this post was submitted on 22 Nov 2023
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Discussion of climate, how it is changing, activism around that, the politics, and the energy systems change we need in order to stabilize things.

As a starting point, the burning of fossil fuels, and to a lesser extent deforestation and release of methane are responsible for the warming in recent decades: Graph of temperature as observed with significant warming, and simulated without added greenhouse gases and other anthropogentic changes, which shows no significant warming

How much each change to the atmosphere has warmed the world: IPCC AR6 Figure 2 - Thee bar charts: first chart: how much each gas has warmed the world.  About 1C of total warming.  Second chart:  about 1.5C of total warming from well-mixed greenhouse gases, offset by 0.4C of cooling from aerosols and negligible influence from changes to solar output, volcanoes, and internal variability.  Third chart: about 1.25C of warming from CO2, 0.5C from methane, and a bunch more in small quantities from other gases.  About 0.5C of cooling with large error bars from SO2.

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Questions of social and economic class must be at the centre of our response to the climate crisis, to address the huge inequalities between the carbon footprints of the rich and poor and prevent a backlash against climate policies, the economist Thomas Piketty has said.

Regulations will be needed to outlaw goods and services that have unnecessarily high greenhouse gas emissions, such as private jets, outsized vehicles, and flights over short distances, he said in an interview with the Guardian.

Rich countries must also put in place progressive carbon taxes that take into account people’s incomes and how well they are able to reduce their emissions, as current policies usually fail to adjust for people’s real needs.

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[–] [email protected] 69 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I would love to see large SUVs and trucks taxed to hell and back.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 11 months ago (4 children)

Definitely unless it's needed for your profession. Plumbers, electricians, gardeners, contractors, etc are the only people who need to drive trucks. David Chaddington doesn't need his F 150 to go between school and home

[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago

I work in carpentry and we drive a full electric Ford transit. Open bed pickup trucks are horrible if you work in a trade, with tools and materials in the bed easily stolen or damaged by weather. Trucks are stupid if you actually do work, and most people buy one to look cool, or for those rare times twice a year when they "need" a truck. Could just rent a fucking U-Haul.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

A good solution would be to just ban them from cities without a special (possibly temporary & renewable) permit provided you can verify you need to use a truck/SUV in said urbna area

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

Perhaps, but I think we should always be wary of additional regulations. I wouldn't say I'm "small government" but I feel like any additional rules has the burden of regulatory cost and unintended consequences.

Just tax the fuck out of fuel IMO. Make it so expensive that people actually change their behavior to minimise the cost.

Most countries have some kind of tax credit system to waive taxes on fuel for particular uses like transporting food and consumer goods, so a heavy tax on fuel doesn't have to lead to inflation.

[–] ThrowawayPermanente 2 points 11 months ago

If those professions really need a large vehicle they will be able to pass the additional costs on to their customers because all of their competition will be doing the same thing