Delusional thinking in stepitup2007
Damn, the idiots at StepItUp are still offering their delusional messages about Global warming - reducing CO2 production by 80% (at only 2% per year)
http://stepitup2007.org/article.php?id=466 2: Cut Carbon 80% by 2050 -This sounds like a lot-but in fact, it's about a two percent reduction a year (assuming we start NOW).
Fools or huckters?! If we START at 2% (to 98% say in 2010, then we'll be cutting from 12% down to 10% in year 2050 - a 10 percent drop!) In fact you need a 3.75% drop per year compounded (exponential decrease) to reach 20% after 40 years. Just garbage!
And worse even:
...for all you climate scientists and policy dorks out there, a longer version could potentially read "Cut Carbon 80% below 1990 levels." Our emissions have risen by about 18% since 1990, so our first step will be to start reducing those.
So we're not talking 80% from what we have now, but down to 20% while AT 118% now. Well, that's a 3.9% annual drop.
I'm supposed to smile and "root for the home team" for offering a happy message. What is pessimism worth? I just think their message is delusional given the MOMENTUM of increasing population (to 9 billion people in 2050), increasing per capita energy use everywhere.
If we want to reduce our fossil fuel usage, we need to reduce our consumption! That means converting our homes to be solar heated, converting our electricity to be solar, converting our cars to be electric, convert our agriculture? The problems are real, but they come at different levels than GW.
How many people are willing to work twice as hard for half their consumption? How do we deal with the level of debt in our country? How do we tell people they have to give up their cars?
I just don't believe ANY problems can be solved from a global focus. It's all local top to bottom. People need to divest from a global economy and find local energy to meet their needs. I can't see how it'll happen, but at best I see it like images of camelot - you create "pilot communities" who get wider investment to "go green" and see what can be done. There's no silver bullet, and maybe most of our ideas now are wrong, what CAN be done, and what people will put up with, if there's still choices to consume more.
It's a nasty mess, and I hate clueless cheerleaders. Get out of debt is still my first commandment to virtue.
http://stepitup2007.org/article.php?id=466 2: Cut Carbon 80% by 2050 -This sounds like a lot-but in fact, it's about a two percent reduction a year (assuming we start NOW).
Fools or huckters?! If we START at 2% (to 98% say in 2010, then we'll be cutting from 12% down to 10% in year 2050 - a 10 percent drop!) In fact you need a 3.75% drop per year compounded (exponential decrease) to reach 20% after 40 years. Just garbage!
And worse even:
...for all you climate scientists and policy dorks out there, a longer version could potentially read "Cut Carbon 80% below 1990 levels." Our emissions have risen by about 18% since 1990, so our first step will be to start reducing those.
So we're not talking 80% from what we have now, but down to 20% while AT 118% now. Well, that's a 3.9% annual drop.
I'm supposed to smile and "root for the home team" for offering a happy message. What is pessimism worth? I just think their message is delusional given the MOMENTUM of increasing population (to 9 billion people in 2050), increasing per capita energy use everywhere.
If we want to reduce our fossil fuel usage, we need to reduce our consumption! That means converting our homes to be solar heated, converting our electricity to be solar, converting our cars to be electric, convert our agriculture? The problems are real, but they come at different levels than GW.
How many people are willing to work twice as hard for half their consumption? How do we deal with the level of debt in our country? How do we tell people they have to give up their cars?
I just don't believe ANY problems can be solved from a global focus. It's all local top to bottom. People need to divest from a global economy and find local energy to meet their needs. I can't see how it'll happen, but at best I see it like images of camelot - you create "pilot communities" who get wider investment to "go green" and see what can be done. There's no silver bullet, and maybe most of our ideas now are wrong, what CAN be done, and what people will put up with, if there's still choices to consume more.
It's a nasty mess, and I hate clueless cheerleaders. Get out of debt is still my first commandment to virtue.
posted by Ares Olympus at 10:57 AM
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