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Paris Summit Finds New Money, Tech To Fight Climate Change (apnews.com)

An anonymous reader shares an Associated Press report: World leaders, investment funds and energy magnates promised Tuesday to devote new money and technology to slow global warming at a summit in Paris that President Emmanuel Macron hopes will rev up the Paris climate accord that U.S. President Donald Trump has rejected. Trump wasn't invited to the event but his name was everywhere. One by one, top world diplomats, former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, business leaders like Michael Bloomberg and even former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry insisted that the world will shift to cleaner fuels and reduce emissions regardless of whether the Trump administration pitches in or not. Central to Tuesday's summit was countering Trump's main argument that the 2015 Paris accord on reducing global emissions would hurt U.S. business. Macron, a 39-year-old former investment banker, argues that the big businesses and successful economies of the future will be making and using renewable energy instead of pumping oil. Macron's office announced a dozen international projects emerging from the summit that will inject hundreds of millions of dollars in efforts to curb climate change. "The United States did not drop out of the Paris agreement. Donald Trump got Donald Trump out of the Paris agreement," Schwarzenegger said. The projects also aim to speed up the end of the combustion engine to reduce the emissions that contribute to global warming. With that aim, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim announced that his agency would stop financing oil and gas projects in two years, except in special circumstances for very poor nations.

203 comments

  1. Fine by rmullig2 · · Score: 0, Troll

    Spend all the money you want. As long as it doesn't come out of the US Treasury we're all good.

    1. Re:Fine by NaCh0 · · Score: 0, Troll

      Exactly. Mod parent up!

    2. Re:Fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We should develop negative emission (i.e. clean up CO2) tech. Because, no mater how much you reduce, the existing CO2 is not going to dissipate quickly and naturally.

    3. Re:Fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I will be the devil's advocate here. The money will be coming out of the US Treasury sometime, a "pay me now, or pay me later" item.

      Pay me now means working ways to reduce the carbon footprint, redoing arrangements for corporate responsibility so nuclear power (like thorium reactors) can be widely used, allowing trees to grow and work on better carbon sequestering, and food research.

      Pay me later means spending money to have troops ready to shoot starving people protesting in the streets in a food riot, dealing with revolutionaries storming the borders because their place of living is underwater, constant unrest in cities, all the while having to deal with constant warfare world-wide, between people whose land has turned into desert or gone underwater versus people with food/land.

      The "pay me later" is a far greater cost, and may cost us our country. However, the idea of looking at consequences or long term thinking is not a Randian ideal, so maybe it should get thrown out. Five Year Plans are socialist, and all that jazz...

    4. Re:Fine by cayenne8 · · Score: 1, Insightful

      ...countering Trump's main argument that the 2015 Paris accord on reducing global emissions would hurt U.S. business. Macron, a 39-year-old former investment banker, argues that the big businesses and successful economies of the future will be making and using renewable energy instead of pumping oil.

      Err...just because the US govt. isn't obligated by treaty to participate, there is nothing stopping our private industries from participating, which they will if they do indeed see a profit in all this as Macron alluded to.

      The United States did not drop out of the Paris agreement. Donald Trump got Donald Trump out of the Paris agreement," Schwarzenegger said.

      Err...this is pretty stupid. The US did not enter into a real treaty, as that congress did not vote on it to be a binding treaty.

      Trump merely pulled out of an agreement that Obama entered into on his own....live by the executive pen, die by the executive pen.

      I happen to agree pulling out...no reason to obligate $$$ from the US treasury that is already quite stretched with domestic needs.

      Again, the US pulling out of this agreement, doesn't at all prohibit US industry from participating in it.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    5. Re:Fine by Baron_Yam · · Score: 5, Insightful

      >Spend all the money you want. As long as it doesn't come out of the US Treasury we're all good.

      Yep, you wouldn't want to do anything to better your world with that money, it's more important to give tax breaks to the ultra-rich.

      Better cut back on health care, too, just to be sure.

    6. Re:Fine by FilmedInNoir · · Score: 4, Insightful

      No you're not. Climate change is climate change. Doesn't matter what or who causes it. At the end of the day we are getting bigger storms, bigger floods, and bigger disasters. You think the past 10 years have been bad? The US is going to spend trillions rebuilding cities and infrastructure or else face succession of multiple states that are pissed about FEMA fucking up over and over again. You know what? Just get a blue crayon so you can start filling in those stars. You should be able to afford that.

      --
      Sig. Sig. Sputnik
    7. Re:Fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Except for this pesky thing called the United States Constitution... the US Federal Government has no authority in the matter.

    8. Re:Fine by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 0

      Yep, that is exactly right. Spend all the money you want, withhold money from oil projects, and as long as it doesn't come from the American taxpayer, we're fine with it.

      --
      SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
    9. Re:Fine by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Bettering my world means spending money on roads, schools, and children, not on killing people.

      --
      SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
    10. Re:Fine by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 0

      So we rebuild inland and with better technology to withstand the storms. It's called Adapting, and I completely understand why the privileged rich people don't want to do it.

      --
      SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
    11. Re:Fine by rmullig2 · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      When the government stops paying farmers to not produce and the country stops throwing away half the food that is produced then I'll worry about food riots. That isn't likely to happen anytime soon. Land that gets turned into desert is more often than not due to poor land management. The state of California dumps millions of gallons of fresh water into the Pacific Ocean rather than sending it to the parched central valley farms in order to save some fish. Then they blame global warming for their problems. There are a few small islands in the Pacific Ocean that may go underwater. The people there will have to move, period. The rest of the world is not going to radically alter their lifestyles to accommodate a relatively small number of people. If they want to start a war with the rest of the world over this that is their prerogative. I don't think that would end very well for them.

    12. Re:Fine by rmullig2 · · Score: 0

      Or maybe give the money back to people who grow the economy. The ultra-rich did not get that way by stealing money from everybody else despite what the SJWs want to believe.

    13. Re:Fine by cayenne8 · · Score: 0

      Yep, you wouldn't want to do anything to better your world with that money,

      I believe that letting the people that earn the money should be able to keep as much of it as possible.

      Taxation should be to fund the Federal, State and local governments so they can function and carry on their limited, enumerated roles and responsibilities.

      Taxation should not be used to manipulate the peoples' behavior, that's not what it is for....and that leads to abuse and loss of individual freedom.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    14. Re:Fine by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      The value of the fishery is much greater than the value of the lost farm output. It's about Salmon, not delta smelt.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    15. Re:Fine by CajunArson · · Score: 1

      Yeah, because driving up the price of gas and electricity and food only hurts the ultra-rich and never hurts anyone outside of the 1% at all.

      --
      AntiFA: An abbreviation for Anti First Amendment.
    16. Re:Fine by rally2xs · · Score: 0

      There are a group of terrorists coming from the Middle East to blow up your kid's school. Now, would you like the US Army to kill them before they do that or not?

    17. Re:Fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      All it means is that the cost of insurance will skyrocket and become out of reach for all but the rich. The Federal flood program will have to be dramatically curtailed or left insolvent. As (flood and non-flood) insurance steeply rises in cost, with an accompanying steep rise in deductibles, thousands will lose their homes as a result of storms and floods. And there will be nothing the government can do about it (other than providing some tent cities for relocation), as the cost of making them whole again will be out of reach.

      Nature doesn't care whether we believe in climate change or not. Capitalism, however, will penalize wrong decisions in the end.

    18. Re:Fine by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      The "pay me later" is a far greater cost, and may cost us our country. However, the idea of looking at consequences or long term thinking is not a Randian ideal, so maybe it should get thrown out. Five Year Plans are socialist, and all that jazz...

      Hopefully that's gonna be postponed 'til I'm dead. As the Germans say, "hinter mir die Sintflut" (it loses a bit in translation, basically it means "for all I care, the deluge may follow when I'm gone"). Literally.

      I tried to talk sense into you, I tried to leave your kids a world that they can live in. I honestly don't care anymore. I just really, really hope that all these assholes and idiots that prefer to believe what corporations with a vested interest in pumping pollution out instead of having to pay for your kids' clean future told them about those climate weenies trying to take away of life, I hope that your way of life leads straight into hell.

      I just want to live long enough to see you cry over your kids not being able to grow up because there is no place for them to grow up in because of your ignorance and outright stupidity. No tears will have tasted sweeter ever.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    19. Re:Fine by erapert · · Score: 1, Funny

      Climate change is climate change.

      Tautology detected in an attempt to beg the question. Opinion discarded.

    20. Re:Fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This! Baron_Yam can always give more if he feels so strongly. Never gonna happen though.

    21. Re:Fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Uhhh who do you think will pay more for gas, food, electricity.... Smart guy.

    22. Re:Fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The US is going to spend trillions rebuilding cities and infrastructure

      Good. Which is why we should not be part of the Paris agreement where we give away money for others to rebuild their cities and infrastructure instead of taking care of our own.

