Options

Climate Change or: How I Stopped Worrying and Love Rising Sea Levels

13940424445100

Posts

  • Options
    HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    This just flew into my Twitter feed, apologies if it was already covered, but ambassador Nikki Haley told CNN in an interview that Trump believes in man-influenced climate change and only declared intent to leave the Paris Agreement because of Barack Obama.
    http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/03/politics/nikki-haley-donald-trump-climate-change-cnntv/index.html

  • Options
    NyysjanNyysjan FinlandRegistered User regular
    Henroid wrote: »
    This just flew into my Twitter feed, apologies if it was already covered, but ambassador Nikki Haley told CNN in an interview that Trump believes in man-influenced climate change and only declared intent to leave the Paris Agreement because of Barack Obama.
    http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/03/politics/nikki-haley-donald-trump-climate-change-cnntv/index.html

    I am shocked, shocked i say.
    /sarcasm

  • Options
    BahamutZEROBahamutZERO Registered User regular
    that ambassador is trying really hard to cover trump's ass so I expect he'll fire her shortly

    BahamutZERO.gif
  • Options
    EncEnc A Fool with Compassion Pronouns: He, Him, HisRegistered User regular
    We humans are very shitty at looking ahead, and incredibly myopic, is what it comes down to.

    Compared to other animals, we do pretty ok. Just we destroy our environment way better than we plan to preserve it.

  • Options
    Jealous DevaJealous Deva Registered User regular
    edited June 2017
    Mugsley wrote: »
    Horrible analogy, but a lot of the people in positions of importance/decision look at the data and say, "Nothing will be noticeable for 80 years? Fuck it! I'll be dead!" And so they either deny it or straight up ignore it. There's a video of one of the commenters on CNN freaking out over the Paris withdrawal and the guy next to him mentions sea level rise and physically scoffs. I'm sorry that the Earth is so big that it takes time to notice, fuckwad, but it doesn't discount the fact that what we're doing now is going to have ramifications for future generations.

    It's the same thing I'm dealing with as a government worker in [unnamed DoD agency]. No one wanted to buy new equipment because "WAR!" so now we have bombers that are literally over 60 years old and we have a Strategic Defense infrastructure literally as old as the atomic bomb. And now when people are like, "we should [finally] buy new planes," they scoff at the price.

    Bitch, if you would have cared even 20 years ago, we wouldn't be in this mess.

    This is pretty much everywhere. Buy expensive new equipment (often with a one time grant, long term loan, or other hard to reproduce funding source). Fail to budget properly for maintanance/replacement. Neglectful budget becomed 'normal', twenty years later equpment starts failing, oops no one planned for any of this and we can't get a new grant/etc so we have to make do.

    I've been in the situation of explaining to a higher up that yes, you spent 150,000 on xray equipment just 15 years ago, yes they do have about a 10 year service life, yes they are starting to fail, no we can't make do with one working unit for the entire clinic, and yes you should have budgeted 10 or 15 thousand a year for replacement costs but now you're just going to have to find money for it somewhere.

    Edit: It's especially bad when the original person who made the crappy decisions and failed to properly plan things out is long since retired and the person who has it dropped in their lap is someone who was just hired 2 years before and has no clue, but oh well.

    Jealous Deva on
  • Options
    FencingsaxFencingsax It is difficult to get a man to understand, when his salary depends upon his not understanding GNU Terry PratchettRegistered User regular
    Technically, it was the deputy

  • Options
    honoverehonovere Registered User regular
    Yeah, it's more of a symbolic move as he's the acting ambassador and a new one has already been chosen before.

  • Options
    Mr KhanMr Khan Not Everyone WAHHHRegistered User regular
    The deputy is usually the most important person in the place, though, because they're the careerist while the ambassador is at best a qualified political appointee taking a victory lap at the end of their career, at worst a donor getting an award.

  • Options
    override367override367 ALL minions Registered User regular
    We humans are very shitty at looking ahead, and incredibly myopic, is what it comes down to.

    I think in this case its more than the boomers just don't give a shit about the future of the planet, they're either going to be dead or jesus will come back

  • Options
    CantidoCantido Registered User regular
    We humans are very shitty at looking ahead, and incredibly myopic, is what it comes down to.

