https://climatejustice.social/@breadandcircuses/112303357717712825 Scroll down inside that link for a slightly more extreme version (NSFW).
this post was submitted on 20 Apr 2024
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overcome capitalism
Figure out a way to profit off fixing the problem
That's probably not possible, and it would be ineffective. The fossil fuel industry is still actively killing the planet, and will continue to do so for as long as they are allowed. The motivation to pollute will still exist even if we make carbon capture profitable.
Here are some actual solutions:
A carbon/pollution tax. The cost of carbon pollution isn't reflected in the price of oil barrels. Fix that, and then people will start switching away from fossil fuels. You can't let the externalities be externalities, that's how we got into this mess in the first place.
Ending the subsidies the fossil fuel industry receives, as well as tax breaks. Instead give that money to renewable energy sources
Fix our shitty ass transportation system. We are too dependent on cars & planes. Bikes, trains, and busses need to be viable, but they aren't with our current infrastucture/lackthereof
Higher density residential building with mixed use zoning. How are we going to have a green world when it takes a half hour car ride to walmart to get groceries?
Of course, none of these are really possible with money still in politics, and with voter apathy. But this is the pathway forward.
In the US, there will always be a critical mass of voters ready to end the careers of anyone who tries to do any of the above.
I'd add that buses for the most part don't help, and we should revive the trolly systems that Goodyear intentionally put out of business, and furthermore build out mega railway projects to take long haul trucks off the road.
Railways need to be nationalized, and we need to make it easier to live rurally without the need for multiple cars and lots of gas consumption.
And we need to start building a bunch of new nuke plants like 30 years ago.
None of that will start to happen until it is way beyond too late though. And even if the US got onboard with the program, there will always be 40% of the planet who won't. So fuck it, enjoy nature while it lasts. We'll turn the sky white to geoengineer away some of the solar radiation, but the line will continue to go down from here.
I agree with everything you said except for your last paragraph. Scientifically speaking, it is not to late. Politically it is, but politics can and have swung wildly. Our best bet is the younger generation shows up to the polls and votes in green candidates. My local area has had some good success with this at least.
As for the geoengineering, I can see that being the unfortunate case. I'm concerned it's going to be a far dumber and dangerous version of it though, like intentionally nuking a remote islands a couple times to start a mild nuclear winter.
Impossible (outside of some small projects that tinker around the edges in beneficial ways, but can never do enough to put a substantial dent in the problem).
The problem comes down to something that's literally taught in economics 101: negative externalities. The cost to society of polluting is put on society, and not on the company actually causing that cost. There needs to be change in the legal situation so that doing the socially good thing is also the profitable thing. Whether that's taxes or outright banning polluting, or something else.
What do you think Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) that the oil companies have been pushing for is if not a naked attempt to profit from the problem? Of course CCS will require even more oil to run, but that just means more profit!