      The Paris climate agreement is an agreement that mothers should take care of other people's children before their own. The moral imperative is rejection.

    23. Re:Fine by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 0

      That's the really beautiful part of Trump pulling us out of the Paris scam agreement. Everyone involved immediately got angry and went to prove that they didn't need the US federal government to accomplish their goals. They did it!

      Just goes to show you, America is not indispensable and the world can do quite well without us. Moreover Merkel took up the burden of world leadership and has been world leader since then. Good riddance to it, I say. We Americans have been absolutely horrid world leaders, starting wars for profit left and right. It's about time a peaceful country led everyone while America tends to itself for a while.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    24. Re: Fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Those few small islands include Manhattan, not to mention Miami and most of Florida.

    25. Re:Fine by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 0

      Damn, you are a seriously fucked-up person. You idealists who think everything should be perfect are really vile when you realize you're not going to get your Utopia. Hint: Utopia literally means "no place".

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    26. Re: Fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There aren't. Know how I know? They haven't, even though we do absolutely nothing that would prevent it.

    27. Re:Fine by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 0

      You mean the ones that the United States Taxpayer is currently paying to bring in as refugees at a rate of 50,000 people a year?
      I don't see any reason to do that either.

      --
      SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
    28. Re:Fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I hate to say it, but one reason I've not had kids is exactly this.

      Why bring new people in a world that at best, they might be able to live paycheck to paycheck, or at worst, are constantly herded from camp to camp like the homeless people are in Santa Cruz and Austin with no real future other than life as a mendicant? That is what is in store for the US.

      I have been seeing this attitude in the past year or two on Slashdot, the same Ayn Rand/libertarian crap about "I got mine, up yours". From people saying that they don't need to help one state because the people there are fools to live near the ocean, to others saying Californians are schmucks due to forest fires, to cutting the same programs that the person who is complaining used to get ahead. Has the average Slashdot reader gotten this greedy and selfish?

      Even the absolute dumbest farmer knows that if they are going to have a harvest, they are going to have to plant crops. Same with government, social programs and education. If you don't keep the public morale up and people educated, there won't be much internal security, and people won't afford what you sell. Paying for welfare is a lot cheaper than having to send troops for door kicking in every city to fight against unrest.

      It only is a matter of time before we see another Great Depression. However, unlike 100 years ago, we have a constant international pressure with enemies who will attack immediately the second they think the country is weak, mainly because the US feeds the world. If the US military completely collapses, Iranian, Chinese, and Russian forces can be on the US coast in a matter of hours, with paratroopers able to be dropped further inland. Any resistance will be met with neutron bombs and Sarin gas. If people keep shortchanging the nation that gave them their prosperity, it is only a matter of time before it collapses, and unlike Russia's collapse where they were able to keep going due to their common nationality and religion, the US would definitely fall to Iraqi-like sectarian violence with all the ethnic and religious groups battling it out. Keep weakening the nation enough, and Red Dawn will be a documentary.

      We have done better in the past. From Henry Ford paying more than the barest minimum so people can afford his cars, and companies actively contributing to theater. Hell, even in the 1800s, the bloody oil tycoons and robber barons like Carnegie and Frick left behind hospitals, auditoriums, theaters, and universities. Contrast to what we see now. Our modern day deceased CEOs like Steve Jobs leaves nothing behind when they die that benefits anyone but themselves.

      I am glad I have seen better times. The people in their 20s only know about failed war, the US as the world's whipping boy, a press that is just for propaganda (right or left), blind greed with the next quarter's earnings above all else, and watching the vultures grabbing their tidbits of meat from Uncle Sam's carcass under the guise of libertarianism.

    29. Re:Fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fuck you. We have already bettered the world by defending it from every fascist despot that came along in the 20th century

      Yeah, but now you've gone and elected one for president. What happened to you America???

    30. Re:Fine by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 0

      If the US military completely collapses, Iranian, Chinese, and Russian forces can be on the US coast in a matter of hours, with paratroopers able to be dropped further inland.

      OK I didn't realize that this was a satirical comment until here. Well done! The Iranians can't even sail a boat over the Atlantic. They keep saying they're going to sail to the Gulf of Mexico and give us the finger, but never do. The Chinese can't even cross the 100 mile Taiwan Strait to invade Taiwan. The Russians...they'll have their hands full with Western Europe and no time to do Red Dawn. LOL. I can't believe you actually referenced Red Dawn. You had me going there for a minute.

      So tell me again about those eeeeeevil libertarians. How many elected offices do they hold? How many universities do they hold hostage like the SJWs do? It just sounds like America isn't the country for you. There are tons of countries out there to choose from and none of them have any libertarians oppressing you. Good luck choosing one, I hope you do well there.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    31. Re:Fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Moreover Merkel took up the burden of world leadership

      More like she's about to be relieved of the burden of German leadership, instead. ;)

    32. Re: Fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No big loss.

    33. Re:Fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Where have you been?
      We've moved on from "Trump is Hitler", past "Trump is incompetent", on to "Trump is competent, but he's doing things I don't like"

    34. Re:Fine by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 1

      Not that simple -- flooding of industrial infrastructure along the coasts would be environmentally catastrophic. Think Fukushima and Bhopal x1000.

    35. Re:Fine by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 1

      Better than spending the money propping up despotic (Saudi) regimes and murdering people in countries that are barely our enemies. Not to mention locking up 1% of our population. Bad joke.

    36. Re:Fine by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      Well, whoever replaces her will have it. Germany took it and America certainly doesn't want it back. All it does is make everyone hate you. NO REFUNDS.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    37. Re: Fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It isn't utopian to know what you should do to plan appropriately for the future.

      Wee seem to be fine spending money investing in our retirement, for instance, but fuck our kids' futures.

    38. Re:Fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah!, We need that money to funnel into a wildly inflated "defense" budget, bridges to nowhere, defending chicken farms from terrorists, and to keep the subsidies for fossil fuels going because they wouldn't be able to compete otherwise.

      BTW the Paris accords didn't really set any financial contribution requirements for its signatories, only suggested that more developed/wealthy nations should "help" less developed nations in addition to decreasing their own emissions.

    39. Re:Fine by Big+Boss · · Score: 1

      Fascist, incompetent, and unpopular are not mutually exclusive traits... I don't know of many that would call our current president competent for the job. I'm sure there are a few, but any large group has it's share of nutters.

    40. Re:Fine by Big+Boss · · Score: 1

      90% of what the US Federal Government does is unconstitutional. That hasn't stopped them yet, why do you think it will now?

    41. Re:Fine by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      As long as it doesn't come out of the US Treasury we're all good.

      Money also will not come *into* US Treasury when US manufacturers like GE get obsoleted by the technological changes in the world around them and will have to fire workers when foreign companies get the contracts to supply the world with the elements of the new infrastructure.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    42. Re:Fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yep, you wouldn't want to do anything to better your world with that money,

      I believe that letting the people that earn the money should be able to keep as much of it as possible.

      Typical libertarian claptrap. What they say is that they want people who earn money to keep it, but what they really mean is that people who are filthy rich because they inherited gobs of money which they never lifted a finger to earn, should be able to avoid taxes.

      You want a neat libertarian solution so that "the people that earn the money should be able to keep as much of it as possible"? Set the estate tax at 100%. (Not the current, which is 40% tax on the part over eleven million inherited from two parents).)

    43. Re:Fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Germany killed 60 million people and tried very hard to exterminate many groups it did not like.

      The US was isolationist until Europe taught us a lesson.

      .
      https://ourworldindata.org/war-and-peace/

    44. Re:Fine by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

      Really? The 2015 salmon fishery in California had a commercial value of $8.1 million. California's agriculture was around $46 billion in 2013 So AG is about 5700 times as large as the salmon fishery. Since half the surface water in California is used for Environmental purposes, and AG is only about 40%, then it would seem we could add about $46 billion in more AG by re-purposing that delta smelt flow...

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    45. Re:Fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >.no reason to obligate $$$ from the US treasury that is already quite stretched with domestic needs.

      And stretched into petrol interests as well.

    46. Re:Fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      kill one and 5 more will fill their footsteps(which we are doing for a long time already). An eye for an eye will make the world blind.

    47. Re:Fine by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

      That is why I am a BIG fan of a flat tax. Not a scaled tax, a FLAT tax. The Federal Government will spend, this year, $4.1 trillion dollars. There are 323 million people in the US. That about $12,700 per man, woman and child in the US. I am all for handing everyone a bill for $12,700 and saying "pay up". Yes, I am serious. The ONLY way we will scale back Government is to literally force the vast majority of the US population to truly understand just how MUCH is being wasted "in their name". Pay to play. You want to be in the US? Here's your tax - $35 per day, per person. No, I am not kidding - I would love to see this implemented.