    I think in this case its more than the boomers just don't give a shit about the future of the planet, they're either going to be dead or jesus will come back

    I really wish they would ask the question "do I really want to be the reason Jesus comes back?"

    3DS Friendcode 5413-1311-3767
  • Options
    VeeveeVeevee WisconsinRegistered User regular
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/california-gov-brown-us-stay-climate-fight-47856346
    With President Donald Trump pulling the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord, China and California signed an agreement Tuesday to work together on reducing emissions, as the state's governor warned that "disaster still looms" without urgent action.

    Gov. Jerry Brown told The Associated Press at an international clean energy conference in Beijing that Trump's decision to pull the U.S. out of the Paris agreement will ultimately prove only a temporary setback.

    For now, he said, China, European countries and individual U.S. states will fill the gap left by the federal government's move to abdicate leadership on the issue.

    "Nobody can stay on the sidelines. We can't afford any dropouts in the tremendous human challenge to make the transition to a sustainable future," Brown said. "Disaster still looms and we've got to make the turn."

    This actually makes me really nervous. The precedent this would set for other states to follow if California prevails when the feds tell them to stop could lead to some really terrible situations.

  • Options
    discriderdiscrider Registered User regular
    Cantido wrote: »
    We humans are very shitty at looking ahead, and incredibly myopic, is what it comes down to.

    I think in this case its more than the boomers just don't give a shit about the future of the planet, they're either going to be dead or jesus will come back

    I really wish they would ask the question "do I really want to be the reason Jesus comes back?"

    Or, perhaps, read their book:
    Amos 5:18 wrote:
    18Woe to you who long
    for the day of the LORD!
    Why do you long for the day of the LORD?
    That day will be darkness, not light.
    19It will be as though a man fled from a lion
    only to meet a bear,
    as though he entered his house
    and rested his hand on the wall
    only to have a snake bite him

    Haven't found a direct New Testament reference though.
    Still, this passage is a condemnation of those who are religious but are not just or righteous, and that was prolific in the New Testament as well.
    And wishing destruction on everyone else or the world so you can get raptured is rather that.

  • Options
    Professor PhobosProfessor Phobos Registered User regular
    Interstate compacts are perfectly kosher as long as they don't involve "alliance" with foreign powers.

  • Options
    enlightenedbumenlightenedbum Registered User regular
    Article 1, Section 10:
    No state shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty of tonnage, keep troops, or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another state, or with a foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay.

    Self-righteousness is incompatible with coalition building.
  • Options
    jothkijothki Registered User regular
    Enc wrote: »
    We humans are very shitty at looking ahead, and incredibly myopic, is what it comes down to.

    Compared to other animals, we do pretty ok. Just we destroy our environment way better than we plan to preserve it.

    I'm sure that there have been plenty of animals that devastated their own environments even worse than we have. We don't see any of them now because they have a tendency to not stick around for long.

  • Options
    Professor PhobosProfessor Phobos Registered User regular
    Article 1, Section 10:
    No state shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty of tonnage, keep troops, or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another state, or with a foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay.

    SCOTUS ruled that it only applied if the compact increased state power over federal.

  • Options
    enlightenedbumenlightenedbum Registered User regular
    Article 1, Section 10:
    No state shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty of tonnage, keep troops, or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another state, or with a foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay.

    SCOTUS ruled that it only applied if the compact increased state power over federal.

    And this SCOTUS would say fuck that burn baby burn.

    Self-righteousness is incompatible with coalition building.
  • Options
    Professor PhobosProfessor Phobos Registered User regular
    Article 1, Section 10:
    No state shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty of tonnage, keep troops, or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another state, or with a foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay.

    SCOTUS ruled that it only applied if the compact increased state power over federal.

    And this SCOTUS would say fuck that burn baby burn.

    I mean, arguably SCOTUS neutered the compact clause when it merged it with the supremacy clause, so who knows? I can see a fair argument here.

