Mastodawn

Bread and Circuses

In case you didn't already know, Net Zero is a scam promoted by the fossil fuel industry and their financiers to perpetuate Business As Usual for as long as possible...
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"Why Net Zero is not enough"

More than 4,000 governments and companies around the world have pledged to go Net Zero. This includes more than one-third of the world’s largest publicly traded companies.

That sounds like a step in the right direction, right? If every organisation “stops emitting”, our world will be great again.

Well, not exactly…

If we continue to be in a collective delusion that Net Zero is the solution, we will be proved terribly wrong.

In "Ending Fossil Fuels: Why Net Zero is Not Enough", Holly Jean Buck discusses the implications of chasing Net Zero from various frames — looking at it not only through an environmental lens but a social justice perspective as well.

Instead of telling us to do better, this book provides different stakeholders concrete steps for planned phase-out on top of sound arguments and justification for it.

Simply put, the framework of Net Zero and its concentration on emissions diverts public and policy attention away from the fundamental task of ensuring effective and lasting climate change mitigation, which requires an unwavering end to the fossil fuel sector.
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Always remember, Net Zero is NOT zero.

FULL ARTICLE -- https://archive.li/VQBar

#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency

Bread and Circuses Jul 25, 2023

A little more about the magical thinking around Net Zero and the required "carbon rapture" technologies...
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President Biden’s special envoy for climate John Kerry doesn’t seem fazed by openly admitting that “I am told by scientists that 50% of the reductions we have to make to get to Net Zero are going to come from technologies that we don’t yet have.” In response, science historian Naomi Oreskes writes in Scientific American that “depending on technologies that do not yet exist is irrational, a kind of magical thinking… Imagine if I said I planned to build a home with materials that had not yet been invented … You’d likely consider me irrational, perhaps delusional. Yet this kind of thinking pervades plans for future decarbonization.”
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The excerpt above is from this indispensable article -- https://www.currentaffairs.org/2023/07/climate-optimism-is-dangerous-and-irrational

‘Climate Optimism’ Is Dangerous and Irrational ❧ Current Affairs

<p>Overly-confident math models based on unrealistic assumptions are used to avoid crisis-consistent climate policies and to protect global elite privilege, while abandoning our duties to the planet’s most vulnerable. </p>

Current Affairs

bluemilla Jul 25, 2023

@breadandcircuses
fühl mich so technologieoffen heute

Final Round Player 😷🇪🇺🍸Jul 25, 2023

@breadandcircuses

NetZero is simultaneously

- More than the global economy can afford.

- A scam from the Business As Normal industry to stop us doing anything.

- The absolute bare minimum we must do.

CCS is magic wand bullshit. 13GtC/Yr turned into 40GtCO2/yr (and rising) until the 1TtC of accessible fossil carbon is all gone.

Mike Sims Jul 25, 2023

@breadandcircuses "Net Zero" in the real world means "We emit as usual and also pay a company 32 dollars and 57 cents to give us a certificate saying all our emissions are offset by some magical jungle somewhere. It's a win-win!".

CubeOfCheese Jul 25, 2023

@breadandcircuses what's a better phrase that's still catchy?

mike805 Jul 26, 2023

@breadandcircuses Has anyone pointed out, global warming is going to massively increase the consumption of energy?

A/C is now life support rather than comfort in a lot of places.

If solar gets cheap and good, everyone with no reliable grid power will want a solar system. Making that equipment will require a lot of energy.

If electric cars are cheaper to run than gas cars, people will use them more.

We need to figure out how make green tech with a small and decreasing amount of fossil fuels.

greenleaf Jul 26, 2023

@mike805 @breadandcircuses "... while dismantling capitalism." You forgot that part. No need to thank. #ftfy #fixedthatforyou

#Degrowth #Sustainability

504BatteryDr Jul 26, 2023

@mike805 @breadandcircuses

If fossil fuels were the only thing causing CC, that would be a good plan.

Unfortunately, FFs aren't the sole problem. Possibly the worst, but certainly not alone.

Human activity has caused the CCrisis - all human activity.

Our over consumption of wasteful, needless products, our food system that relies on man-made fertilizers that pollute the natural world and farmed animals that require more destruction of the natural world for pasture lands ( having to feed 8B ppl certainly doesn't help), and worst of all, our economic system that relies on the pursuit money - at any/all costs as a means of survival.

The lockdown showed us how to respond to the CCrisis. The skies temporarily cleared and animals returned to urban areas. That was a good start, imo.

Alternative energy solutions?
All green washing scams.
Bc every one of them still requires that we explore for and exploit natural resources; killing off more of the diversity this planet evolved to thrive under.
We can have a healthy economy or a healthy planet but we can't have both. A booming economy means more destruction of the planet.

Want to tackle the CCrisis?
Cease the most harmful of human activity, and strictly curtail the rest.