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    48. Re:Fine by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

      Actually, storms are trending down. The cost to replace what was built is going up. Forty years ago, you could buy a 1300 square foot, 3 bedroom/1 bath home in Seattle for around $14,000. Meaning you could replace it for around $7,000. Now today, that same house would cost $400,000 to replace. Even if you have just one storm every 10 years, the costs to replace what is damaged escalates. Inflation and all, you know...

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    49. Re:Fine by phantomfive · · Score: 0

      Pay me later means spending money to have troops ready to shoot starving people protesting in the streets in a food riot, dealing with revolutionaries storming the borders because their place of living is underwater, constant unrest in cities, all the while having to deal with constant warfare world-wide, between people whose land has turned into desert or gone underwater versus people with food/land.

      I would like to point out this prediction is highly conjectural and not supported by the science at all. In addition, your argument overlooks that as truly starving people can't even afford food, they're not going to start a war, they lack the supply chain.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    50. Re:Fine by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

      Why more floods? Most of the world is looking at less than 1 foot change over the next century. Some places are looking at more - others are looking at less. But the vast majority are plugging along at a pretty sedate rate... If that is enough to cause a massive increase in insurance, then I hate to see what happens with a 15 MPH wind and a high tide, where your whitecaps might be 1 foot higher than normal...

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    51. Re: Fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Regardless, we the people need to stop letting the government do whatever it wants and hold them to the laws we gave them. Two wrongs don't make a right.

    52. Re:Fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you are a fucking retard

    53. Re:Fine by phantomfive · · Score: 2

      You think the past 10 years have been bad?

      Um, no, not really actually. The previous 10 years were worse (Katrina, Indian ocean tsunami, etc).

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    54. Re:Fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Later is fine.
      Later is long enough for everyone to figure out the money went to the rich running NGOs in the poor countries and pocketing the money.

      Because its a giant embezzlement scheme.

    55. Re:Fine by AutodidactLabrat · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Fine, but first, stop taking 300 BILLION to fund ongoing Navy patrols in the Gulf of Oman to benefit Oil companies!
      Then take away the 40 BILLION in tax credits Oil magnates get for "Oil Depreciation"
      THEN take away the 70 BILLION in healthcare costs from oil-coal pollution
      THEN take away the 8 billion in direct subsidies to the Nuclear Power industry
      THEN....stop whining about your share of the burden of undoing 130 years of "energy" company corruption of government

    56. Re:Fine by AutodidactLabrat · · Score: 1

      Wrong
      The Commerce clause clearly covers environmental policy
      Even Roberts admits this

    57. Re:Fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Of course you would, thats why everyone thinks you're an ignorant asshole.

    58. Re: Fine by Ferretman · · Score: 1

      Nothing wrong with Florida that a couple of feet of global warming won't fix.....

      Ferret

      --
      Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc
    59. Re:Fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No one's coming from the Middle East to blow up schools. The only attacks on US schools come from Americans.
      Police response is enough; we don't need domestic military protection.

    60. Re:Fine by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      That's not what your cite says. Liar.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    61. Re:Fine by riverat1 · · Score: 1

      Don't you understand that when the USA gives foreign aid it's often with strings attached that require the money to be spent on American products. Yes, some of it gets skimmed off by the elites but not most of it.

      Regarding food riots you might be surprised. If food gets expensive enough that people can't afford it there will be riots. That was one of the factors in the revolution in Egypt. The cost of wheat and bread rose so much because of the heatwave/drought in Russia that people couldn't afford it.

    62. Re:Fine by riverat1 · · Score: 2

      I happen to agree pulling out...no reason to obligate $$$ from the US treasury that is already quite stretched with domestic needs.

      Then the Congress passes "tax reform" that will add another $1.5 trillion the the debt.

    63. Re:Fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So let me get this straight, you think that a libertarian who says 'Leave me alone to invest my money where I see fit' is selfish vs socialists. who say "W're going to steal your money from you to invest where WE think you should invest it"? RIGHT...that's one screwed up definition of 'selfish'. So, yeah fuck you & the horse you rode in on. You have absolutely 0 clue what a libertarian is, how we invest our money and what causes we support or don't.

      You are exactly the kind of selfish asshole I've been debated for years that helped cause the current issue, the ones that insisted beyond all rationality that 'solar energy' had to be used 'now' over all evidence that it wasn't close to ready. The ones who picketed & stopped more nuclear power plants from being built. You are the ones that have contributed to >50K extra deaths per year due to increased carbon emissions.

      So fuck you & your belief of who is 'selfish' and who isn't...have a look in the mirror & you'll have a better clue.

    64. Re:Fine by riverat1 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Or maybe give the money back to people who grow the economy. The ultra-rich did not get that way by stealing money from everybody else despite what the SJWs want to believe.

      With interest rates so low and investment money searching for things to invest in how do you expect the ultra-rich to grow the economy? If you want to grow the economy give money at the bottom end and it will filter up to the ones on top. Giving it to people already at the top just increases their rent seeking investments. If people down the economic scale can't afford to buy it why would they invest in something productive? Supply side/trickle down economics is a joke that's never worked.

    65. Re: Fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you find planning for your kids future is so overwhelming maybe you shouldn't have them in the first place. Having children means taking responsibility for them and not foisting their needs solely on the society.

      The US is already shifting gears and converting to clean and renewable energy sources. Investments and job growth in clean energy sector have been rising steadily over the past 15 years and shows no sign of slowing down in the future. Emissions have also been declining every year as well. In other words the US is already attacking the problem in the country.

      The Paris Climate accord does not contribute a single thing towards fighting global warming or fossil fuel use. The Paris Climate Accord is nothing more than a place for governments to make promises that they will meet goals 15, 20, 25+ years in the future. Far enough into the future that the people making the promises will not be around to face any consequences when they do not meet their goals. There are no enforcement measures in the Paris Climate Accord to ensure states actually meet their stated goals. The Paris Climate Accords are nothing but a bunch of mouth breathing diplomats, academics, and intellectuals living large on their government expense accounts and posing for the cameras as they attack the climate problem. In other words they are full of shit. There isn't a government on the planet that has accomplished anything useful in the past 50 years. Governments are good at creating problems but they never fix them. It's the citizens who pay the price for their governments foolish actions. How about the US just continuing to handle it's energy and climate related problems in-house and let others do the same? Or does everyone hate Trump so bad they are willing to agree to anything he doesn't support? The State Department is bitching because Trump has not maintained the bloated staffing levels of the past. What has gone wrong because a few hundred government bureaucrats are MIA? Russia kicked 700+ embassy and other US government employees out of the country and what has been the downside of that? We are ingrained with the notion that the more money and resources the government throws at a problem the better things will be. When has this ever been true? The US government has spread trillions of dollars to countries all over the world for one thing or another and received only requests for more money while the problems still fester. The NK problem was not created by the current administration. It is the result of the failed actions of the past 5 US Presidential administrations along with all the other countries in the world who proclaim themselves to be rational actors on the international stage. We are seeing the end result of failed diplomacy mixed with bribery negotiations and people are still clamoring for more diplomacy. All the current administration has done is make sure the little fat fucker with the atrocious haircut understands, without a doubt, that one button push on his part and NK becomes a glassy hole in the ground. That's the only move left in the never ending melodrama. NK is on the other side of the world so any nuclear fallout in the US will be negligible. The administrations recent actions toward Jerusalem is just another example of the US realizing that particular problem has been festering for the past 50 years is not going to be resolved following the failed negotiations of the past. Maybe those who have led their people to ruin in the name of driving the Jews into the sea will realize they should accept reality and make the best deal possible or the decision will be taken out of their hands.

    66. Re:Fine by riverat1 · · Score: 1

      There was no massive hurricane drought. They just didn't happen to hit the United States which for most Americans means they didn't happen.

    67. Re:Fine by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

      The 2015 commercial fishery harvested a total of 110,507 salmon, with total landings of 1.3 million pounds and revenues of $8.1 million (NMFS 2017, PFMC 2016).

      Now, if you want to talk about all the ESTIMATED add-on, they try to say it was $244 million. But the facts are the commercial fishery received $8.1 million for the salmon. Flat out. My quote for the AG sector was also for the direct income from sales of AG products, not "add-ons" that would inflate the number even higher.

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    68. Re:Fine by riverat1 · · Score: 1

      The problem with your Tides and Currents link is they just give a linear trend line. They don't show any curve for changes in the rate of rise. Most scientists studying this expect at least a meter (3 feet) of rise by 2100 and it won't stop there. It will take centuries for the big ice sheets on Greenland and Antarctica to catch up with the current forcing. Over 10 feet of rise by 2200 isn't out of the question. I just wish I could live long enough to say I told you so.

    69. Re: Fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yup, in about 5000 F'n YEARS! Here's a Youtube video for you to 'support' your position: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIxRVfCpA64.

