Yeah but a country that runs pretty much on hydro electricity and is fairly self sufficient doesn't really have to do as much as we do in Australia, we are supposedly the worst polluters in the world.
Climate Change...
- Thread starter 6thElement
- Start date
Going to be like the top of a roller-coaster,
As you crest the hill, things slowly start to speed up, but very quickly a fuck ton of speed is built up.
Nothing will be done, until it is far to late.
We are fucked.
As you crest the hill, things slowly start to speed up, but very quickly a fuck ton of speed is built up.
Nothing will be done, until it is far to late.
We are fucked.
Correct, too many cows (and sheep — but there are way more cows than sheep these days and they are worse). NZ’s major source of emissions is agriculture (methane) and it makes up getting on for half of anyone’s per capita CO2e footprints. Even including this we’re still slightly lower than the US or Canada but higher than most of western Europe now. If you exclude Ag (‘because it’s mostly for exports’) then we have a comparatively good footprint.
Most of us are trying to be good, and we already do have an 80% renewable electricity grid, a commitment to get this to 100% as well as to switch industrial thermal power to green sources, and the potential to export green power as hydrogen in the not too distant future.
We fortunately are potentially significantly ‘oversupplied’ with easily accessible green energy (mostly wind and solar but also geothermal) and currently having a conversation with ourselves about making the most of this. We need to get on with it, and this is starting to happen. We could be a ‘renewable superpower’, ‘the Saudi Arabia of wind’ if we fully developed the potential, but we almost certainly won’t as we consider some prime sites too nice to ever build anything on. We also have huge offshore wind potential as it’s quite windy down here and we have an absolutely massive EEZ.
Australia isn’t the worst but you’re near the top, and depending how you measure it, lower than the US. I do like the consumption based CO2e measures as they’re sort of ‘fairer’.
Per capita consumption-based CO₂ emissions
Consumption-based emissions are national emissions that have been adjusted for trade. It's production-based emissions minus emissions embedded in exports, plus emissions embedded in imports.
ourworldindata.org
"Controlled burns," please...
The Trouble With Lithium
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-05-25/lithium-the-hunt-for-the-wonder-metal-fueling-evs
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-05-25/lithium-the-hunt-for-the-wonder-metal-fueling-evs
mykel,sadly,that is the truth. It is already too late. Even the Lungs of the Earth have little time before it is gone. Climate Change? How about we step it up to Climate Crisis. I am Fucking Sick of the Media and who whoever else that keep saying change. The word “Change”,has hope. It sounds much better to us tax payers. When is it a Fucking Crisis?
Avy
It is a fucking crisis, Avy, have no doubt. But things are happening:
www.rechargenews.com
'Hideous propaganda' | Ambition, realism and anger at billionaire Forrest's big-name green hydrogen gathering | Recharge
DISPATCHES | A truly global group of the great and the good convened in Barcelona to discuss hugely optimistic targets, practical challenges, hard-to-abate sectors... and the 'liars' promoting blue H2
Thank’s for you’re Hope. And Thank You for All of you’re links to keep a good attitude and keep my mind off of negative thinking. My Mother alway’s told me, “Attitude is 90% of Life”. When I was young,I did not understand how “My Attitude” could make any difference? The one thing I did understand though,was to recognize a man with a Bad Attitude. I just could not put 2 and 2 together? As I got older,it became crystal clear how My Attitude can make a difference.It is a fucking crisis, Avy, have no doubt. But things are happening:
'Hideous propaganda' | Ambition, realism and anger at billionaire Forrest's big-name green hydrogen gathering | Recharge
DISPATCHES | A truly global group of the great and the good convened in Barcelona to discuss hugely optimistic targets, practical challenges, hard-to-abate sectors... and the 'liars' promoting blue H2
I work with at any time,2 to10men for 8 hour’s a day. Most of us are married with children. I digress,sorry Changleen,I got way off topic and am wasting you’re time as it is not on Topic.
Avy
I think the "export" part of meat and dairy is the issue. Keeping food production more local and seasonal would help a lot.Australia isn’t the worst but you’re near the top, and depending how you measure it, lower than the US. I do like the consumption based CO2e measures as they’re sort of ‘fairer’.
Like China has a huge absolute CO2e footprint but a vast amount of that is because the west has outsourced our manufacturing there and we then buy the products that are made there. If we stopped these emissions would vanish. Surely these are effectivly ‘our’ emissions? I can see it both ways, but consumption based I feel reflects the blame somewhat more accurately. It’s an interesting argument though; should Australia just not export coal as its morally wrong to burn it? Should NZ do the same for beef and dairy? Supporters of these industries might say ‘we produce these products in the most green way globally, if we don’t someone else will and it’ll be worse’ which is probably true but still… IMO Australia should stop coal mining now, and NZ should be vatmeat pioneers.Per capita consumption-based CO₂ emissions
Consumption-based emissions are national emissions that have been adjusted for trade. It's production-based emissions minus emissions embedded in exports, plus emissions embedded in imports.
BTW: offshore wind farms are not without issues as well. A colleague does research on the hearing of marine mammals and, according to him, wind farms and the noise they produce have quite some effect on these animals.
Same goes for land-based wind farms: there are quite some challenges to make them bird and bats-friendly.
Don't get me wrong, I think these are issues that can potentially be solved, but IMO should be taken seriously. My colleague has faced some hate from militant climate activists when he points these issues out, which makes me question how much they care about the environment.
