CNN Shares Hopeful Signs for Our Fight Against Climate Change (cnn.com) 130
With everyone worrying about climate change, CNN shares a list of reasons to feel positive:
The year 2023 is on track to see the biggest increase in renewable energy capacity to date, according to the International Energy Agency. China, the world's biggest climate polluter, has made lightning advances in renewables, with the country set to shatter its wind and solar target five years early. A report published in June found that China's solar capacity is now greater than the rest of the world's nations combined, in a surge described by the report's author, Global Energy Monitor, as "jaw-dropping...."
The popularity of electric vehicles has surged this year, with American sales at an all-time high. People in China and Europe are snapping up EVs in large numbers as well... Americans purchased 1 million fully electric vehicles in 2023, an annual record, according to a report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Electric vehicles accounted for about 8% of all new vehicles sales in the US during the first half of 2023, according to the report. In China, EVs accounted for 19% of all vehicle sales, and worldwide, they made up 15% of new passenger vehicle sales. EV sales in Europe were up 47% in the first nine months of 2023, according to data from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (EAMA)
Other positive developments from the article:
The popularity of electric vehicles has surged this year, with American sales at an all-time high. People in China and Europe are snapping up EVs in large numbers as well... Americans purchased 1 million fully electric vehicles in 2023, an annual record, according to a report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Electric vehicles accounted for about 8% of all new vehicles sales in the US during the first half of 2023, according to the report. In China, EVs accounted for 19% of all vehicle sales, and worldwide, they made up 15% of new passenger vehicle sales. EV sales in Europe were up 47% in the first nine months of 2023, according to data from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (EAMA)
Other positive developments from the article:
- "For more than six days straight, between October 31 to November 6, the nation of more than 10 million people relied solely on renewable energy sources — setting an exciting example for the rest of the world."
- "Deforestation in Brazil fell by 22.3% in the 12 months through July, according to data from the national government, as President Luiz Ignácio Lula da Silva started to make progress on his pledge to rein in the rampant forest destruction that occurred under his predecessor..."
- "The Earth's ozone layer is on track to recover completely within decades, a UN-backed panel of experts announced in January, as ozone-depleting chemicals are phased out across the world."
ozone layer? but you forgot acid rain (Score:1)
what an incomplete callback episode.
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better "scaremongers" while Texas broils under record heatwaves than ostriches such as yourself.
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Ozone layer was a pretty horrific one that at least had a relatively easy fix.
Just the ol good "yep, let's stop using the CFC crap"
Re: ozone layer? but you forgot acid rain (Score:2)
Except the replacement HCFC are worse and China is producing more CFC than before.
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So, a display intended to prove to people that his power is not that of a god? Sounds fair.
Re:Breaking News (Score:4, Insightful)
A screenshot on Imgur of something Newsweek says Trump said on Truth Social does not count as a viable source. Direct sources, please.
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A screenshot on Imgur of something Newsweek says Trump said on Truth Social does not count as a viable source. Direct sources, please.
And here you go [newsweek.com] for the original Newsweek article. For the video itself, here you go [ak2.rmbl.ws] as well.
And while we're on the subject, here is another Newsweek article [newsweek.com] from 2018 wherein Evangelicals are ecstatic the smelly Oompa Loompa will come to power because that will signal the destruction of humanity (i.e. the End Times).
I guess lying is a thing [compellingtruth.org] to Evangelicals.
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And what Trump said is kinda ridiculous:
"Under crooked Joe Biden, Christians and Americans of faith are being persecuted like nothing this nation has ever seen before," Trump said in the video.
He went on: "Catholics, in particular, are being targeted and evangelicals are surely on the watch list as well."
Joe Biden is Catholic, so unless he's persecuting himself ...
I'll say it again: If this was a drinking game, with a shot every time Trump said something incoherent and/or unhinged, we'd have all died of alcohol poisoning by now.
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A screenshot on Imgur of something Newsweek says Trump said on Truth Social does not count as a viable source. Direct sources, please.
Your point is well taken, but, for example, MAGA folks often firmly believe things with way sketchier provenance.
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I've provided the original source for both Newsweek and the video, but it won't matter. The request for the source was just another excuse to move the goalposts. Even with his own words the person who requested the info won't respond with anything approaching, "You were right". If they respond at all they'll find another excuse at how it's not really what the Oompa Loompa said and didn't mean it.