      Though anyone with half a brain might not really classify natural planetary evolution as a 'nightmare catastrophe', especially one that takes >50 human life times to occur. O and makes previously uninhabitable land habitable.

      Ok, some places may be greatly impacted in less than 5000 years but not 'tomorrow' & it's a hell of a slow, nightmare catastrophe, and one that can be addressed by simply picking up & moving. Something people regularly did not even 100 years ago.

      To be clear, I'm not one to say we shouldn't make smart investments in using different & diverse energy sources, or try to minimize our impact but the mania over 'what will happen' is FAR out of line with reality other than thousands of years in the future. And if people living on the coast can't move inland over decades, centuries and millenia I don't have a lot of hope for humanity no matter what we do today.

      As a bit of a 'thought experiment', consider the potential economic impact on Australia for instance with a huge 'inland sea' existing where it did exist before including the impact on rain etc (so fresh water) flowing in to that inland sea. Shipping, manufacturing, potential fisheries etc. Huge opportunities where none exists now. Why should the existing coastal cities keep all the benefits just because they do today & especially asking the rest of us to pay to keep the current situation 'status quo'? Countries like Kazakhstan no longer being land locked is a GOOD thing (TM) for Kazakhstan. So yeah a real 'nightmare' for them.

    70. Re:Fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      20% of American's pay 88% of the taxes...if you cut taxes the benefit isn't going to those that don't pay taxes & in fact get money back...

      And who says we don't want to make the world a better place with that money, some of us simply have no faith in governments do actually do anything smart with this money, after all it's not like they have a great track record. Feel free to spend/invest your money where you want & let me do the same. I don't need governments telling me where & how I should help my fellow person & the world I live in.

    71. Re:Fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hmm, that's funny. I live in Las Vegas, I don't need your stinkin' flood insurance. Now, who primarily lives on the coasts where it will flood? The rich. If the costs of their flood insurance goes up should the rest of us really be all that upset? Should we be spending potentially trillions of dollars to help the rich? Is that what you're saying? Yeah the 'poor' and middle class live 'near the coats' but rarely ON the coasts. So as flood insurance skyrockets & the "rich" finally figure out not even they have enough money to keep rebuilding where they shouldn't they start buying up the homes of the poor & middle class...then they do what poor & middle class do...they move further inland...of course, this won't happen in a day but neither will the flooding....

      I used to live in the SF Bay area, drove to Monterey to go golfing a reasonable amount and saw the changes occurring. There are people building houses quite literally on the 'rocky shore'...you can't call it a beach that's for sure. The road already separated the ocean from where a 'reasonable' person might think their house would be safe for a hundred years & idiots with too much money & not enough brains built houses on the WRONG side of the road. So, seriously, tell me how I should care that these people's homes will be flooded? And I"m not an unfeeling person, if they wanted my help they should have asked me before building the houses & I'd have told them they should build somewhere else...I might have even helped move the building material for them...

    72. Re:Fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How about you pick a place like say...North Dakota...see if the same inflationary pressures occurred there...

      If people want to keep spending stupid amounts of money on houses in an overcrowded neighborhood so be it...I'm not willing to play along with their mania by agreeing to do stupid amounts of wealth transfer to the rich who can afford such high prices...I lived in the SF Bay area. I left, for various reasons, but one was the stupid cost of housing & its only gotten worse.

      O, and apparently and according to all these same nuts that decide to crowed around & drive up housing costs ND will be BEAUTIFUL in not to many years because you know...'climate change'...so they can all flock to ND & buy cheap housing.

    73. Re:Fine by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      The rest of the world will make America pay for it now, by setting standards and tariffs that account for emissions and pollution. The US will have to choose between that and isolationism.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    74. Re:Fine by cayenne8 · · Score: 1

      Then the Congress passes "tax reform" that will add another $1.5 trillion the the debt.

      It's all good...if they follow up with lots of federal budget cuts. Slash programs, slash federal agencies....

      One thing at a time, and starting with taxes isn't a bad thing.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    75. Re:Fine by cayenne8 · · Score: 1

      Typical libertarian claptrap. What they say is that they want people who earn money to keep it, but what they really mean is that people who are filthy rich because they inherited gobs of money which they never lifted a finger to earn, should be able to avoid taxes.

      You want a neat libertarian solution so that "the people that earn the money should be able to keep as much of it as possible"? Set the estate tax at 100%. (Not the current, which is 40% tax on the part over eleven million inherited from two parents).)

      Yes, I think people should be able to keep as MUCH of their money as possible they earn...and I think they should also be able to hand it down to their children.

      The money belongs to the PEOPLE first, not the government.

      You've got it backwards, the govt is to be beholden to the people for power and finance, not the other way around.

      Why should a family's accumulated wealth suddenly be stripped from them once the parents die?

      You seem to act like the money is the governments to give and take, not the other way around....?

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    76. Re:Fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you are absolutely a fucking retard

    77. Re: Fine by SimonInOz · · Score: 2

      Spending money now has been evaluated as being drastically cheaper than trying to fix things up later.
      If the glacier dams give way, and we get a fairly sudden sea level rise, flooding most coastal cities, eg nyc, can you imagine the costs, the loss of life, the mad dash of millions to escape?
      It sounds expensive. And of course there are humanitarian issues, but these seem to be ignored by the current USA government.
      Itâ(TM)ll be way cheaper to dive in now, and get some real reductions, and possibly reduce the temperature rises to something tolerable.
      Or do you believe all these scientists, polar bears, migrating trees, and retreating glaciers are all fake news?

      --
      "Cats like plain crisps"
    78. Re:Fine by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

      And you will live long and prosper because you are deserving.

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    79. Re:Fine by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

      It's OK.

      We who know which way the wind blows also know that the opportunity to intervene has Went With The Wind.

      It's been too late.

      Enough is enough and more that enough is too late. ~ © 2017 CaptainDork

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    80. Re: Fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Re: Florida under water, you really think that you'd be OK with millions of Floridian climate refugees flooding the rest of the USA?

    81. Re:Fine by fatwilbur · · Score: 1

      What a ridiculous amount of shameless fearmongering. If a 2mm/year advancing ocean tears our society apart, we're already done for from a thousand other things.

    82. Re:Fine by riverat1 · · Score: 1

      If they start slashing Social Security and Medicare they'll start losing their seats in Congress. There's not enough money anywhere else except the DOD to make that much difference.

    83. Re:Fine by Xyrus · · Score: 1

      There is no money in the US Treasury. Why do you think we have such an enormous amount of debt? We're at $20+trillion and the "fiscal conservatives" have just thrown on at least another $1.5 trillion on top of that. Over $65,000 for every man, woman, and child in the US. That's $13,000 more than the median family income in the US.

      Until we get a balanced budget the US has no money. We have a credit card that we keep piling enormous amounts of debt on.

      --
      ~X~
    84. Re:Fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "require the money to be spent on American products." This usually only applies to foreign military aid. Consumer products and services are negotiated at the high level import-export trade and market access for each different economic sector.

    85. Re:Fine by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 0

      The revolution was not a revolution, it was a military coup. And the almost-famine was engineered by our Deep State as an experiment. Yup, that happened.

      Last year I arrived early for a lunch address by Gen. Michael Hayden, who ran the National Security Agency and later the Central Intelligence Agency in the George W. Bush administration. Hayden was already there, and glad to chat. The conversation turned to Egypt, and I asked Hayden why the Republican mainstream had embraced the Muslim Brotherhood rather than the military government of President al-Sisi, an American-trained soldier who espoused a reformed Islam that would repudiate terrorism. "We were sorry that [Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed] Morsi was overthrown" in July 2013, Hayden explained. "We wanted to see what would happen when the Muslim Brotherhood had to take responsibility for picking up the garbage."

      "General," I remonstrated, "when Morsi was overthrown, Egypt had three weeks of wheat supplies on hand. The country was on the brink of starvation!"

      "I guess that experiment would have been tough on the ordinary Egyptian," Hayden replied, without a hint of irony.

      http://www.atimes.com/trump-la...

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    86. Re:Fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yup. Let's see those Europeans, Indians and Chinese pony up the loot!

    87. Re:Fine by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      You needn't choose a country. This is America, you get them delivered right to your doorstep. For free.

      Well, technically it's going to be more like your ISP. You cannot choose. The choice will be made for you, and you can like it or go to hell.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    88. Re: Fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You cite a citation.

    89. Re: Fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The issue with Florida is its porous nature and loss of fresh water.

    90. Re:Fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Pretty much bullshit. Chances are, the US will develop nearly all the improved technology and get rich on it while the rest of the world will keep complaining. Just like always.

    91. Re:Fine by hackertourist · · Score: 1

      a. secession
      b. situation now: catastrophe happens, state emergency services are overwhelmed, state calls Federal government for help. FEMA comes in and may or may not fuck up.

      situation after secession: catastrophe happens, state emergency services are overwhelmed, ???

