I'm not a denier that the earth is getting warmer. But sometimes I wonder if humans could do anything about it at all? We are still in an ice-age, and the earth goes through cycles of ice age and non-ice age.
Could this global warming be the tail end of our current ice-age? There have been ages in earth's past with no ice at all long before humans existed. I'm not saying we shouldn't be environmentally responsible, (i.e.: don't dump your oil into the sewer when you change your oil), but how much can humans realistically do when the earth decides to change ages?
I'm not a denier that the earth is getting warmer. But sometimes I wonder if humans could do anything about it at all? We are still in an ice-age, and the earth goes through cycles of ice age and non-ice age.
Could this global warming be the tail end of our current ice-age? There have been ages in earth's past with no ice at all long before humans existed. I'm not saying we shouldn't be environmentally responsible, (i.e.: don't dump your oil into the sewer when you change your oil), but how much can humans realistically do when the earth decides to change ages?
I'm sure more will pile on here, but I hear this from Albertans all the time (even though I'm in BC note I grew up in Alberta and wondered the same thing). There's no debate what the cause is unless you ignore all the proof and science. While there's been constant climate change forever, never anything even close to this rapid
Location: Close enough to make a beer run during a TV timeout
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Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction
Until it is affordable for people to live close to where they work without having to pay most of their income to landlords/money lenders, or for alternate fuel sources to become affordable, there really isn't any hope for this to turnaround either.
It doesn't have to be "all or nothing." Carpool or take transit more often. Look at fuel economy when buying a new vehicle. Switch lights to CFL or LED. Get a programmable thermostat.
Also look at other things in your house. Do you have a 20+ year old fridge or freezer? You can actually make up the savings of buying a new one from electricity use alone. That always bugged me about the one David Suzuki commercial, where he had the guy get rid of his old beer fridge. Had the guy bought a bar fridge instead, he would have saved $20 per month in electricity.
It would be great if we could all do everything to reduce most of our emissions. That isn't always possible. However the ones I listed above give you a net gain financially, while also reducing your carbon footprint. So even if you firmly deny human caused global warning- the above things will still help you.
Until it is affordable for people to live close to where they work without having to pay most of their income to landlords/money lenders, or for alternate fuel sources to become affordable, there really isn't any hope for this to turnaround either. The people currently profiting from the activities that contribute the most to global warming aren't going to give it up without a fight.
Honestly, I think there has to be a complete social revolution in order to change anything that isn't a temporary stop-gap solution.
Electric cars are coming, and sooner than most think. So are alternate sources of electricity. As battery technology finally catches up with combustion technology price will decrease significantly.
As for giving up without a fight, the coal industry is losing outside china and doesn't want to. Economics fixes that alone. What we need is an embrace of nuclear, which may prove difficult
I'm not a denier that the earth is getting warmer. But sometimes I wonder if humans could do anything about it at all? We are still in an ice-age, and the earth goes through cycles of ice age and non-ice age.
You have it backwards, we're currently in an interglacial period called the Holocene, so temperature should be going down if we're at the end of our interglacial and heading into an ice age.
The influence human produced CO2 is much larger than the influence of the things that lead to ice-ages.
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Electric cars are coming, and sooner than most think. So are alternate sources of electricity. As battery technology finally catches up with combustion technology price will decrease significantly.
As for giving up without a fight, the coal industry is losing outside china and doesn't want to. Economics fixes that alone. What we need is an embrace of nuclear, which may prove difficult
The sad truth is battery technology hasn't seen a revolution in 20 years. We've had evolutionary steps of Lithium batteries but they are not going to be what is needed for large scale replacement of gas cars. This could change overnight, but currently it hasn't happened.
It's to bad we haven't found a way to extract the energy from hydrocarbons without the crude method of basically burning it. If we could get that energy out (and perhaps put it back in) it would be the best battery around. Hydrocarbons are incredibly energy dense.
I'm sure more will pile on here, but I hear this from Albertans all the time (even though I'm in BC note I grew up in Alberta and wondered the same thing). There's no debate what the cause is unless you ignore all the proof and science. While there's been constant climate change forever, never anything even close to this rapid
Folks can pile on, it doesn't bother me. Well maybe a little. I don't like when people assume #### right away if you don't tow the party line 100%. I grew up in Alberta as well, but I live in CA. I'm a great believer in taking care of the earth and doing your own individual part. I do think emissions need to come down on a global scale, no question. I love that CA takes this seriously (although obviously there is much to do still).
I don't pretend to know all the facts, but again, looking back on the geologic time scale, ice-ages have come and gone and humans have had zero to do with it. I question whether or not the earth is changing whether we like it or not. If someone turned off the CO2 switch tomorrow, would that change anything at all? I think the earth is going to warm, the sea will rise, and we will be helpless.
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Originally Posted by photon
You have it backwards, we're currently in an interglacial period called the Holocene, so temperature should be going down if we're at the end of our interglacial and heading into an ice age.
The influence human produced CO2 is much larger than the influence of the things that lead to ice-ages.
Well more broadly speaking, we are still in an ice-age, but in a interglacial period.
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I don't pretend to know all the facts, but again, looking back on the geologic time scale, ice-ages have come and gone and humans have had zero to do with it. I question whether or not the earth is changing whether we like it or not. If someone turned off the CO2 switch tomorrow, would that change anything at all? I think the earth is going to warm, the sea will rise, and we will be helpless.
Just because something changed in the past due to influence A doesn't mean that it only changes due to influence A. Or another way to say it is just because people die of natural causes doesn't mean every death is due to natural causes.
There's an enormous amount of information about why they think the current temperatures are due to human influence.
You question whether or not the earth is changing whether we like it or not, it's like the question of why person A died. We know people die of natural causes so it could be that, but to know for a specific incident one has to investigate deeper. Same with this, to answer the question requires investigation, and the investigation points to human influence.
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Originally Posted by CroFlames
Well more broadly speaking, we are still in an ice-age, but in a interglacial period.
Sorry yeah you are right, I should have read more closely.
What are the typical temperatures when we're not in an ice age?
__________________ Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position.
But certainty is an absurd one.
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