Global warming: Are we doomed? A poll.

[The Architect Of Fate]

New tech? Great!

Got it working now ?

No?


Any dayyyy


Don' t worry....


Signed 

The guys feeding the old reactor...

Yeah, I guess we shoulda just stuck with whale oil, shouldn't we...

Indeed screw innovation. The horse and wagon was good enough for thousands of years people should have just stuck to their comfort zone 

[The Architect Of Fate]

What I was talking about were the new nuclear reactors that not only don't pollute but actually reverse radioactive pollution by using nuclear waste and eating it until it disappears.

Now, Spongebob did say that many private companies are trying to develop some of that, and I am aware of that when I said that there should be an urgent International Manhattan-like project to develop these things soon as possible because governments have more money so they can develop it faster. Especially if we are talking about nuclear fusion. Now there is ITER which is international cooperation, but it is still slow and could go faster if it was taken more seriously.

This technology (thorium or breeder-reactors) exists today and a few research scale models have been built but I'm not sure if anyone is working on a commercial scale plant.  There are some obstacles but my understanding is that the technology is there.  For those who arrogantly say "where is it now?" the answer is commonly in the hands of politicians who are owned by, guess who, big oil companies.  Oil and coal companies have dominated the power landscape for decades and they know how to influence politicians.  On the bright side, many of the big energy companies have now invested in renewable sources to hedge their bet so they win either way.

And he now he's going to resorts to his tired faith in neo Malthusian theory population eugenics (eugenics because it will by default select for certain populations) Even though that idea has been refuted since the late 18th century.

[Rev. Rye]

How about REDUCE DEMAND?


Best - surest - and practical way?


Reduce population. 

So, how are we going to do that, Biker? Because people aren’t getting vasectomies and tubals at a high enough rate to make much of a dent in the world’s population. Plus, the people having the most kids these days tend to not be able to afford to blow off and waste the resources the rich can.

[The Architect Of Fate]

How about REDUCE DEMAND?


Best - surest - and practical way?


Reduce population. 

So, how are we going to do that, Biker? Because people aren’t getting vasectomies and tubals at a high enough rate to make much of a dent in the world’s population. Plus, the people having the most kids these days are people who tend to be too poor to even have much access to the resources the rest of the world is using up.

It also rests on the faulty assumption that a smaller population will use less. Our current world shows that to be nonesense.

[Rev. Rye]

And, just to check, I cross-referenced the nations with the highest birth rates and the nations with the highest CO2 emissions. Of all the nations in the former list, exactly 3 (Angola, Sudan, and Nigeria) were among the top 100 CO2 emitters, only Nigeria is in the top quartile, and even their emissions are slightly more than 1.5% of the US’ emissions. In fact, doing the math, it looks like all 20 of the countries with the highest fertility rates have a combined amount of emissions that's less than 4% of America's (196,185,249 tons for the baby factories vs. 5,011,686,600 for America.) And, yes, that's all 20 of the countries combined.

I’m an anti-natalist, too, but, let’s face it, claiming that having fewer children is a solution to global warming is, in practical terms, kind of a shit argument for it. If you’re using global warming as a reason to not bring more children into the world, maybe it’d be better to talk about how irresponsible it is to bring more children into life on a planet whose climate is going to be more hostile to their existence.

[The Grand Nudger]

That would only work if you thought that it would be. My children will profit from global warming. True fact, lol. I saw the writing on the wall two decades back, and completely rearranged my life to make best use of an opportunity that people saw as either armageddon, or imaginary.

Now I hear the dodo's grumbling that the world doesn't love them anymore. Pro tip - it never did. It was always trying to kill you. You're only noticing it now.

[Spongebob]

Technology has a way of creating its own demand and causing a spiral effect. Despite decades of efforts to get people to conserve and use more eco friendly products, the problem has worsened by orders of magnitude. And a big part of that is population growth. We've gotten much better at keeping people from dying and because of that, there's way more people who need energy. So it seems we are doomed to go headlong into this. My prediction is that it will result in vast population reduction and drastic changes in civilization, although I won't live to see the full force of it.

[Fake Messiah]

If only we acted back then

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Maybe it’s because I’m detail oriented, but I struggle with posts like this - the thread title is different from the poll question.

The answer to the former is: Yes, probably. The answer to the latter is: It already is.

Boru

[Ronaldo]

Meanwhile



So much for global warming