      This is a prime example of a situation where a state is better off as part of a union.

    92. Re:Fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually there's a more specific way it'll cost the US, if the US really does double down on fossil fuels whilst the rest of the world goes green there will reach a point where other economies will place tarrifs on US products to cover the cost of cleaning up pollution the US has caused in production of products, ironically the kind of argument Trump has long made against China.

      Worse, because of Trump's isolationist stance and will to pull the US out of free trade deals, the US will have no protection against these tariffs because it'll no longer be part of any FTAs that protect it from tariffs.

      The US was the world's only real superpower for much of the 20th century, it's going to lose that position not because other countries got smart and outplayed it, but because the US got dumb and handed that global advantage away. Adjusting to a different position in the world is hard, look at Brexit, the UK is suffering hard as it continues it's wilful fall from great state, to run of the mill average nation with real terms wealth declining clearly month after month, and political clout dissipating in the world leaving it more dictated to, and less able to dictate than ever before. It's people are becoming poorer and it's ability to make sure things run how it's people would prefer things to run is decreasing relative to how other people want things to run - it's people now have to bow down and accept things it doesn't like with it's loss of a seat on the UN court, a clear vote against it vs. the Maldives over Diego Garcia etc.

    93. Re:Fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And out of that 20% 5% (1% of the population) get 80% of the tax cuts, pay 60% of the taxes, but earn 80% of the money, and own more than that of the wealth. Hence why you cut it at 20%. A million to Bill Gates is nothing, not even worth noting. A million to ten thousand poor people is a week's food for the family and spent immediately.

    94. Re:Fine by Godwin+O'Hitler · · Score: 1

      French is the most clumsy of all latin languages. 25% of the words in a French sentence have no reason to exist.
      If we're going to replace English, let's do it with a modern, verbally economical, unambiguous language. Don't ask me what it is though.

      --
      No, your children are not the special ones. Nor are your pets.
    95. Re: Fine by Ferretman · · Score: 1

      There won't be because the sea levels won't rise, but sure, I'd be fine with that.

      Miserable place. Though I understand the Panhandle region is a bit more civilized.

      Ferret

      --
      Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc
    96. Re:Fine by Ferretman · · Score: 1

      I have to agree with that. Cut the taxes FIRST so companies can start generating wealth, then get to trimming down the excess and the waste next session. It's a process; they've been doing it backwards for close to a generation.

      Ferret

      --
      Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc
    97. Re:Fine by Godwin+O'Hitler · · Score: 1

      That depends on the time scale of "quickly".
      As for developing CO2 clean up technology, I just happen to know one that already exists. Will it make me rich?

      --
      No, your children are not the special ones. Nor are your pets.
    98. Re:Fine by Godwin+O'Hitler · · Score: 1

      When you say "not a Randian ideal", do you mean Ayn Rand thought it was a lousy idea or do you mean Ayn Rand failed to focus on it, like shitloads of fucktons of other people?

      --
      No, your children are not the special ones. Nor are your pets.
    99. Re:Fine by Godwin+O'Hitler · · Score: 1

      So what are amendments for then? Your amazing founding fathers, brilliant as they might have been, never saw this one coming.

      --
      No, your children are not the special ones. Nor are your pets.
    100. Re:Fine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm sorry, what?

      Unless you're attempting to ascribe 100% of all deaths that can be tied to WW2 to Nazi Germany your statement makes no sense. Nazi persecution, which could include expulsion only totals to somewhere around 1-3m total deaths. The Holocaust only tops out around 6m. You're more than 50m short of your figure. But hey, let's ignore the nearly 14 million civilian deaths caused by Soviets in Russia due to military crimes or famine or the additional 7m deaths in the Ukraine for the very same reasons. That's just what... 21 million civilian deaths instigated by the Soviets via military crimes and starvation. There's also the 5.5m done by Japan.

      But yeah, I mean, that's just 27 million deaths instigated by the Soviets and Japan that are totally Germany's fault. That has nothing to do with the repression of those governments. Not one bit.

    101. Re:Fine by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 1

      And the United States has killed 60 million people since 1973, just on the Sexual Revolution alone.

      --
      SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
    102. Re:Fine by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 1

      So remove the industrial infrastructure from the coasts. Turn it into reefs, then fish the reefs.....

      --
      SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
    103. Re:Fine by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 1

      It's not trivial considering the amount of polluted soil underneath it. We're talking a cleanup that makes Fukushima seem like child's play. Also, do you really want sandy beaches replaced with muddy former forest and swampland?

    104. Re:Fine by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      That trick has never worked. Never. The taxes get cut, tax revenues don't go up as predicted, spending cuts don't happen. That's how the Republicans have run huge deficits since about 1980.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    105. Re:Fine by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      If you're considering the Holocaust as only the killing of Jews, 6M is a good estimate. The Germans murdered many more people than that, at least double, and that's only the people they killed more or less deliberately.

      Also, 5.5M for Japan is ridiculously low. They killed many more in China alone.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    106. Re:Fine by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      We have already bettered the world by defending it from every fascist despot that came along in the 20th century

      Nowhere near. We didn't overthrow the fascist governments of Spain and Portugal. We've overthrown democracies to install at least quasi-fascist despots.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    107. Re:Fine by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      You're about halfway to realization. If sea level goes up a foot, that by itself isn't going to be a big problem. What will be a big problem is hurricane storm surges, which will be a foot higher. Land tends to rise gradually, meaning that in many places a foot extra flooding is going to cover a lot of additional area.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    108. Re:Fine by AutodidactLabrat · · Score: 1

      That's because none of the Frankish language is derived from Latin
      DUH!

    109. Re:Fine by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 1

      Cleanup means you stop evolution. Let the species who can adapt do the cleanup.

      Also, most sandy beaches were once former forest and swampland. Or did you think the Earth never changed?

      Heck, I know of a beach within 200 miles of my house that was a part of the Columbia River in 1820.

      --
      SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
  2. MOD PARENT UP! by Brett+Buck · · Score: 1, Insightful

    The Paris Accords are entirely and solely about extracting money from the US Taxpayer - and we are going to meet and exceed the emissions goals even without it.

  3. Money to be made. by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I've always said that even if you don't buy into climate change that simply ignoring it is stupid because it's a huge economic opportunity. I think it's simply been that politicians have been paid enough to turn a blind eye and keep the status quo for as long as possible. The reality is that renewable energy sources are not limited to locations that a small collective of companies own which means that there can be lots of competition that will drive the price of energy way down. Energy companies want to bleed the all the money they can out of people and some idiots think that's a good thing.

    The age of hydrocarbons is coming to an end... and now we have to clean it all up.

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    1. Re:Money to be made. by cayenne8 · · Score: 0

      I've always said that even if you don't buy into climate change that simply ignoring it is stupid because it's a huge economic opportunity.

      Well, the US pulling out of the agreement does NOTHING to negate the ability of private US industries from participating and acting upon that "huge economic opportunity".

      Business WILL go towards areas that make money.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    2. Re:Money to be made. by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 1

      Mod Parent Up. This is exactly right.

      Ambient energy is a huge wild west free market right now. And you only get MORE freedom by doing a year long environment study, choosing the technologies that fit your climate, and building/harvesting energy from that climate.

      --
      SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
    3. Re:Money to be made. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Find me something better as a energy storage first.

    4. Re:Money to be made. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's *is* money to be made but it's by corporations off taxes on everybody else. And the climate will change anyway.

    5. Re:Money to be made. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Every joule I transferred to using during sunshiny time was one less joule I had to worry about storing for use while I'm sleeping. Eg, run the washing machine and dishwasher from 11am -2pm.

      Every nighttime joule I saved in efficiency was one less joule I had to worry about storing. Eg, cfl->led lighting.

      My house is all solar, no grid connection. Reducing the need for storage is the low hanging fruit that many people seem to miss.

    6. Re: Money to be made. by SimonInOz · · Score: 1

      The institutionalised bribery system of the worlds largest economy, otherwise known as lobbying, has been staggering the world for some time.
      Isnâ(TM)t it time to change to an actual democracy that represent its people?

      --
      "Cats like plain crisps"
    7. Re: Money to be made. by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 1

      Isn't it time to change to an actual democracy that represent its people?

      Yes but change will not come fast. It's a slow road that will need a concerted effort in all the states that don't have independent groups to do non-political redistricting. That's just the first step too. :/

      --
      Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    8. Re:Money to be made. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nobody cares what you have said or will say. Just sayin'.

    9. Re:Money to be made. by Ferretman · · Score: 1

      > My house is all solar, no grid connection. Reducing the need for storage is the low hanging fruit that many > people seem to miss.