  • Options
    VeeveeVeevee WisconsinRegistered User regular
    But this is a state making a compact with a foreign power, not an interstate compact, and the only time I can remember a state working with a foreign power in defiance of the federal government in US history was during the Civil War. California's actions, should they be defiant to the federal government and courts when they shut them down (because they will), could easily lead to some very not good places.

    We went to war against each over slavery. I do not put it past us to do the same over trying to save the world.

  • Options
    Professor PhobosProfessor Phobos Registered User regular
    It's not really a compact with a foreign powers, it's a declaration of the reasoning for the state taking certain actions it's already entitled to do, and those reasons relate to an international treaty.

  • Options
    MayabirdMayabird Pecking at the keyboardRegistered User regular
    Article 1, Section 10:
    No state shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty of tonnage, keep troops, or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another state, or with a foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay.

    Might they try to take it to the Supreme Court and get them to rule that climate change is an imminent danger?

  • Options
    JragghenJragghen Registered User regular
    California already lost that court case in 1999.

    https://ww2.kqed.org/science/2016/12/12/if-trump-wont-can-california-sign-the-international-climate-treaty/
    step farther and are asking an unprecedented question: if the U.S. pulls out of the international climate treaty, as Trump has said he wants to, could California sign on to it?

    “The short answer is no,” said Michael Wara of Stanford Law School.

    The central reason is that the authors of the Constitution didn’t leave a lot of wiggle room.

    “They were very careful to ensure that the federal government and the president in particular would have sole authority to conduct foreign affairs,” he said.

    California has tested this before. In 1999, the state passed a law requiring European insurance companies disclose the names of people who signed up for policies before World War II. Families of Holocaust survivors were having trouble collecting insurance because the paperwork had been lost or destroyed in the war.

    The California law revoked the licenses of foreign insurance companies that didn’t comply. At the same time, the federal government was holding its own negotiations on the matter.

    In the end, the Supreme Court struck down California’s law, finding that “there shouldn’t be two foreign policies,” Wara said.

    The other reason California probably couldn’t sign on to the treaty comes from international law, according to Wara.

    “Only nation-states can be parties to international agreements and only members to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change can be members of the Paris agreement,” he says. “And California is not a member.”

    Still, Wara says signing the treaty may not matter, because California has adopted it in practice.

    “California has set objectives for itself that are far more aggressive than the U.S. commitments under the Paris agreement,” he said.

    Tl;Dr - this compact is unconstitutional, but ultimately meaningless because CA already has targets above those for the Paris Accords, so signing this is a public "fuck you" to Trump, but one which will ultimately allow him to get a win when it's "struck down" (but changes nothing).

  • Options
    XaquinXaquin Right behind you!Registered User regular
    The paris accords aren't legally binding so I'm not sure there is a case regardless

  • Options
    GundiGundi Serious Bismuth Registered User regular
    Yeah states don't have a right to like independently enter into a treaty with foreign powers, but the Paris Accord wasn't really a treaty. It was more just a statement of intention.

  • Options
    DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    State officials make agreements with foreign government officials all the time. That's how international economies work.

    I mean hell, the Governor of Iowa being picked as Ambassador to China is one of the few (the only?) smart appointments by the Trump administration, because he has a decades-long friendly working relationship with Chinese officials up to and including Xi Jinping based on the import/export trade between Iowa and China.

  • Options
    MillMill Registered User regular
    Yeah, I think once you get into statement of intention territory, there really isn't any legal room for the offended party to score a win in court in most cases. Seeing how this doesn't advocate policies that infringe on people's rights, I suspect the courts would tell Trump to get fucked. He'll have to wait for Congress to pass something that would cause California to try to override it and it would have to be something that could stand up in court.

  • Options
    FencingsaxFencingsax It is difficult to get a man to understand, when his salary depends upon his not understanding GNU Terry PratchettRegistered User regular
    DarkPrimus wrote: »
    State officials make agreements with foreign government officials all the time. That's how international economies work.

    I mean hell, the Governor of Iowa being picked as Ambassador to China is one of the few (the only?) smart appointments by the Trump administration, because he has a decades-long friendly working relationship with Chinese officials up to and including Xi Jinping based on the import/export trade between Iowa and China.