Most of all, slash our energy use to the bare minimum needed.

mike805 Jul 26, 2023

@504DR @breadandcircuses Most people who have them are not going to give up their comforts and luxuries. Those who don't are not going to give up seeking those things.

So to "curtail human activity" would require a massive war and a global dictatorship. And that would have a hell of a carbon footprint.

The lockdowns ended because people rebelled against them. People will rebel against this too. Riots and burning cities... also produce greenhouse emissions!

All we can do is adapt.

mike805 Jul 26, 2023

@504DR @breadandcircuses The whole "go low tech, back to the land, get out of cities, let's all become egalitarian peasants" thing has been around on the far Left for probably a century or more.

It has only been seriously tried once. Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge. The results of that experiment are enlightening. What you are suggesting would kill a lot of people.

Some radical greens do want people to die for the planet. They should lead by example.

504BatteryDr Jul 27, 2023

@mike805 @breadandcircuses

I'm just stating the reality of our situation on this planet.

Ppl always want to throw out ideologies, usually mislabeled and misinterpreted (to fit their own biases. 🙄). That is all irrelevant, imo.

Facts are, humans are destroying the natural world, which is the core of life on this planet.
We've polluted the air, lands and waters to unprecedented levels, to unlivable levels.
We've destroyed vast amounts of ecosystems and the biodiversity that once thrived in them; the very systems that sustain all life on Earth.

The arrogance/hubris of humankind has most ppl convinced we can live without the life sustaining forces that took millions of years of evolution.
For humans to think they can continue on this path without dire consequences is insanity.

I'm not, and have never advocated wiping out billions of ppl to a sustainable level. Just starting the plain truth - expecting infinite resources from a finite planet is the height of hubris and insanity.

Beyond not being a breeder myself (thankfully so), I don't have to do a damn thing to solve any of these problems.
Nature is already doing it, and it's only just begun. The worst is yet to come.
There will be no super heroes, no sky fairies or no innovative tech that can turn things around now.

For all of mankind's supposed superior intelligence, we sure are an ignorant species.

Nature doesn't care about new tech or sky daddy worship.
Nature strives for the balance it evolved into to support all life on earth, not just one species. It will do anything/everything to get back to that balance.

Mankind thinking it was better/smarter than nature is what led is down this path of eventual doom.

Btw, there is no adapting to 3C.
3C will make the planet unlivable for most life forms currently in existence.
And it's coming faster/sooner than predicted, as are all of the tipping points we're crossing on a regular basis now.

Humans have dug themselves into a deep hole.
Instead of stopping the digging for unnecessary human comforts in the face of total annihilation, the collective answer is dig harder/faster - for the comforts of unnecessary, vanity driven products, selfish endeavors of unlimited wants like frivolous flying/driving and inflated egos that promote a never ending quest for shiny objects.

Yeah, I'll admit, I have limited sympathies for such a selfish species that destroys the only planet in the known universe that supports thriving biodiversity.
My sympathies go to all the other flora/fauna that we are taking with us; the truly innocent actors in the humans' grand play of death and destruction.

Not being above snarky retorts when they're incorrectly aimed at me - good luck with that adaptation and your war on nature.
Nature always wins in the end. 🤷

Davva Jul 27, 2023

@504DR @mike805 @breadandcircuses
I think you've confused #humans with #capitalism . Humans have managed to survive on this planet for hundreds of thousands of years without bringing life to the brink of extinction. Capitalism on the other hand...
Blaming humanity (most of whom have no say in how this system is run) for trashing the planet, let's those with power (who continue to push us to the brink) off the hook. It also gives the impression that humanity is irredeemable. Where as, it's just a small gang of psychopaths that are the problem.

504BatteryDr Jul 28, 2023

@davva23 @mike805 @breadandcircuses

Capitalism is a human construct, therefore they are one and the same in this instance.

Capitalism isn't destroying the planet, humans using capitalism as a means to survival are.

We could have chosen a system based on sustainability and compatibility with our environment, but we didn't so here we are.

Playing the blame game offers a false consolation. I was a there for a long time myself. It does offer good targets for the and angst I was feeling then. But in the end, it doesn't matter; we're all toast, rich and poor alike.

Humans have been here 200k years, true. But the current level of humans altering the natural world is unprecedented. Humans now occupy or have altered the majority of space on the planet, leaving little left of the life sustaining systems this planet evolved into.

That's not going to end well in any scenario.

No matter any supposed great achievement by mankind, there's not much to respect in a species that does that to itself and most every other living being we share the planet with.

We're supposed to be intelligent enough to not do that, but I guess not.

ChookMother 🇦🇺🦘Jul 28, 2023

@davva23 @504DR @mike805 @breadandcircuses Capitalism is just a name that we give to certain kinds of human activity. Capitalism has persisted because humans buy what other humans are selling. They exploited the natural resources, we bought the end products. Without customers, Capitalism collapses.