      My house is also 100% off-grid and solar powered; it's not as rare as I think some people think. All lights in the house are LED and are quite bright, and the house itself is built with ICFs (Insulated Concrete Forms) and rather thick (13") walls. I heat everything with radiant heat from a central boiler.

      While do I do indeed change my energy consumption to match the day/night cycle, it sounds like I went with a higher amount of storage....I've got a good 5 days of energy in my batteries, which should get me thru just about anything short of a nuclear winter or something.

      I concur completely with the poster above that batteries are overpriced and underpowered, but that tech is moving seemingly very slowly. We'll get there.

      On the other hand, my solar panels are practically antiques now only 7 years after they were installed. These were all 230W panels; the lowest wattage panel I can see online right now is around 400W. By the time I replace these puppies I'll probably be generating 700W+ per panel, which is pretty remarkable.

      Ferret

      --
      Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc
    10. Re: Money to be made. by Ferretman · · Score: 1

      Not really sure how you'd get rid of what you are calling "institutionalized bribery". Are you saying you think there should be laws prohibiting advocating a position publically?

      Isn't that a bit, I dunno, anti free speech? Popular position in the more totalitarian societies I guess.

      Ferret

      --
      Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc
  4. Also emitted another 30k tons of CO2 by SuperKendall · · Score: 1, Insightful

    The conference was more political posturing to little effect, otherwise they would have all done a large group video chat instead of expelling 30K tons of CO2 in air travel alone.

    Is there warming? Yes. Is there a crisis? It would seem not since the people that claim there is a crisis are not acting like there is a crisis. They act like used car salesmen telling you how very much they want you to do something, which they themselves will not do.

    I'm sure it did make a lot of climate posers feel better about themselves though, so there's that.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Also emitted another 30k tons of CO2 by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 0

      This. When the rich elite abandon air travel, that's when we will know there is a crisis, not before.

      --
      SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
    2. Re:Also emitted another 30k tons of CO2 by Baron_Yam · · Score: 1

      >The conference was more political posturing to little effect, otherwise they would have all done a large group video chat instead of expelling 30K tons of CO2 [theguardian.com] in air travel alone.

      I'm going to a little 'Hollywood' here, but I really liked the conferencing system in 'Captain America - Winter Soldier'. Sure, it takes up a lot of office space, but the idea of having every delegate projected into a physical space is very appealing.

    3. Re:Also emitted another 30k tons of CO2 by Baron_Yam · · Score: 1

      That'll never happen, because they have the money to insulate themselves from the cost of their own actions, and value their own convenience.

    4. Re:Also emitted another 30k tons of CO2 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lots of butthurt Americans on Slashdot with whataboutism and silly distractions. I have bad news for you. There still 3 years to go, so it's going to get much worse for you...

    5. Re:Also emitted another 30k tons of CO2 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes! They should have all backpacked to the summit! The lack of carbon emissions would have solved global warming with no downsides! These kinds of comments drive me crazy. A few people's actions don't make a measurable difference. We need a global solution which is going to require regulation, market forces, and technical innovation. If global leaders can get us closer to that solution with an in person meeting those plane rides have a hugely negative carbon impact.

    6. Re:Also emitted another 30k tons of CO2 by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 0

      All of these changes that make our lives crap will be for us little people to follow. Due to their great virtue, the climate elites are excused from the consequences of their actions. It is us the small folk who are to blame, and who must pay for our crimes.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    7. Re:Also emitted another 30k tons of CO2 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The rich want us to eat whole, crushed insects while they eat steak.

      The rich want us working class slobs to abandon affordable gasoline vehicles, while they drive around in luxury Teslas, partially paid for with generous $7500 subsidies.

      The rich warn us of rising oceans, but then buy $9 million mansions on the coastline.

      Global warming is an artificial religion cooked up for the purpose of driving down the standard of living for the 99%, while the 1% buy carbon indulgences. Environmentalism is just the velvet glove over the iron fist of misanthropy.

    8. Re:Also emitted another 30k tons of CO2 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      7 years. The Democrats have done no soul searching after 2016, and have made no change to their message. Trump would be easy to beat, but they still haven't pulled their heads out of their asses.

    9. Re:Also emitted another 30k tons of CO2 by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Can't speak to the burgers. Teslas are a good thing -- the tech will trickle down to cheaper cars until electric cars will be cheaper than gassers, and cheaper to run and maintain (electric motors and 1-speed gearboxes don't need much maintenance, and regen braking means you have to change the pads once every 150,000 miles). Can you imagine owning a car that costs 5 cents per mile to run and does 0-60 in 4 seconds? Awesome!

      Range is an issue, but that's improving too. And it would be great if global warming pressure would force the railroads to electrify. Take a fast electric train from NYC to Chicago -- 5.5 hours at 150mph -- then rent an electric car (possibly self-driving) on the other end. Far better than the airport delays, lines, etc involved in flying.

      The future doesn't have to be bad if the people doing the planning think of other people versus only their own dollar.

    10. Re:Also emitted another 30k tons of CO2 by XXongo · · Score: 2
      Wow, a collection of completely irrelevant links. Bizarre. Not a single one of your links supports any of the statements made, although I'm amused by the link to a Swiss company selling insect-based food. At their prices they're not selling to the poor, though!

      --and for the record, Montecito California has an elevation of 180 feet above sea level. It's not likely to flood any time this century. I'm no fan of Al Gore, but looks like he's smart enough to not buy property that's only a few feet above sea level.

    11. Re:Also emitted another 30k tons of CO2 by riverat1 · · Score: 1

      I actually looked up the address of Al Gore's home in Montecito on Google Maps and it's right around the 400 foot contour line, well above any possible sea level rise.

  5. capital by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The only solution is carbon sequestration. Until then, all this is is a welfare scam. After the discovery of carbon sequestration this will all be irrelevant. The communists win!

    1. Re:capital by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are wrong.
      If we assume that the increase in CO2 if from humans. Then the logical solution is less people. I am not abdicating that we go out and kill 90% of the humans on the planet, we will do this when resources collapse due to over population.

      With less people, the CO2 levels will drop, after a major increase from all the global fires that will happen when most of die off..

      Just think about it.

    2. Re:capital by XXongo · · Score: 1
      And the well-understood ways of producing fewer people are to (1) reduce poverty, (2) increase education, and (3) give people access to birth control.

      This is a solvable problem.

    3. Re:capital by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So you agree the CO% levels will drop from natural sequestration (after 90% decrease in population). But we can find a way to sequester it before that happens, given capital to discover and implement the sequestration. Only communism is preventing this.

  6. A cash grab by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Every country supporting this simply wants money from the US taxpayer in exchange for trying to reduce emissions. It's a cash grab and there is nothing in it for the US that is good. I don't like Trump, but he's right.

    1. Re:A cash grab by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's the thing, it's not in exchange for *anything*. There are no accountability measures in the Paris Accords.

  7. Trump.... by chiefcrash · · Score: 2

    Much like Obama became the greatest gun salesman of all time, it appears like Trump might actually save the environment.... by trying to ignore it.

    --
    Show me on the 1st Amendment bobblehead where the moderator touched you...
    1. Re:Trump.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just like the tobacco industry saved all those people from lung cancer by saying smoking and lung cancer are not at all related. The tobacco industry will forever be remembered as one of the greatest public health advocates of all time along with the lead industry and every other broken window fallacy.

    2. Re:Trump.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      it appears like Trump might actually save the environment.... by trying to ignore it.

      4D Chess. 4chan will be proven right yet again.

    3. Re:Trump.... by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 0

      One of Trump's revolutionary ideas is that America doesn't need to hog the spotlight and make every event about itself. It also doesn't need to pay for everything. These ideas have been front and center in our administrative and elected states for decades. They are beyond convinced that if America does not do it, it either will not get done or is not worth doing. They love pouring wood for the fire that will never heat us.

      Trump is showing that they are wrong and always were wrong. The world can get along very well without America. Merkel picked up the mantle of world leadership that Trump cast off back in April and has been doing an outstanding job at it. Six months and she hasn't started a single war. Far better than Obama ever did.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    4. Re:Trump.... by XXongo · · Score: 1

      Yeah, maybe he'll convince the rest of the world that if they really want to do something about climate change, then they're going to have to do it on their own money, and not expect to bleed America dry.

      The problem with all these accords and protocols is that they're fake. None of them REQUIRE the REAL polluters, China and India, do do a damned thing.

      You do know that China and India are both partners to the accord, and are both in fact doing things to reduce their carbon output, right? https://electrek.co/2017/11/17...

    5. Re:Trump.... by Xyrus · · Score: 1

      Ignore it? I would be happy if he just ignored it. His administration is actively trying to destroy it.

      Remember kids, Scott Pruitt says our air is too clean! We must remove the catalytic converters from our cars so we can Make America Gag Again!

