Plastic bags, climate change, renewable energy,

Shit, I was a reasonable chance to make it to 2050...

www.news.com.au

Climate change report predicts fall of humanity

In the past week, the world has experienced chaotic weather phenomena, from deathly Indian heatwaves to snow inundating parts of Queensland. Now, the Breakthrough National Centre for Climate Change has issued a report predicting the end of human civilisation as we know it.
www.news.com.au www.news.com.au
 
In the meantime, the current zeitgeist is plastic bags, recycling bottles, whales etc etc.

Until the only issue is Carbon reductions we will have to chance that those outcomes are from the pessimists
 
pharmaboy said:
In the meantime, the current zeitgeist is plastic bags, recycling bottles, whales etc etc.

Until the only issue is Carbon reductions we will have to chance that those outcomes are from the pessimists
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Current zeitgeist is plastic bags, recycling bottles, whales, etc?

Nope, just CC.

And chance & hope are strategies for the fool.
 
^ I hear it a lot. People I work with that can't be fucked recycling. We produce a lot of glass bottles and cans in the bar, some food waste in the cafe, and not a lot of plastic and other long life waste. It is:
  • Too hard
  • Too confusing
  • Too time consuming

And the ever present "it doesn't matter because..."
  • It isn't done properly
  • Other countries make worse than us.

It is often this mentality that carries over into a refusal to change our own behaviours and reduce environmental impacts. Why should I catch a bus when everyone else is driving a nice big diesel 4Wd?
 
pink poodle said:
It is often this mentality that carries over into a refusal to change our own behaviours and reduce environmental impacts. Why should I catch a bus when everyone else is driving a nice big diesel 4Wd?
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The problem isn't that we can't fix it. The problem is that we think everyone else should fix it. Hence the only option is a carbon price simple as that. Nothing beats money and money will fix CC if we let it.
 
^^^ From that report I posted:

There is an increasing awareness that such a response is now necessary. Prof. Kevin Anderson makes the case for a Marshall Plan-style construction of zero-carbon-dioxide energy supply and major electrification to build a zero-carbon industrial strategy by “a shift in productive capacity of society akin to that in World War II”.

Others have warned that “only a drastic, economy-wide makeover within the next decade, consistent with limiting warming to 1.5°C”, would avoid the transition of the Earth System to the Pliocene-like conditions that prevailed 3-3.3 million years ago, when temperatures were ~3°C and sea levels 25 metres higher. It should be noted here that the 1.5° goal is not safe for a number of Earth System elements, including Arctic sea-ice, West Antarctica and coral reefs.
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hifiandmtb said:
"it doesn't matter because..." CC matters more.
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Yes, cc does matter. But if people aren't having the realisation that they need to change their behaviour and just keep hiding behind other people's poor form on environmental issues, then nothing will happen.
 
You need to realise that convincing someone to use a reusable coffee cup isn't going to flow onto resolving CC, don't you?

Did you read that report? It says nothing about recycling paper & plastics...
 
hifiandmtb said:
You need to realise that convincing someone to use a reusable coffee cup isn't going to flow onto resolving CC, don't you?

Did you read that report? It says nothing about recycling paper & plastics...
Click to expand...

I do. I think you have misunderstood my point - people don't give a fuck about reducing their carbon emissions because they believe other countries/people are worse offenders than themselves, so why should they make sacrifices to their cost/standard of living while others continue on their merry polluting way? This mentality is reflected in our day to day lives - burn it up, tear it down, throw it out, newer, bigger, faster, more convenient...

I work with a bunch of green planet loving people judging hippies, all of whom could easily catch the train or bus to work. They live near and work near major routes for such transport options and it is affordable. But it's not convenient so they don't. One of them drives about 800m and pays for parking.

Also reducing waste (such as single use cups) does have a minute impact on carbon emissions. Less production, less transportation, less landfill, and so on. But I stress minute.
 
Bringing your own coffee cup, having govt laws to get rid of plastic bags, recycling bottles with a 10c scheme etc, are always going to be marginal - as much about people feeling like they are doing some good rather than doing some actual good.

Climate change however needs political pressure from the people. In the same way that China the US and soon India will need political pressure from minnows such as Australia before we get somewhere.

Example of why the green movement isn’t the appropriate engine of that change lies in 2 policy/beliefs. - the anti nuclear one and the idea that solutions must involve economic contraction (both are totally unpalatable to average people of the world)
 
No, but at least you are more likely to accept policy that goes against your current lifestyle requirements :p
 
pharmaboy said:
Climate change however needs political pressure from the people. In the same way that China the US and soon India will need political pressure from minnows such as Australia before we get somewhere.
Click to expand...
CC doesn't listen to politics, it only listens to policy & physics. If policy occurs without pressure from the populace, it can also be solved.

We need leaders with vision who can gather support...I think it's too late to wait for popular opinion to generate its own momentum.
 
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