
Ask HN: Programmer abroad, how can I help fight climate change? - thekafkaf
Do you know of any projects&#x2F;communities that I can contribute to?<p>Thanks in advance for any angle or opinion on the matter :)
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iamnothere123
Most computing power is wasted by clueless programmers writing inefficient
code.

Write better code, use less computing power, lower energy usage!

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mars4rp
Kill bitcoin!

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LeonB
I've made a list of things (that are not programmer specific) here:
[http://wiki.secretgeek.net/practical-things-you-can-do-
for-t...](http://wiki.secretgeek.net/practical-things-you-can-do-for-the-
environme)

There's this article from Bret Victor: "What can a Technologist Do About
Climate Change?"
[http://worrydream.com/ClimateChange/](http://worrydream.com/ClimateChange/)

I'm always looking for more things.
[https://Climate.Careers](https://Climate.Careers) is interesting!

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auslegung
<[https://climate.careers>](https://climate.careers>) is a good place to
start. I recently read another HN post on this topic, and someone said to find
climate-related jobs, you'll need to do a lot of googling for common strings
like "green tech" or "clean tech", and as you start to find companies and job
boards (like climate.careers), you'll pick up other search phrases you can
use.

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zapperdapper
'climate change' is quite a nebulous entity. I actually think software is
unlikely to help anyway - the greatest changes are to be had in getting people
to change their lifestyle. For example, reducing debt-fuelled consumption,
reducing energy needs, using the car less or, unimaginable to many, getting
rid of the car altogether. To be honest, the biggest impact you can have is
always to change your own behaviour first...

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neuroticfish
People partake in those behaviors that are harmful to the planet because
they're convenient. Software and automation can provide solutions that shift
the convenience to options that will reduce our carbon footprint.

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chrdlu
Check out Project Wren ([https://projectwren.com/](https://projectwren.com/)),
you can offset your carbon footprint for about $20 a month in a few minutes!

They also do a great job of educating users about what they can do to reduce
their carbon footprint!

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kevinsimper
I know the people behind
[https://www.electricitymap.org](https://www.electricitymap.org) really care
about climate change as many do :)

Also this video: "What can a javascript developer do to combat climate change?
- Olivier Corradi" [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keOPXD-
ojWY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keOPXD-ojWY)

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duzao
I used to work as a programmer to a kind of a Brazilian NGO (Non-governmental
organization) named "CRIA" whose aim is to the dissemination of electronic
information, mostly concerning biodiversity data. When I was working there,
they were really struggling to get any kind of financing. I am sure they could
use some help. Their website is this one: www.cria.org.br/about/

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d--b
If you haven't already read it:
[http://worrydream.com/#!/ClimateChange](http://worrydream.com/#!/ClimateChange)
(2015)

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40something
Follow the money. Obama just purchased a 8 figure beachfront property in a
zone predicted to be hit hard during climate change.

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flukus
Contribute to ad blockers, that's about the quickest and largest contribution
you can make as a programmer.

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buboard
Stop flying

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bjourne
Join a political party.

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breck
I'm curious, why do you want to fight it? Some people will suffer from climate
change, while others will gain a lot. For example, perhaps folks in Siberia
might see their land become more usable. Some poor people in inland areas will
suddenly have waterfront property, while some rich folks in mcmansions on the
coast will lose their's. So in a sense fighting climate change is helping
certain populations (in many cases, the rich), while hurting others.

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lm28469
I'm not sure in which category you put the hundreds of million of
Africans/south asians who will be forced to migrate north.

Sure the whooping 4 dudes living in Siberia will be able to cultivate more
things, but for the rest of the world (aka were people actually live) it's a
net negative in every aspects.

Besides that, even if climate change doesn't exist or if it is positive for
some people, fighting pollution will always be a good thing if you care about
your lungs or your health in general.

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breck
So you are saying that there are more people living in places that will have
negative impacts from climate change than positive impacts. I could see that
being a reasonable argument. Should we then compensate those who would
otherwise benefit if we reversed climate change?

> even if climate change doesn't exist

From what I've read climate change very much exists and it's due to the
increase in co2.

But I haven't seen people put out forecasts they are confident in on _what the
impacts will be_. I'm not kidding, a few times per year here in Hawaii the
forecast for rain is 0% _while it is raining_. And this is a place with very
advanced military and atmospheric stations. I think scientists have made an
overwhelming convincing case climate change is real and it's from an increase
in co2, but I have seen no models that I can play with specifically predicting
how it will affect certain regions. Instead people say "it will be bad". If
you think because scientists say something is good or bad without showing you
all the underlying data and allowing you to reproduce things yourself at home,
I've got some government approved pain pills to sell you.

> fighting pollution will always be a good thing if you care about your lungs
> or your health in general.

I agree with this.

I guess my point is the first step is better forecasting and modeling tools.
Otherwise we really don't know what we are fighting, other than higher
temperatures.

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lm28469
> If you think because scientists say something is good or bad without showing
> you all the underlying data and allowing you to reproduce things yourself at
> home, I've got some government approved pain pills to sell you.

You can't reproduce everything at home, especially things happening on very
long timescales. If you deny things you can't reproduce at home you can
basically forget any scientific progress of the last 30 years.

The underlying data is available and pretty clear.

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breck
> You can't reproduce everything at home

Yes, you can, if it's reproducible science. If you can't figure out an
experiment at home that could prove the validity of a recommendation made by a
"government" or "institution" it is not science they are selling you. It's
marketing.