      --
      ~X~
    6. Re:Trump.... by cbeaudry · · Score: 1

      India expects money. China is building coal plants for another 30 years. Your point is?

    7. Re:Trump.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      One of Trump's revolutionary ideas is that America doesn't need to hog the spotlight and make every event about itself.

      and he does this by interjecting himself and the US into everything? that is the single most opposite of whats happening claims I've ever seen

  8. They why have government involved? by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    I've always said that even if you don't buy into climate change that simply ignoring it is stupid because it's a huge economic opportunity.

    I totally agree, which is why I see no need for giant government programs costing billions of dollars. The economic benefit of moving to renewable sources is eventually so cost effective it is inevitable; so we do we need to try to force people into something we know is eventually inherently compelling?

    There's no way the larger warming predictions are accurate because they are all predicated on CO2 levels staying where they are. That's simply not going to happen as people everywhere switch to cheaper non-carbon energy.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:They why have government involved? by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 2

      I totally agree, which is why I see no need for giant government programs costing billions of dollars.

      Then why haven't you been screaming about them subsidizing coal and oil for the past century?

      The economic benefit of moving to renewable sources is eventually so cost effective it is inevitable; so we do we need to try to force people into something we know is eventually inherently compelling?

      It will cost more to clean up the longer we pump CO2 into the atmosphere so it's actually saving money in the long run.

      There's no way the larger warming predictions are accurate because they are all predicated on CO2 levels staying where they are. That's simply not going to happen as people everywhere switch to cheaper non-carbon energy.

      Of course not because there are going to be industries that continue to put out CO2 and methane and trees are not going to be able to "suck it all up" because that's not how trees function. Other feedback mechanisms we don't know or haven't fully considered are going to make the planet even hotter. The only way out of the mess we are in is to actually remove CO2 from the atmosphere with machines. "just plant trees" the the usual reply which is totally ignorant of how the ecosystem actually works as well as the effectiveness of our machinery.

      --
      Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    2. Re:They why have government involved? by Ferretman · · Score: 1

      Well said sir.

      Ferret

      --
      Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc
  9. The debate ended last decade by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 1

    It's all been about the capital to switch to more efficient, cheaper renewables.

    That problem has been solved, and as a bonus, every dollar spent on renewables cuts Russia and Saudi fossil fuel revenue by four dollars.

    Commence the industry-paid whining about how the world is changing and we must protect buggy whips and whale oil and baleen corsets.

    Climate Change is here, and we ran out of time for discussions.

    --
    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
    1. Re:The debate ended last decade by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So, in other words, your grand idea for going forward into the future is "America first"? Followed by "fuck over the dirty foreigners"? I get the idea you didn't think your cunning plan all the way through.

      And if you think anyone is paid to post on Slashdot you're severely mistaken. The site has no reach any more and barely any comments compared to the old days.

  10. Eliminate farming subsidies by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    ... and use that money to invest in clean energy.

  11. Think Local by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    Yes! They should have all backpacked to the summit!

    V I D E O C O N F E R E N C E

    Also, it goes without saying RTFA which covers exactly what is meant.

    A few people's actions don't make a measurable difference.

    To the contrary 30,000 tons of anything is a very measurable amount.

    We need a global solution

    Translation: *I* don't have to change anything, everyone else does.

    Good luck with that!

    Real change starts with local changes across many areas, not idealistic and unrealistic global change. Real change is made up by the kind of small choices you are handwaving away as meaningless.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Think Local by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I do lots of stuff - solar panels, small car, small well-insulated house, etc... I've already changed a lot - now we need everyone else to. That's not going to happen without regulation. And that's not going to happen without a lot of leaders getting together to agree on what to do.

  12. Tragedy of the Commons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Thanks for the demonstration.

  13. Wealth redistribution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    The Paris accords are nothing but wealth redistribution from the American taxpayer to third world scumbags, because there are no means to hold said scumbags accountable for how they spend the money.

    Americans who support the Paris accords are either a) profoundly stupid or b) know exactly what the accords are about, and the American taxpayer should hold *them* accountable for their attempted fraud.

  14. Stupid doomsday scenarios are stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Doubling down on the crazy "predictions" doesn't fly anymore. Sky didn't fall in two decades, and now no one but the terminally gullible will believe it's ever going to.
    Even if it really, really is, and liars do not lie THIS time, pinky swear.

    You people had your credit of trust. You decided to waste it. Now you have none. Too bad.

    1. Re:Stupid doomsday scenarios are stupid by XXongo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Doubling down on the crazy "predictions" doesn't fly anymore. Sky didn't fall in two decades, and now no one but the terminally gullible will believe it's ever going to.

      But nobody ever predicted the sky would fall in two decades in the first place. People did predict about two degrees of warming by 2100, though, if that's what you mean.

    2. Re:Stupid doomsday scenarios are stupid by riverat1 · · Score: 1

      Doubling down on the crazy "predictions" doesn't fly anymore. Sky didn't fall in two decades, and now no one but the terminally gullible will believe it's ever going to.

      Ah you youngsters with your short attention spans. As XXongo said no one expected it to happen in two decades, just that we're setting it up to happen in the future. I wonder what you'll be saying in another two decades.

  15. Just wait for carbon taxes by Cyberax · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Do you think the US will be getting free pass forever? Eventually other countries will start taxing US goods based on their carbon footprint.

    1. Re:Just wait for carbon taxes by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      And what are they going to do when we enact retaliatory tariffs, and suddenly they can't dump their goods on our market any more? They'll be screwed. You know the world relies on the US markets for a big chunk of its prosperity, right?

      Besides, what does America even make any more? Investment products? Entertainment? They sure won't be cutting themselves off from the flow of those sweet, sweet American weapons.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    2. Re:Just wait for carbon taxes by Cyberax · · Score: 3, Informative

      Retaliatory tariffs work only against one or two players. If everybody starts taxing the US goods (and why wouldn't they?) then retaliation will amount to protectionist barriers. And this simply will push the US further into obsolescence.

      US actually exports quite a lot of stuff ( https://2016.export.gov/ ). So yep, it'll hurt.

    3. Re:Just wait for carbon taxes by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      Wait a minute...we're having the wrong argument. Tariffs don't work. These countries will just harm themselves by cutting themselves off from the benefits of free trade. The whole thing is a non-starter.

      And if for some reason the plan works, the world will cheer as the US bully is taken down a notch. God knows we deserve it. The US government is wholly evil without a doubt. Invades countries for oil. Kills civilians. A murderous and blood-thirsty nation. Who has invaded the most countries? Who has broken the most international laws? http://brilliantmaps.com/threa...

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    4. Re:Just wait for carbon taxes by fatwilbur · · Score: 1

      Countries refuse to put tariffs on countries with extreme, obvious human rights abuses. But you think they'll stop trade in the name of carbon... right.

    5. Re:Just wait for carbon taxes by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      And what are they going to do when we enact retaliatory tariffs, and suddenly they can't dump their goods on our market any more? They'll be screwed.

      You vastly over-estimate your market and importance. Just like Trump does, and just like the British did before they tried to exercise that power at a negotiation table which even the most pro-brexiters realise has turned into a trainwreak.

      What are we going to do when you impose tariffs on us? Nothing. You'll reverse them when you own constituents start complaining about the rising cost and inflation due the government putting a price on the trade deficit you've slowly built up over the years.

    6. Re:Just wait for carbon taxes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Besides, what does America even make any more?

      It makes cunts like you in great abundance.

    7. Re:Just wait for carbon taxes by Godwin+O'Hitler · · Score: 1

      These countries will just harm themselves by cutting themselves off from the benefits of free trade.

      They would absolutely not be cutting themselves off from the benefits of free trade. They would be cutting the USA off from its benefits.

      --
      No, your children are not the special ones. Nor are your pets.
    8. Re:Just wait for carbon taxes by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      Hold on now - I have been assured many, many times that tariffs do NOT work and a trade war hurts the initiator FAR more than anyone else. Now suddenly tariffs are a good idea and starting a trade war is OK? How does that work?

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    9. Re:Just wait for carbon taxes by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      I think a lot of people are totally ignorant of the role the US economy plays in the world. It is a gigantic dumping ground for the world's products. Without it to pay out like a slot machine, much of the world would collapse. Witness Trump's idea to buy American and hire American - resisted with shrieking terror. They need our economy, where else are they going to sell their stuff?

      Assuming you're European, good luck with the Chinese. They don't give a shit and don't just say China First, they say China First, Last, and In Between. At any rate, I'm glad to be rid of useless Europeans and their steadfast refusal to defend themselves. Can't even do the minimum 2%. Freeloaders.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    10. Re:Just wait for carbon taxes by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      No. As said you vastly overestimate your importance. As a global buying power your total number may seem significant, but the vast majority of your buying power ends up being a dumping ground for a small segment of goods: cheap shit which effects only a few S-E Asian countries.

