empiricism

@empiricism@ecoevo.social

Greetings!

Please note! I often write about ecological sustainability. Furthermore, I don't try to "sugarcoat" the scale of the challenge - if people are going to reduce the impact of their ecologically degrading societies.

I study Evolutionary Biology, Conservation Biology (Ecology) & human psychology.
All the scientific & traditionally inherited knowledge is known regarding how to mitigate ecological degradation.

  • The effects of climate change will motivate change.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

empiricism, to science

There is a lack of social engagement, interest, about evidenced best ways to live sustainably.

There is a lack of social engagement regarding posts that speak out against air pollution.

There is a lot of publications that detail the problems caused by the ecologically unsustainable businesses & lifestyles.

There are many people that are living & supporting extremely unsustainable lifestyles, whilst not doing anything (much) to reduce CO2 emissions.

snazzyq, to random
@snazzyq@mas.to avatar

I am 6’4”. How are these legal?

empiricism,

@snazzyq

? The political, economic, consumerist system has so many irrational agents (neo-liberalism)

Billions of private vehicles & a sprawling road network is not compatible with sustainable development (too much resources, too much power requirements, too much road kill [wildlife deaths])

If we were to design a car rationally, it wouldn't look like something out of a mad Max movie.

Many cars that are designed for a consumerist market are peacock (status) displays.

@GhostOnTheHalfShell

empiricism,

@GhostOnTheHalfShell @snazzyq

Generally, the corporation's agendas have constructed massively unsustainable developments (& they know it!)

The extant resource and power demands & the extant levels of pollution are evidently degrading & trashing the planet's ecosystems.

I'm writing a more in-depth essay that explains the general low-impact solution. https://climatejustice.social/@empiricism/110418273424332975

The lighter ecological footprint will also mitigate the corporation's heavy footprints by (eventually) replacing them

empiricism,

@GhostOnTheHalfShell @snazzyq

will evidently happen.

To avoid even more serious climate change, the prudent, or planned approach is - shrinking the most polluting industries and redistributing those resources towards less polluting methods such as public transport.

And expanding One Planet Development methods such as AgroEcology https://climatejustice.social/@empiricism/110418273424332975

lauren, to fediverse
@lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org avatar

***** Why the Biden/McCarthy "debt deal" leads us further down the road to fascism *****

One of the problems with "crisis politics" -- and this is working as intended really -- is that it makes it difficult for most people to look beyond the immediate crisis to 2nd, 3rd, and later effects.

The "debt crisis" is a perfect example. The debt limit is a totally artificial and 100% political construct. It has nothing to do with macroeconomics or actual monetary policy. It is a political creation specifically to enable the kind of "hostage crisis" political malpractice -- almost always at the last possible minute because that's when the fear factor is highest.

So everything gets funneled down to "do we avoid the debt crisis this time?", rather than what these continued manufactured events mean for our futures in the longer term.

Increasingly, both parties are owned by their most radical factions. On the Right side it's outright racism, antisemitism, censorship, and fascism, and on the Left it's increasingly social policies out of step (whether one likes it or not) with the vast bulk of U.S. moderates (where federal elections are still decided), and their own forms of censorship (180 degrees away from the GOP form, but still censorship).

This has pushed us into a place where the 2024 presidential election will most likely be between two elderly men, one a fascist, the other weakened by an obsolete sense that he can "negotiate" with a GOP that once upon a time wasn't fascist, but now very much is.

Even if we put aside the lies and hype that came from both the GOP and the White House in this discussion (and indeed, both are guilty of these), the end result -- no matter how anyone tries to spin it -- is that the Democratic mantra of "well, it could have been worse" is just another way of saying that next time, the fascist GOP will indeed make it worse -- because they succeeded in making a lie of Biden's original "I won't negotiate over the debt limit" statement and other related utterances.

Would the world actually collapse if the debt limit deadline passed? If you really think the federal government would risk riots in the streets over stopped social security payments or closed hospitals, I don't believe you fully appreciate that one way or another, we'd all push through. The markets would go wacko, but they'd recover. That's how they work. But we'd have likely broken the curse of these repeated manufactured nightmares, for as Franklin Roosevelt said so many years ago, it's fear itself that is the real enemy.

And using fear as a weapon is what today's GOP is all about. By letting them succeed this time, we guarantee a far worse battle with them down the line, with more of their fascism shoved down our throats. This must end.

I'll add that I don't enjoy these arguments. I despise spending my time this way. Today I ended up in a mutual block here on (with someone I've known for many years) as these arguments progressed.

And frankly, these are very much the kinds of results that the GOP wants, and that Democrats are now letting them achieve. -L

empiricism,

@lauren

The neo-liberal ("free market") economy is evidently not sustainable!

Sooner rather than later, people will have to deal with the fall out of an economic model that isn't accounting for the damage it's causing to the Planet's biosphere.

A new way of thinking, a paradigm shift in economic thinking is needed.

Economists should either cooperate with ecologists & or get studying the subject.