But of course, there hasn't been a single instance of any church being shut down or else people would be screami
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Hi, I'm the guy you're talking about. As I'm not American I have no idea how credible a source Newsweek is or not. Even so, I do not consider Trump a credible source as he has a long, long, LOOOOOONG history of embellishing and fabricating 'alternate facts'.
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The request for the source was just another excuse to move the goalposts. Even with his own words the person who requested the info won't respond with anything approaching, "You were right".
Sadly, you're probably right about that. Paraphrasing what Michael said [youtube.com] in The Good Place [wikipedia.org]:
[That would be] a rare occurrence, like a double rainbow, or someone on the internet saying, "You know what? You've convinced me I was wrong."
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Renew! Renew! Hey, Jessica 6! 'sup? (Score:1)
The term "renewable" has a context of shortages, not cleanliness. In this context, you should come up with something new.
Mass extinction event (Score:1, Informative)
Yesterday, CNN said that we were in the middle of a mess extinction event. Over 90% of all species on Earth will be wiped out in a few years.
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Cars with more efficient motors at least would be a good start, or hybrids.
Re:Mass extinction event (Score:5, Interesting)
Those exist already.
ICE engines are already pretty much at the top of their thermal efficiency, they almost literally cannot get any better in any economic sense, we have essentially mastered what we can do with explosions and little pistons that go up and down. .
Hybrids have existed for over a decade now? The Prius is on it's 5th generation. They will continue to be produced and purchased but they are not comparable to a full EV in many forms.
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And plug-in hybrids exist already, I can buy one right now. That doesn't make them as efficient or carry the upsides of an full EV, and while they have advantages, mainly range related, they do also have downsides such as drivetrain complexity.
Synthetic fuels are promising but they've been bandied about for 20+ years with no signs of scalability on the horizon. Hydrogen is still in the RD phase, ethanol was a bust, all manner of cellulosic fuels are still nowhere to be seen and all other fuel processes re
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Yesterday, CNN said that we were in the middle of a mess extinction event. Over 90% of all species on Earth will be wiped out in a few years.
If you think CNN is a single person with a single viewpoint, you've got bigger problems than climate change.
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CNN acts like a hive mind with a single viewpoint, though.
Re: Mass extinction event (Score:1, Troll)
The are all one (bbc, cnn, nyt, npr, wapost), or the other (fox, nypost).
Why?!
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If you are so in the weeds ideologically that you cant read those any of those sites without getting mad about something and critical think the story from what they are saying then just give up already and only read AP and Reuters. That's what you are left with.
Re: Mass extinction event (Score:2)
https://static.reuters.com/resources/media/editorial/20210405/DiversityReportApril2021.pdf
Re: Mass extinction event (Score:1)
Escape the demented woke bubble.
Demand factual news reporting .
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Any actual problem is bigger than climate change.
Re:Mass extinction event (Score:4, Informative)
We are in the middle of a mass extinction event. Many of the species on earth have already been wiped out.
I don't think that this is particularly controversial. We can still be hopefully about those that remain.
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Re: Mass extinction event (Score:2)
People who disagree with a point find one counter argument online and that somehow invalidates *all* the many pro arguments.
Ok, but... (Score:3)
Really (Score:2, Flamebait)
I'll bet China's not even painting mountains green anymore!
Re: Really (Score:3)
I'll take that bet. About 9 years ago, I got off the train from the airport in downtown Shanghai, a few blocks from that purple hypodermic needle building thing, and my eyes burned like a motherfucker from the smog.
Never ever had that experience anywhere in the United States. Not in Manhattan, not in LA, not having lived right on Roosevelt Boulevard in Northeast Philadelphia (12 lanes of city traffic!) in the 90s.
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LOL! CCP shill.
Unfalsifiability (Score:3)
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Indeed. Not everyone is smart or living in reality either. There may be a rather large overlap between the two groups. Although I can see rich psychos knowing what they are causing and still wanting to get richer on fossile profits.
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We've had people predicting the end of the world since there's been a world with people in it. The current iteration of High Priests crying doom and gloom appear to be about as sane (and as accurate) as they ever have.
Perhaps one day the End-Of-The-Worlders will be right. But I'm pretty sure today is not that day.
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Oh, I know that. The smelly homeless guy on the corner told me all about it the other day!
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Thanks for confirming my assessment of your personality and mental capabilities.
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The thing is, the right has decided to change the messaging. They're admitting climate change is real. The new message is however, it's too late to do anything. This messaging is done to imply that it's too late, so why bother?
Sure, climate change is here and real. But it's too late to do anything, so why do anything? You might as well continue to drive your humongous SUV getting 14 rods to the hogshead because it's too late to do anything.
And yes, that's the point. Make it so the future is doomed so that d
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Don't forget "but China" too. They love to pretend that China, this decade's big bad, is doing nothing and has doomed us all.
In the UK we also have "it doesn't matter, we are 1% of global emissions so it's pointless us making any effort."
i have to ask (Score:1, Insightful)
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who takes anything said on CNN seriously? they are the worst news network and famous for the fakest of the fake news outlets
You should call your cable company and ask them to add Fox News to their lineup.
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I love how people on here separate FOX and CNN as if either of them are real. Those in America currently calling themselves patriots consider FOX to be controlled opposition, just FYI for the left-leaning. Slashdot sort of lumps several groups together, and calls it the alt-right.
Thinking any legacy media is acting in your best interest to keep you informed is fantastically naive. Their business is selling advertising time - nothing more. They will seek to titillate you or frighten you as much as they
Re: i have to ask (Score:2)
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ah the Clown News Network (Score:1, Troll)
as it happens, EV demand in USA has just started to collapse, diminished sales will be the rule for 2024, as actual serious business analysts say.
It now doesn't matter what the USA does for human carbon output, that will continue to rise.
Re: ah the Clown News Network (Score:4, Informative)
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You're confused, the collapse is since the Q3 2023 you're harping about. Collapse is happening, read any reputable business magazine, outlook is dismal for 2024.... but note this is USA only.
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their EV are like golf carts though, even watch them crash and roll? hilarious youtube videos. You'd die if you hit a subcompact car with most chinese EV
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Slashdot, this is Embarrassing. (Score:2, Insightful)
I cannot believe that Slashdot has become part of the woke media herd. Climate change? Really? The climate is always changing. Always has changed, always will change. The doomsday climate change cult has been telling us about global warming for 50 years. When the polar ice caps didn't melt and the coastlines were not flooded twenty years ago, global warming became "climate change" - as if we could ever stop the climate from changing.
This website has become a joke.
Re: Slashdot, this is Embarrassing. (Score:2, Troll)
To rule out rabid right wingers, I propose the question "Is man-made global warming a serious threat to civilization ?".
To rule out the demented woke, I propose the question "Is it acceptable to discriminate against people for their race or gender if they are white and/or male ?"
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The problem with your question is that they are both extreme views but saying "no" to the first is mainstream Republican talking points with an actual decades lost history of legislation and politicians supporting the idea that climate change is not real. The last literal Republican President said it was "a hoax".
The second view is rightfully a minority position on the left wing, if you asked 80% of Democrats that question they would say "No" but we have to play the false equivalence game to try and soften
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To rule out rabid right wingers, I propose the question "Is man-made global warming a serious threat to civilization ?".
I'm very socially liberal and will still answer "no". It will be a serious threat to some specific people in some specific places, yes. To human civilization? Not at all.
There is likely to be 10 billion people on the planet in 2100, up from 8 billion today, quite in spite of whatever the climate does in that time. Call me when the population actually starts dropping and I will reevaluate my opinion.
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I can make this easy.
How many genders are there?
Gender is an abstraction so it is infinitely variable. Biological sex is much less abstract, but still has significant gray areas.
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Yep, nothing to worry about (Score:4, Insightful)
Everything is under control, everything is fine. A Big Lie, all so that a few rich assholes can get even richer destroying the basis for human life on this planet.
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They got a call from the White House. Next year is an election year. Everyone put on their happy face. Or else.
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this is great statement since anyone reading it will think it's about "the other people"
Who? (Score:2)
"For more than six days straight, between October 31 to November 6, the nation of more than 10 million people relied solely on renewable energy sources"
And that nation would be...?
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And that nation would be...?
Germany. The other 75 million froze to death.