So you can't talk about Capitalism as being something separate from humans.

Assigning blame doesn't change what's happened and it's a waste of time and energy.
What matters is what we do from now onward.

#climate #capitalism #climateBlame

Michael Wong Jul 26, 2023

@mike805 @breadandcircuses
Yes, #ClimateChange will dramatically increase energy consumption, especially due to air conditioning becoming a necessity in all the places getting #ExtremeHeat. Most "preppers" on YouTube already are promoting portable #SolarGenerators and solar panels as low cost preparation. I suspect all people (left/right/whatever) are starting to buy their first portable solar generator/solar panels/window AC unit...no matter cost...because necessity.

mike805 Jul 26, 2023

@michaelwong @breadandcircuses In my experience working with both, inverter mini splits are at least twice as efficient as old fashioned cycling A/C, and more comfortable as well. They run at a constant quiet speed with no air blowing. You can actually watch a movie with the A/C on and hear the movie.

I've seen 48 volt DC mini splits advertised. Houses need a standard DC bus, and run as much as possible off it. A/C and fridge definitely.

Hugo 雨果 Jul 26, 2023

@mike805 How is AC life support? Things like AC are literally one of the roots of the problem.

mike805 Jul 26, 2023

@whynothugo As someone pointed out up above, cities in first world countries are heat islands, with no place to go get cool. Power failures kill people. A heat wave in France (which does not have A/C for the most part) killed a bunch of people.

Are we going to abandon those cities for greener construction elsewhere? That would produce a lot of emissions for construction and transportation.

Hugo 雨果 Jul 26, 2023

> Are we going to abandon those cities for greener construction elsewhere?

Yeah, that sounds like the obvious answer (I also can't think of a better one)

>That would produce a lot of emissions for construction and transportation.

Is there any alternative? Filling those cities with ACs is pretty much throwing more fuel into the fire and one of the main causes of this problem in the first place.

mike805 Jul 26, 2023

@whynothugo i am arguing for advanced nuclear on another thread here on noc. That would be my preferred solution. If AGW really is a WW2 level threat, then let's have a literal Manhattan Project.

MMJohnsen Jul 26, 2023

@mike805 @breadandcircuses the Biden Admin target is a renewable grid by ‘35. We are adding enough renewables to meet it. But we need to get serious about energy storage.

mike805 Jul 26, 2023

@MMJohnsen @breadandcircuses Agreed.. Here in CA the power peak is now after the sun goes down. Solar is making up quite a bit of the afternoon A/C load.

LiFePho batteries seem to be best in terms of long lifespan and high energy density.

If batteries are a consumable that wears out after a couple of years, they are "too expensive" and not green either.

If they can last decades, like Nickel Iron and now LFP, they are permanent infrastructure and can be financed over 30 years like a house.

RobCornelius Jul 28, 2023

@mike805 @breadandcircuses

Basically we need to do less with less resources.

Try getting that past any government.

mike805 Jul 28, 2023

@robcornelius @breadandcircuses I wouldn't vote for that either.

RobCornelius Jul 28, 2023

@mike805 @breadandcircuses

This is for you then

Nebulous Menace (Sandy B.)Jul 28, 2023

@mike805 @breadandcircuses

Some of your examples ("A/C is life support") are good.

Some are less so; the energy to make solar is repaid about 20x, over the life of the system. In other words, we already make green tech with a small and decreasing amount of fossil fuels.

mike805 Jul 28, 2023

@nebulousmenace @breadandcircuses That is good if the EROEI is that high.

Nebulous Menace (Sandy B.)Jul 28, 2023

@mike805 @breadandcircuses

EROEI worries are, as far as I can tell, almost entirely fossil propaganda . There was a point where "solar took more energy to make than it would ever return" but that was, like, 1987.

There are a couple of terrible papers that often get brought up when this comes up.
There was a 2012 paper by Fthenakis -so old my bookmark doesn't work any more- giving an EROI in the 6-12 range. And there's a lot less [energetically very expensive] polysilicon in 2023 solar.

... tracked down what I think is the 2012 paper: http://www.clca.columbia.edu/241_Raugei_EROI_EP_revised_II_2012-03_VMF.pdf

If you use a generous definition you got an EROI of 19-38, that long ago! (solar panels were four times as expensive or thereabouts, financially.)

Threadbane Jul 29, 2023

@mike805 @breadandcircuses
The US and states give more than $50B a year to small struggling companies like #Exxon to help them compete and explore for oil, like above the arctic circle. $50B might actually help develop rail service in the US again, but who needs rail service, right? #Trains are so 1940s.

Weasel Jul 28, 2023

@breadandcircuses
No response to the notification I sent them ten days ago; trying again: