@jackofalltrades@mas.to
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jackofalltrades

@jackofalltrades@mas.to

I'm here to learn about the world.

I post about politics, climate change, economics, philosophy, being a father, programming, games, and more.

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

jackofalltrades, to Norway
@jackofalltrades@mas.to avatar

"""
Breaking up with oil and gas was always going to be difficult for the owner of the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund—valued at $1.4 trillion. North Sea oil and gas, which accounts for 14% of Norway’s GDP, 40% of exports, and employs 7% of its workforce, has made the country one of the richest in the world, by GDP per capita.
"""

https://time.com/6098236/norway-climate-election-results/

jackofalltrades,
@jackofalltrades@mas.to avatar

24% of Norwegians do not believe climate change is caused by humans.

18% are not at all worried about climate change, 35% are not very concerned, 35% are somewhat concerned and 11% are very concerned.

https://www.sciencenorway.no/climate-change-ntb-english/eu-study-one-in-four-norwegians-do-not-believe-that-climate-change-is-caused-by-humans/2048474

jackofalltrades, to climate
@jackofalltrades@mas.to avatar

James Hansen as always with the good news.

http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/2024/MayEmail.2024.05.16.pdf

jackofalltrades, to random
@jackofalltrades@mas.to avatar

Sand dunes by the Baltic Sea in May

image/jpeg
image/jpeg

jackofalltrades,
@jackofalltrades@mas.to avatar

Hardly a soul around.

A fox visited us. Grabbed a plastic bag someone left on the sand and scuttled away.

A kite
A fox

jackofalltrades,
@jackofalltrades@mas.to avatar

Today it was more than 20C, no clouds and warm wind. That's pretty remarkable for this time of year. We've spent most of the day on the beach.

Totally expecting climate adaptation here to mean vacation season starting earlier.

In winter two separate storms damaged the cliffs and some of the infrastructure.

FantasticalEconomics, to Economics
@FantasticalEconomics@geekdom.social avatar

Self-interest + shortermism + monopoly power = whatever this shit is:

"Frontier knew that it could make a billion dollars in profit over a decade by investing in fiber build-out, but it chose not to, because stock analysts will downrank any carrier that made capital investments that took more than five years to mature. Because Frontier's execs were paid primarily in stock, they chose... to leave a billion dollars sitting on the table..."

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/16/symmetrical-10gb-for-119/#utopia

@pluralistic

jackofalltrades,
@jackofalltrades@mas.to avatar

@FantasticalEconomics @pluralistic

This short-term stock value over long-term profits is quite an unexpected result for a capitalist system, isn't it?

jackofalltrades,
@jackofalltrades@mas.to avatar

@GhostOnTheHalfShell @FantasticalEconomics @pluralistic

Yes. They really operate in two separate markets at once.

One market is their broadband service and here they have monopoly power, so don't need to invest a great deal into it.

The second market is the stock market and here they face strong competition for investors' money, so it makes perfect sense for them to focus on that.

jackofalltrades, to climate
@jackofalltrades@mas.to avatar

One step forward, two steps back.

"""
"Due to the significant macroeconomic headwinds over the past 12 months, many of which we believe will continue to occur over the next 18 months and potentially beyond, we have decided to strategically pause our renewable diesel business and pivot to producing conventional fuels," Vertex CEO Benjamin Cowart said in a first quarter earnings statement.
"""

https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/vertex-energy-pauses-renewable-diesel-output-switch-back-fossil-fuels-2024-05-09/

#ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateDiary #oil #diesel

gerrymcgovern, to random
@gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green avatar

"ChatGPT consumes a lot of energy in the process, up to 25 times more than a Google search. Additionally, a lot of water is also used in cooling for the servers that run all that software. Per conversation of about 20 to 50 queries, half a litre of water evaporates – a small bottle, in other words."

AI is predicted to consume twice as much energy as the whole of France by 2030

Training GPT3, took 1,287 MWh (Megawatt hours) of electricity.

https://www.brusselstimes.com/world-all-news/1042696/chatgpt-consumes-25-times-more-energy-than-google

jackofalltrades,
@jackofalltrades@mas.to avatar

@uanrah @tobi82 @gerrymcgovern @Chee_Koala

That's the thing though: "everyone will be free to decide for themselves" is mostly incompatible with "regulation is dearly needed". You either allow everyone to freely decide or limit (regulate) their behavior in some way.

Today, with scarcely any regulation, people (with the means) are free to choose, and they choose to travel regardless of the environmental damage it causes.

jackofalltrades,
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@tobi82 @uanrah @gerrymcgovern @Chee_Koala

Unfortunately that seems to be the case:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/may/02/many-europeans-want-climate-action-but-less-so-if-it-changes-their-lifestyle-shows-poll

It's not the minority of "laggards" that doesn't want to change, it's the majority. Democracy is necessary to enact and legitimize these changes, but at the same time it means only small incremental changes are being accepted.

In the words of William Rees: "The politically acceptable is ecologically disastrous, while the ecologically necessary is politically impossible."

jackofalltrades,
@jackofalltrades@mas.to avatar

@uanrah @tobi82 @gerrymcgovern @Chee_Koala @SheDrivesMobility

I agree these need to be taken with a grain of salt, and some of the poll questions are problematic. This isn't the only study of this kind though. I see them all as an indicator of where we stand as a society today, with all its imperfections, like the FUD you mentioned (which even a perfectly democratic society wouldn't be immune to).

1/3

jackofalltrades,
@jackofalltrades@mas.to avatar

@uanrah @tobi82 @gerrymcgovern @Chee_Koala @SheDrivesMobility

It's also true what you say about social proof, but it cuts both ways. A neighbor may be influenced to drive a bike more, but can also be influenced to go on cruises or fly for vacation.

2/3

jackofalltrades,
@jackofalltrades@mas.to avatar

@uanrah @tobi82 @gerrymcgovern @Chee_Koala @SheDrivesMobility

To me, flying is the litmus test of how seriously society treats climate change.

It is predominantly a freely chosen luxury. There is no wonder technology available to replace it. The CO2 impact of even a single flight is very high.

Given the above, I don't think it's a stretch to say that any society genuinely concerned about climate change would reduce their air travel.

But just look at this chart, it's eye-watering.

3/3

jackofalltrades,
@jackofalltrades@mas.to avatar

@uanrah @tobi82 @gerrymcgovern @Chee_Koala @SheDrivesMobility

It is a nice proposal. People are free to adopt it. Is there any indication that majority of people are? Or at least enough people to offset the number of people doing the opposite (i.e. flying more often)?

As to stopping subsidies, is that something that'd be supported by the public? Based on the previous poll, less than 50% in all countries surveyed support paying extra for flights.

jackofalltrades,
@jackofalltrades@mas.to avatar

@uanrah @tobi82 @gerrymcgovern @Chee_Koala @SheDrivesMobility

"But as long as 57 corporations are responsible for 80% of emissions"

See, that's an example of marketing that's completely counterproductive. It makes a good headline and is easy for people to accept, because it removes the need for taking responsibility. But it hides the inconvenient truth that it's the majority of people, especially in the developed world, that benefit from (and thus are responsible for) fossil fuel use.

jackofalltrades,
@jackofalltrades@mas.to avatar

@intermobility @thomasgoldberg @immibis @gerrymcgovern @tobi82 @SheDrivesMobility @uanrah

How is that solution different from "let's force people to pay more for gasoline, flights, gas heating, etc."?

jackofalltrades,
@jackofalltrades@mas.to avatar

@intermobility @thomasgoldberg @immibis @gerrymcgovern @tobi82 @SheDrivesMobility @uanrah

Sounds wonderful! I'm guessing then that the majority of people are in favor of that idea?

jackofalltrades,
@jackofalltrades@mas.to avatar

@intermobility @thomasgoldberg @immibis @gerrymcgovern @tobi82 @SheDrivesMobility @uanrah

So turns out it's not really about the corporations, isn't it?

jackofalltrades,
@jackofalltrades@mas.to avatar

@intermobility @thomasgoldberg @immibis @gerrymcgovern @tobi82 @SheDrivesMobility @uanrah

Perhaps you should've asked this question before inserting yourself into this conversation by accusing me of "falling for the individual CO2 footprint fallacy".

jackofalltrades,
@jackofalltrades@mas.to avatar

@intermobility @thomasgoldberg @immibis @gerrymcgovern @tobi82 @SheDrivesMobility @uanrah

We should feel guilty and demand change. Right now we're collectively doing neither.

Feeling guilty is a step necessary for change. Without it we will continue to delude ourselves that it's someone else's (the rich / corporations / governments, take your pick) fault and we don't need to change at all.

That's the question of our times: whether we can collectively grow up and accept responsibility.

jackofalltrades, to China
@jackofalltrades@mas.to avatar

"Lin’s mother was informed of her death two days later when CCP officials handed her a bill for the bullet used in Lin’s execution."

Goddamn, that's cruel.

https://alphahistory.com/chineserevolution/lin-zhao/

jackofalltrades, to Russia
@jackofalltrades@mas.to avatar

I guess that's the last place we haven't exploited yet...

😔

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/05/11/russia-uncovers-oil-and-gas-reserves-british-antarctic/

#Russia #UK #Antarctica #FossilFuels #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateDiary

jackofalltrades, to China
@jackofalltrades@mas.to avatar

An honest look at both coal and renewables in China.

"Barring further extreme weather events" is an interesting condition in the era of climate disruption we're living through.

https://thechinaproject.com/2023/10/25/rooftop-solar-is-a-rational-and-important-step-in-chinas-path-to-peak-coal-use-a-rebuttal/

jackofalltrades,
@jackofalltrades@mas.to avatar

"""
On a statistical basis, China’s newly-built wind and solar capacity figures are impressive, but their performance consistently lags that of renewable assets in other countries. China gets low utilization rates for its wind and solar because it has built a lot of capacity in parts of the country that have average-at-best natural wind and solar resources. Furthermore, much of the solar is on rooftops, which also see lower capacity factors than ground-mounted solar.
"""

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