    And with California being the 6th largest economy on the planet, they do a shit ton of business with China already.

  • Options
    VeeveeVeevee WisconsinRegistered User regular
    edited June 2017
    DarkPrimus wrote: »
    State officials make agreements with foreign government officials all the time. That's how international economies work.

    I mean hell, the Governor of Iowa being picked as Ambassador to China is one of the few (the only?) smart appointments by the Trump administration, because he has a decades-long friendly working relationship with Chinese officials up to and including Xi Jinping based on the import/export trade between Iowa and China.

    And those State officials have the implied consent of the Federal government to do those deals until they are told otherwise. The Feds can step in at any moment and say those deals are no longer valid, just as easily as a State government can step in and say a city's ordinances are no longer valid. The Feds don't step in and stop these deals because allowing the States to make the deals is just plain smart foreign policy for a multitude of reasons that should be readily apparent.

    Which means if California pushes this I'm positive Trump would push back and kill this policy.

    Edit: Actually, because the constitution is pretty clear that this is the purview of Congress and not the President, Trump would need to convince congress to go along with it. Some "Fuck the liberals in California" bill to make these deals require active consent or something.

    Veevee on
  • Options
    themightypuckthemightypuck MontanaRegistered User regular
    edited June 2017
    Interesting article on state of energy storage. One cool takeaway is that full grid defection is becoming more economical.

    http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/sustainability-and-resource-productivity/our-insights/battery-storage-the-next-disruptive-technology-in-the-power-sector?curator=MediaREDEF

    themightypuck on
    “Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.”
    ― Marcus Aurelius

    Path of Exile: themightypuck
  • Options
    ZibblsnrtZibblsnrt Registered User regular
    I have a feeling even this Congress will probably have a difficult time selling legislation placing a ceiling, rather than a floor, on the environmental standards states or cities can adopt, especially in the context of agreements which aren't binding anyway.

    That said, the USCA and the Climate Mayors organizations are both growing nicely, with about half the states and almost 300 cities on board with continuing to abide by (at a minimum) Paris Agreement standards so far, plus some similarly-large coalitions with similar goals in mind.

  • Options
    MillMill Registered User regular
    The state of Virginia is officially on the fence and awaiting to see how elections go this fall. Governor McAuliffe has instructed the Department of Environmental Quality to look into making a rule capping greenhouse gases from power plants. Essentially, it looks like the rule envisioned would try to base those caps on what the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative puts in place for it's members, without actually joining the group. Since it is unlikely that we'll see a democratic led State Senate until 2019 at the earliest, barring a republican getting removed and their chosen successor losing the special election, there is no way for Virginia to actually join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and take part in the auctions.

    In short, McAuliffe has made climate change a campaign issue. We'll see if things have progressed to a point where it has serious weight as such or not this fall. Predictably, the republican candidates in the state's primary are coming out against this with the typical rehash bullshit lines. Both democratic candidates in the primary are in favor. The Department of Environmental Quality won't have the rule ready until after McAuliffe has left office, so it's ultimate fate will rest with the winner of the state's Governor race this fall. Though if a republican wins, expect them to try and pass a law forbidding a future governor from implementing such a rule, which will get challenged in court.

  • Options
    MayabirdMayabird Pecking at the keyboardRegistered User regular
    Zibblsnrt wrote: »
    That said, the USCA and the Climate Mayors organizations are both growing nicely, with about half the states and almost 300 cities on board with continuing to abide by (at a minimum) Paris Agreement standards so far, plus some similarly-large coalitions with similar goals in mind.

    That link isn't working.


    Anyway, in Iowa, the new governor (now that Branstad has fucked off to China, and they can keep him) apparently is starting a push to make Iowa coal-free, since coal comes from out of state. Reynolds wanting to push biomass fuel generation apparently, since miscanthus grass is perennial, could potentially be efficiently converted to biofuel (far better than corn), and can grow abundantly on marginal land. We'll see if anything comes of this since the GOP line right now is to burn coal to make Jesus happy or something.