JanPV, to climate
@JanPV@mastodon.social avatar

Whilst we all focus on the catastrophe that is ever-increasing atmospheric CO2, methane levels are shooting up - and methane has a much higher warming potential than CO2.

Source: ourworldindata.org

empiricism,

@JanPV

To be accurate, randomly ask a person on the street, they're not thinking about the increasing atmospheric CO2 levels. In fact, even those that have accepted that climate change is a "thing", will most probably assume that the governments & industries are dealing with it.

As the data shows, they're not.

@SteveJonesnono1

empiricism,

@tschenkel

It's not cynical to accept the evidence that the fossil fuel industries, aka, many rich people, are scammers & are kicking the can down the road for as long as they can get away with.

It's not cynical to observe that billions of people worldwide are burning fuels in their vehicles. Or switching to EV private vehicles that means the rich industries want to mine the ocean floor - more mining technology, requiring more metals, more greenhouse gas emissions.

@JanPV @SteveJonesnono1

augieray, to random
@augieray@mastodon.social avatar

Business leaders: We can't find enough workers!

Workers: You could pay more.

Business: Nope.

Workers: Better benefits?

Business: No.

Workers: More flexible hours?

Business: No way.

Workers: Treat your current employees better to build your employer brand?

Business: Never.

Workers: Well, what's left?!

Business: Child labor!

https://apnews.com/article/iowa-governor-child-labor-laws-e8cb29e2a45b956489c4a192b7ddeba5

empiricism,

@augieray

When the bottom line is a profit agenda, some of the rich are #### #### (bottoms). I wonder why ### #### complain to my mastodon admin about my, never mentioning names, critical posts?

@CassandraZeroCovid

empiricism, to fediverse

It would be great if you could run a mastodon instance for yourself (1 user), entirely on a home computer. Similar to a peer to peer (p2p) network.

In other words, not be regulated by an unknown administration. Although, people can still choose to block any address (network regulation)

I realise that such a system wouldn't be server business model, but, it could be done.

Of course, when the computer was off, the person & posts wouldn't be accessible.

empiricism,

@bengo
@freedomboxfndn

:) Sounds ideal.

Could you provide some web links to the required information? l don't generally study this subject.

empiricism,

@bengo

If we were to consider reducing resource & power requirements, a "freedom box" is a computer. Why can't, for example, a laptop computer be setup to be a freedom box?

Renting a server is adding more resource & power requirements to an already extremely unsustainable economic model.

Generally, my aim is to do the same, or even more, using less resource & power requirements.

@freedomboxfndn

empiricism,

@bengo

l did say doing the same, or even more, using less resources, relative to the present dominant system.

I disagree with centralise everything. E.g., in the context of electricity generation, it's evidently far more efficient to generate electricity locally (less power lines & power loss transmission)

In the context of the current system, it would be evidently more efficient if l could install the "freedom box" software on my laptop.

Middle "men" (£) add inefficiency

@freedomboxfndn

empiricism,

@bengo

OK. I will look in more detail about the Freedom Box (FB)

What would happen, for example, if l had a FB with my own Mastodon instance, to "boosts"? - when l'm offline?

For example, l post, a person "boosts" onto their home timeline. Is my post then saved on that instance?

Therefore, it's generally only my (instance) profile page that would be offline?

Am l correct about this?

@freedomboxfndn

JohnBarentine, to random
@JohnBarentine@astrodon.social avatar

"Based on the research findings, controlling air pollutant emissions may have a positive impact on reducing the level and area of light pollution in the night sky, and thus promote sustainable urban environment development."

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2210670723002822

empiricism,

@JohnBarentine

This is how we do it! https://climatejustice.social/@empiricism/110418273424332975

becha, to internet
@becha@v.st avatar

My talk “#Environmental #impact of #Internet: #Urgency, #DeGrowth, #Rebellion” https://ripe86.ripe.net/archives/video/1001/ from
#RIPE86 is already online! cc @news_en @ScientistRebellion @extinctionrebellionnl

Alisa & eXtinction Rebellion against private jets
Urgent & drastic emission cuts needed
Embrace DeGrowth

empiricism,

@becha @news_en @ScientistRebellion @extinctionrebellionnl

  1. Sharing

  2. Justice

  3. Livable planet

OK, I'm fine on points 1 & 2, though maybe point 3 is too expensive. 🤑 🤪

empiricism, to climate

Let's be real, many of us alive today were conned into believing that Father Christmas was real.

OK, we were gullible, we didn't understand the world and trusted the wrong people (in that context at least)

Generally, we are also trusting the wrong people to mitigate

Listening to government-backed corporations' ideas is analogous to asking the arsonist how to put out the fire (that they started)

Corporations own (most) of social media

✅

TheTootOfBob, to random

You have to get out of bed to follow your dreams.

empiricism,

@TheTootOfBob

Not if being in bed is one part of the dream.

chema, to random
@chema@sanfranciscan.org avatar

The most frustrating thing about the mainstream environmental movement is how it effectively ignores the mitigating options with the greatest potential to reduce net global GHG emissions.