      But really all of that is quite irrelevant and doesn't at all change my original post. If you consider yourself such a huge buying power, just imagine what the country will think when their own government decides to raise the cost of all that dumping across the board. Who bares that cost? The consumer. Retaliatory tariffs only work if there is an alternative tariff free source. The scenario is that all the other countries unite against USA stupidity, and the retaliation would in the end only be another tax on consumers depressing the USA's own economy.

      Also as for shrieking terror? I assume you get your news from Fox? In most of the world it was met with dumbfounded confusion, like the kind you have when you see someone standing on a building threatening to jump.

    11. Re:Just wait for carbon taxes by Godwin+O'Hitler · · Score: 1

      A trade war hurts a lone initiator, no argument from me there.
      But if there are hundreds of initiators against one country, surely that turns the tables and effectively forces that country into a lone initiator's shoes.

      --
      No, your children are not the special ones. Nor are your pets.
  16. Oh that old canard by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    Then why haven't you been screaming about them subsidizing coal and oil for the past century?

    I've not been "screaming" about anything but I agree that is also equally not needed. I'd be just as happy to see that go.

    It will cost more to clean up the longer we pump CO2

    Pretty stupid to say when you understand what plants are and how they work. The entire Earth is nothing but a giant CO2 recycler, given time. You do realize that historically the Earth has had different levels of CO2, right, including some higher? If it's not possible for the Earth to re-absorb it, what happened in your mind, hmm?? Aliens, obv.

    The difference government can make is perhaps a decade earlier adoption, if that... in the meantime wasted vast sums of money that could have been used to address REAL POLLUTION, like environmental toxins. Which I guess you are not in favor of? That's right, just like you accuse me of supporting oil, because you made no mention of pollution I will assume you are a filthy pollution mongering son of a bitch.

    and trees are not going to be able to "suck it all up" because that's not how trees function.

    The biosphere is not just trees you know... it's true mature forests do not sequester carbon but there are a lot of plants that do. Also of course as plants process CO2 some of that is stored in the soil rather than being released.

    I'll let you have the last response since you are clearly of a one-track mind about this, having been already told what to think and not really willing to divert from your faith on the matter.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Oh that old canard by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't know why the environuts keep banging the CO2 war drum when water vapor ... ah screw it. Lets keep raping our forests, it's ok if we drive teslas.

    2. Re:Oh that old canard by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 2

      The entire Earth is nothing but a giant CO2 recycler, given time.

      If we had millions of years, sure. However, if we put out 0 CO2 emissions starting today, the trees wouldn't be able to cope with it giving the next 1000 years.

      You do realize that historically the Earth has had different levels of CO2, right, including some higher?

      The Earth hasn't had higher levels of CO2 than we have now for millions of years. If you are talking about the cycle of the ice-ages, well, you need an ice-age for that to happen.

      If it's not possible for the Earth to re-absorb it, what happened in your mind, hmm?? Aliens, obv.

      Apparently you are unaware of the evolution that occurred. Microbes learned a trick (via mutation) and thus become able to consume dead trees, producing CO2 in the process. If not for this, trees would still end up as coal after enough time.

      I'll let you have the last response since you are clearly of a one-track mind about this, having been already told what to think and not really willing to divert from your faith on the matter.

      What I've told you is based on science. A little education on climate change myths will do you a lot of good.

      --
      Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    3. Re:Oh that old canard by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The problem here is that the rate of production is not equal to the rate of absorption. Eventually, the rates should converge but the issue is about what happens to the environment until then. There is likely to be a large change until then and the predicted changes include rising sea levels and increased variability in weather. I don't need to explain the effects of these on our living conditions or our economy.
      As for plants and CO2 absorption, they break down much more quickly than trees. A tree lives for hundreds of years and holds the carbon until it dies and rots. A plant may only last a few years before it dies and reintroduces its carbon into the atmosphere. The issue is about timing because we can afford to wait but the next generation will be paying the price.

  17. Asswipes and Starvation by sycodon · · Score: 0

    Over the last two centuries, the only reason people have starved is because some asswipes thought they had a better idea on how to run society and they had to eliminate excess people in order to implement their, "better idea".

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
  18. lolz by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Arent all those concerned people, for the last two weeks, wearing GPS boots?

    #LockThemUp

  19. Make the alternative cheaper, the government won't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Do you know what a pharmacist calls "alternative medicine" that works? They call it "medicine".

    So long as wind and solar remain "alternative energy" we are admitting it does not work. If people want to see others use "alternative" energy instead of coal, petroleum, and natural gas then offer an alternative that's as inexpensive, plentiful, easy to store and transport, safe, and as long of a shelf life.

    People are willing to trade on some benefits for an alternative if there's a gain on another so any replacement for carbon based fuels doesn't have to be better in every respect. Take electric cars for example, people are willing to pay more on a vehicle, compromise on range, and put up with long recharge times, if it means not having to stop at a filling station and getting cheap electricity at home instead.

    The Stone Age didn't end for lack of rocks. The Bronze Age began because bronze tools are better than stone tools. We can't mandate the end of carbon based energy, it has to come from the development of something better. Taxing carbon is not likely to help because we use carbon based energy yet to build things like windmills and solar collectors. Also, we use our excess wealth for things like scientific endeavors, taxing people for carbon use and expecting to accelerate scientific advancement requires the belief that our elected officials know better how to invest in science than the people that earned that money in the first place.

    If you think that carbon taxes and government involvement is going to fix the environment then look at who has been elected recently and ask yourself if those are the people that are going to save the world.

    I'm almost sorry to say this but we are on our own on this, the government isn't going to save us.

  20. Après moi [Re:Fine] by XXongo · · Score: 2

    Hopefully that's gonna be postponed 'til I'm dead. As the Germans say, "hinter mir die Sintflut" (it loses a bit in translation, basically it means "for all I care, the deluge may follow when I'm gone"). Literally.

    You do know that this is just the German translation of the well-known Louis XV quote "Après moi, le déluge", right?

    (Wikipedia tells me that is probably better attributed to Madame de Pompadou: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki... )

    1. Re:Après moi [Re:Fine] by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      I spend more time speaking German than French, if I have to speak either, so I knew that phrase from German, but thank you for providing the original source.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  21. What by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    a buncha maroons

  22. USA is the worst polluter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The real polluters? You delisional American. Per person US CO2 emissions are twice China and 8x India. Those are big countries with lots of people. Why is the US polluting so much? They are allowed to because they are rich?

  23. Re:It's always ironic by riverat1 · · Score: 1

    Economics is what's putting coal miners out of work. Coal can't compete with natural gas and wind and barely with solar. If coal had to pay the economic costs of it's pollution it probably couldn't even compete with nuclear power.

  24. try to think instead of talking points by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Because people are continuing to overbuild in flood prone areas.
    Because floods are due to rainfall and not just sea level rises.
    Because of 15 MPH wind high tides and 1 foot higher seas.

  25. Try alternative resources by Debatehub2 · · Score: 1

    We need better alternatives instead one should use the money to invest in sustainable energy and other alternatives. Infact alternative energy replace many resources leading to sustainability. One has to contribute towards these alternative energy here are some examples read more http://www.publicdebate.in/alt...

  26. As long as you don't pump CO2 into the atmosphere by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Go into your garage, turn on the engine of your car and breath deeply. No one else wants your shit, take it all yourself.

  27. They can void your immaterial property by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They can void your immaterial property and stop respecting patents, copyrights and agreements of US companies. What are you going to do when all the IP is gone? Bomb everyone?

  28. Trump pulled out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If only his Dad had done this also . . .

  29. It's my output. Why is it stolen by the owner? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When my boss takes ALL of what I produced and gives me PART of what they got for selling what I did, why the fuck is THAT OK with you when it's even worse than government taxes? Fucking moron.

  30. Large countries doing many things. by XXongo · · Score: 1

    Your point is?

    My point is that both India and China are enormous countries with large economies doing many many different things that can't really be summarized in two sentences totaling twelve words. Both of them, in fact, are doing a lot of work-- and putting in a lot of their own money-- on reducing their carbon intensity.

    And they're also building coal plants. Your point is?

    If we did want them to increase their focus on implementing low-carbon technologies, and reduce their focus on increasing their populations standard of living by building more coal plants, it would be useful to come to an agreement to that effect.

    1. Re:Large countries doing many things. by cbeaudry · · Score: 1

      The USA is an "enormous countries with large economies doing many many different things "... Why one sided? Treaty with no teeth or no treaty with no teeth, China and India will do what they want. They know that from here to 30-40 years ago, technology will solve these problems anyways, because they arent ideological idiots. So, why would the USA stay in this non binding treaty and fork over tens of billions of dollars a year, so that the IMF can create monster useless projects and spread that wealth to their friends?