  • Options
    MillMill Registered User regular
    I'd have to look at what they are saying about fuels derived from biomass. I'd argue for most things, it can fuck off. I mainly see it as potentially being a better source of fuel for vehicles than gasoline. At the very least, it would keep us from having to extract oil from underground to run vehicles and I think the oil we'd still need to extract would be better used for other purposes. On the other hand, if our society could get off it's us and push for better infrastructure, a non-fossil fuel based energy grid and better battery technology, biomass fuels just end up being a terrible option. I guess the best use for them might be for high machinery that doesn't have easy access to another source of fuel and will be operating long enough, for it's purposes, outside of an easy charging point.

    Though, I still would applaud Iowa if they got off of coal and if that led to them using cleaner sources of energy.

  • Options
    BrainleechBrainleech 機知に富んだコメントはここにあります Registered User regular
    With how much this state raves about it's sunny weather and such I am shocked they don't do more with solar
    They even test them here!

  • Options
    honoverehonovere Registered User regular
    In the lead up to the next G20 meeting some members of the G20 apparently switched to appeasement concerning the US. For example Canada.

    Spiegel.de: Merkel's G-20 Climate Alliance Is Crumbling
    German Chancellor Angela Merkel had actually thought that Canada's young, charismatic prime minister, Justin Trudeau, could be counted among her reliable partners. Particularly when it came to climate policy. Just two weeks ago, at the G-7 summit in Sicily, he had thrown his support behind Germany. When Merkel took a confrontational approach to U.S. President Donald Trump, Trudeau was at her side.

    But by Tuesday evening, things had changed. At 8 p.m., Merkel called Trudeau to talk about how to proceed following Trump's announced withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement. To her surprise, the Canadian prime minister was no longer on the attack. He had switched to appeasement instead.

    What would be wrong with simply striking all mentions of the Paris Agreement from the planned G-20 statement on climate, Trudeau asked. He suggested simply limiting the statement to energy issues, something that Trump would likely support as well. Trudeau had apparently changed his approach to Trump and seemed concerned about further provoking his powerful neighbor to the south.

  • Options
    TryCatcherTryCatcher Registered User regular
    honovere wrote: »
    In the lead up to the next G20 meeting some members of the G20 apparently switched to appeasement concerning the US. For example Canada.

    Spiegel.de: Merkel's G-20 Climate Alliance Is Crumbling
    German Chancellor Angela Merkel had actually thought that Canada's young, charismatic prime minister, Justin Trudeau, could be counted among her reliable partners. Particularly when it came to climate policy. Just two weeks ago, at the G-7 summit in Sicily, he had thrown his support behind Germany. When Merkel took a confrontational approach to U.S. President Donald Trump, Trudeau was at her side.

    But by Tuesday evening, things had changed. At 8 p.m., Merkel called Trudeau to talk about how to proceed following Trump's announced withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement. To her surprise, the Canadian prime minister was no longer on the attack. He had switched to appeasement instead.

    What would be wrong with simply striking all mentions of the Paris Agreement from the planned G-20 statement on climate, Trudeau asked. He suggested simply limiting the statement to energy issues, something that Trump would likely support as well. Trudeau had apparently changed his approach to Trump and seemed concerned about further provoking his powerful neighbor to the south.

    Trudeau wants the Keystone pipeline and doesn't care what has to happen in order to get it. Which is the problem with enviromental discussions, every time that it comes to jobs vs. the enviroment, jobs have a tendency to win. Can't worry about the future if you starve now.

  • Options
    shrykeshryke Member of the Beast Registered User regular
    Or, you know, Canada has to play ball with it's biggest neighbour and biggest trading partner, no matter how fucking insane they are.

    Appeasement is always gonna be the main part of the game with Trump because the US is too big and powerful.

  • Options
    daveNYCdaveNYC Why universe hate Waspinator? Registered User regular
    You can't appease crazy.

    Shut up, Mr. Burton! You were not brought upon this world to get it!
  • Options
    shrykeshryke Member of the Beast Registered User regular
    daveNYC wrote: »
    You can't appease crazy.

    You very much can. Generally something crazy and powerful is the thing you need to be the most careful to appease.

This discussion has been closed.