According to the IPCC 6th Assessment Report, reducing the conversion of natural ecosystems could exceed the contributions of wind energy and perhaps even solar energy. Carbon sequestration in agriculture and restoration, afforestation, reforestation aren’t too far behind.

Together, the mitigating options related to the agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU) sector could have the greatest impact in helping address climate change, but so few organizations are talking about it.

empiricism,

@chema

The land is generally part of the business-as-usual sector.

And technology? there are people lining up to sell tech "fixes" for climate change.

I'd take an educated guess that where you live the land is generally off-limits (& very expensive) to people that want to live on it sustainably. This short book describes the business-as-usual planning laws of the UK. https://lowimpactdevelopment.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/low-impact-development-book2.pdf

So, lots of land for sustainable living, but the powers that be, aren't fit for purpose.

Sheril, to random
@Sheril@mastodon.social avatar

“When a new technology becomes cheaper than the old one & can do all the same stuff, people switch…

  1. The EV revolution will help save the planet’s environment bc it’ll allow us to electrify most of transportation, which accounts for ~1/4 of global CO2 emissions. 2. It’ll give us cheaper transportation than before, which will boost economic growth & make life easier for lots of people.”

Excellent explainer of why “EVs will win” by @noahpinion https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/all-the-arguments-against-evs-are

empiricism,

@Sheril

That's fundamentally incorrect!

At current quantities, electrifying (switching) all, for example, private combustion engine vehicles to EV's, will cause a CO2 emission "pulse" into the atmosphere. That will mean more climate heating therefore climate change (+ eco degradation to mine all the elements for the EV's).

In reality, sooner rather than later, we will have to accept that we will need to shrink the energy inefficient sectors of the economy.

@noahpinion

empiricism,

@Sheril

The convenient simplicity, & effective marketing gimmick, of wanting to believe or promoting that buying more products will "save the planet".

Unfortunately, that's a very popular wish based ideology. Generally, that's consumerism.

But, sure, EV's clean up our local air.

Therefore, "grow" (invest in) public EV transport, whilst reducing (deinvest) private transport.

@noahpinion

johncarlosbaez, (edited ) to random
@johncarlosbaez@mathstodon.xyz avatar

Wind power has moved to first place among sources of electric power in the UK!

It's close. 32.4% of the UK’s electricity came from wind farms in the first quarter of 2023, narrowly edging out natural gas at 31.7%. Wind, solar, hydro and nuclear totaled 48.9% - and biomass brings it up to 54.4%.

But the UK should speed up. They're aiming to make all electricity production carbon neutral by 2035. But so many new wind and solar projects are applying to connect to the electrical grid that the wait times are enormous, up to 15 years. Right now £200 billion worth of projects are on hold, waiting for permission to hook up!

A lot of investment is required to restructure the grid, and probably a greater sense of urgency at the National Grid, which "says it is tightening up the criteria for projects to apply so only the really promising ones join the queue."

Luckily these are solvable problems. People are clearly lining up to add lots of renewable energy to the grid.

Wind power moves to first place:

https://electrek.co/2023/05/11/wind-power-gas-uk/

Waiting to connect to the grid:

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-65500339

empiricism,

@johncarlosbaez

The general point to construct renewable energy systems is to power society whilst reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

However, constructing those systems will cause a carbon dioxide "pulse" (e.g., fossil fuels to manufacture the steel, Fuel for machinery, concrete, etc).

Plus, all that infrastructure will need to be maintained.

- shrinking the wasteful & not necessary sectors of the economy is mission critical.

What industries are "driftwood"? (Waste)

@AeonMach

juddlegum, to random
@juddlegum@journa.host avatar

Elon Musk, who claimed to be a "free speech absolutist," is censoring tweets in Turkey ahead of critical elections at the request of the autocrats currently in power

empiricism,

@juddlegum

He meant his freedom to speak, not others!

dmoser, to random

Shocking pictures from Spain 🇪🇸 🔥

Entire regions ‼️ of Europe’s vegetable garden are turning into a gigantic desert.

This is the climate crisis — made worse by inaction and negligence.

An announced mega-crisis. We knew what was going to happen.👇👇

image/jpeg
image/jpeg
image/jpeg

empiricism,

@dmoser

Yep. Climate change will effect where food can grow & what types of food can be grown.

The more climate change disrupts food supplies in rich countries, the more "consumers" will feel concerned about climate change.

Those who have been speaking out about ecological degradation for decades, are the voices that have been ahead of the "curve". Climate change will change politics & business as usual as societies adapt to the effects of climate change.

@Beeflower

empiricism,

@dmoser

What are the locations where these photos were taken?

@Beeflower

empiricism,

@dmoser

The unquestioning social norms of the consumerist culture.

Only when they're thirsty will they think that washing the car, or filling up the garden jacuzzi, is a waste of precious water (& power)

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