I fully agree, impacts need to be accounted for and mitigated.
But at this point, with what we know, there seems to be an order of magnitude in differentiation between wind and solar impact vs removal of mountain-tops, open pit mines, fracking and their respective environmental costs.
Unfortunately we will only know the full impact in 30-40 years, so we have to give it our best shot at predicting and mitigating the effects.
Painting black stripes on wind turbines seems to drop bird kill by 75% or better, and if painted on the leading edges could actually help the operation of them in the cold (helping prevent ice buildup). I’ve yet to see anything about sub-sea sound pollution from offshore windfarms. Infrasound maybe but I’ve been up close with these giant fuckers and they’re just not that noisy. The sea itself drowns out the noise to a human.
What proportion of carbon cost is in the transport? If it's low then it's not an issue.
Rethinking air conditioning amid climate change
ACs and refrigerators help keep people safe—but they also further warm the planet.
arstechnica.com
I saw a documentry a while back,on the serious drought and the effect it had on the Cow Ranchers. This Man was weeping during the Interview about All of the troubles they have. Many men killed themselves. They Loved their Cows. Then, you had that Huge Fire. I suspect drought is still a problem no?
Avy
@Changleen can this be offset by usage of renewable energy sources?Rethinking air conditioning amid climate change
ACs and refrigerators help keep people safe—but they also further warm the planet.
Yes to some extent, they absolutely should be powered by green energy of course but IMO the most useful thing here is good regulation and engineering standards. For example all techs working on AC should be qualified and there should be strong compliance around system testing, and handling and disposal of refrigerants. Also there are some that massively better than others and we should push for those to be preferred. In NZ some of this is true already, for example there is a (I believe) ~$700 fine for installation of a leaking system for the installer, and ditto fines for even accidental refrigerant release. You also can’t get some of the older more damaging chemicals anymore.
I’d really like to ‘attend’ this but it’s basically in the mid to very late evening here.
Man, you would have cried if you were on a site I used to have to go to, I got yelled at by their safety officer for making sparks and noise in their workshop with a grinder. They'd de-gas AC systems with bolt cutters and cut cars in half with sabre saws, on their old site the soil was black and waterproof forever.
I refused to work there as it was so dangerous, they'd stack cars three high next to you as you worked.
"Hike among some dead trees and drink dirt"
www.sfchronicle.com
The Pacific Crest Trail may become 'all but impossible' to hike as climate change intensifies
Climate change is pummeling the Pacific Crest Trail in California, with everything from...
LOL"Hike among some dead trees and drink dirt"
The Pacific Crest Trail may become 'all but impossible' to hike as climate change intensifies
Climate change is pummeling the Pacific Crest Trail in California, with everything from...
Good, spread the word.
The growing threats have prompted the Pacific Crest Trail Association, which operates in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, to begin shifting its mission from preserving the trail and managing hiking permits toward addressing environmental degradation head-on.
I've seen firsthand for years what the pacific crest trail association really focuses on. Fuck'em.
I like how no eyebrow is raised about a guy who teaches at Brown (IE: lives around Providence Rhode Island) regularly hikes a trail on the other side of the continent when talking about climate change.
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That.
Every year!
Important because we’ve outsourced our manufacturing there: China has reduced CO2 emissions by 1.4% year to date this year, although a fair bit of this is due to the global covid issues. Still, I’ll take it! That’s a lot of carbon.
They have also announced they intended to underpromise and overdeliver on their climate goals and will be planting 70 billion (yes billion) trees over the next decade. They are also co-operating heavily with the US on methane capture tech.
As I sit here with 100kph wind and crazy rainfall lashing my house, it’s sometimes hard to feel hopeful about any of this but recently I feel the pace of change is picking up. Long may it grow exponentially!
They have also announced they intended to underpromise and overdeliver on their climate goals and will be planting 70 billion (yes billion) trees over the next decade. They are also co-operating heavily with the US on methane capture tech.
As I sit here with 100kph wind and crazy rainfall lashing my house, it’s sometimes hard to feel hopeful about any of this but recently I feel the pace of change is picking up. Long may it grow exponentially!
I would suggest china's CO2 reduction would almost entirely be the factories being shut by lockdowns..... I would expect emissions to jump back to where they were.
You’re very likely correct, unfortunately.
Climate science lady said:
We cannot adapt our way out of climate crisis, warns leading scientist
Katharine Hayhoe says the world is heading for dangers people have not seen in 10,000 years of civilisation
www.theguardian.com
Let's hear it for team kid free! The fun crew!
Me, JM, Westy, who else knows humanity has no future?
Me, JM, Westy, who else knows humanity has no future?
I had that down 30 years ago.
And I'm older than 30 so my kidless life is....."moar?"
The fundamental flaw with human beings is that we evolved amazing intellect and developed hundreds of generations of knowledge to survive and thrive in almost any conditions. However we never lost the same myopic selfish animalistic desires that make rabbits multiply exponentially and Labrador retrievers eat until they are sick. No amount of conversation will ever change those traits that will eventually doom us. I doubt humans will go completely extinct but we are doomed to a catastrophe of our own creation and will probably repeat it unless we lose those animal instincts or our intelligence.
Look, I like pizza but even I can tell when I'm getting fat.
For every one of you...