Re:Who? (Score:5, Informative)
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impressive in some ways but even by 2030 they're projecting 65 percent of Portugal's energy will be from fossil. Burning shit to make energy will still be the way forward in this world for a few decades at least
Toxic positivity (Score:2)
Everyone is not worrying. (Score:2)
https://awealthofcommonsense.c... [awealthofcommonsense.com]
Feel free to live in fear if you want, but don't assume everyone has that affliction.
It's self-delusion. (Score:2, Insightful)
If we're being honest, this is going to be a really horrific period in time from which there is no recovery. It's not until people actually start breaking down the systems and mechanisms that enable large-scale pollution that anything will even start to change. This could have been solved already if not for corporate greed.
Deluding yourself into thinking there is hope will only ensure more people will suffer by decreasing the pressures for reform.
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If we're being honest, this is going to be a really horrific period in time from which there is no recovery. It's not until people actually start breaking down the systems and mechanisms that enable large-scale pollution that anything will even start to change. This could have been solved already if not for corporate greed.
Deluding yourself into thinking there is hope will only ensure more people will suffer by decreasing the pressures for reform.
Your pessimism is not unjustified, but it is also not terribly helpful. The worst thing we can do is let people slip from a denialist mindest into a fatalist one.
In the shorter term (100-200 years) we will see whether the human civilisation will persist, in any form approximating what we have now. In the longer term, the planet will likely recover, albeit into something different perhaps.
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Many of those in power are really, really scared of us addressing climate change, because it's a gateway to socialism.
The UK had more socialism during WW2, out of necessity. People grew to like it, and after the war they elected a socialist government that created the National Health Service, and built a lot of social housing. That government is widely regarded as one of the best that the UK ever had.
There is a concern that if dealing with climate change does things like democratize energy, improve public t
Festive feel good article (Score:3)
For just a few days, it would be nice to believe it is all going swimmingly well.
However, on the back of Cop 28 and the fact it was hijacked by the fossil fuel industry and ended up with a pathetic non-binding series of optional pledges, I'm not entirely sure we're on the right track.
It will indeed be the market that decides the fate of our future comfort levels, not policy makers, not climate activists and definitely not the general public.
It'll be decided based on money - if renewables become a greater source of wealth than fossil fuels then that's the way we'll go.
The problem is time and the fact we have run out of time to prevent a deeply uncomfortable future for everyone on the planet.
We will go over and stay over 1.5c probably in this decade.
It's likely we'll hit 2c by 2050.
The net result of that will be extreme weather patterns completely off the charts and a huge reduction in food production.
... but getting truly grinch ... (Score:2)
... and glass half full...
If "the orange one" becomes President of the USA again next year, all bets are off.
Forget the fact he'll likely smash up all the progress made, the chances of an escalation of tensions between the US and China will ratchet up alarmingly.
The threat to the democracy of the US? who knows, but it sure doesn't look positive...
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Storage backed renewable generation is now the cheapest option for making electricity (and has been for a few years - but markets are starting to believe it). Electric vehicles are well on their way to being the cheapest form of (relatively) high speed motion (obviously bikes are cheaper, but not as fast). Finally we do have ways to draw down the carbon in the atmosphere which are scalable and could be run off renewable electricity.
Don't worry too much about what the crazy oil-company led fuckers at COP28 s
EV's and the other 80% of the world? (Score:2)
Renewables Ain't Going to Save the Planet (Score:1)
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People forget that, even with renewables, ultimately that energy ends up as heat in the environment.
People don't forget that. They just realize it's completely irrelevant.
The real problem isn't fossil fuels rather the world's increasing population and each person's average energy use going up over time regardless of where that energy is coming from.
It very much depends on where the energy comes from, and how much CO2 was emitted in its production.
If you use twice as much energy, but from sources that emit a fraction or no CO2 compared to before. Then that's a good thing. Energy use isn't the main problem. The source of that energy is.
passenger vehicles 16% of emissions (Score:1)
See
https://www.cato.org/blog/blam... [cato.org]
Dangerous optimism (Score:2)
I'm sorry but I can't stay quiet when these kind of articles get hyped. We are NOT on right track to tackle climate change, and we must increase our efforts in multiple dimensions to be able to have a chance.
Every "feel good" article that states that we are doing better is a signal for people to think "oh, we are going to be fine, let's not do --insert any minor or major change in lifestyle or buying decisions here-- then. Sure, we may be improving on some avenues, but many other are getting worse, and the