
Ask HN: Is There Any Interest in an Open Source Solution for Climate Change - monster2control
In the computer world we have used Open Source Software to solve a lot of problems, spark numerous ideas and I believe have made the world a much better place in the digital realm because of it.<p>I keep reading about companies trying to solve climate based problems with for profit models and closed source ideas.<p>This issue is too big and too important to put all our hope in private organizations or even governments to solve the issues. Good ideas could be killed because they are not profitable or too slow to roll out because of government red tape.<p>We need a github like Platform for open source ideas, hardware, software, anything at all to help combat climate change before it’s too late.<p>Who would be interested in starting a project like this? Where do we start? Does something like a basic up and down voting system of ideas sound useful? How do we get experts to contribute?<p>Or have I missed the boat and didn’t find something that already exist when I googled?
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paulyacoubian
Hi OP, I'm Paul. I'm solving climate change and I'd like for you to join me.

I've set up a public benefit corporation, CarbonSpace.org. Just a landing page
at the moment, but I've signed up friends and family while in private beta and
the run rate with this group alone is already above 4m pounds of CO2 annually
(more than just carbon neutral). We're doing it by lowering our carbon
footprint as efficiently as possible while at the same time funding methane
gas projects that reduce emissions on an industrial scale. The first milestone
for the network is 10m lbs, which we'll hit in a few months.

Hit me up if interested.[paul]{@}[carbonspace][.][org]

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fri_sch
I have recently thought about applying workflows and ideas of the open source
and software world to real world issues. I was imagining a web platform to
locate, describe, discuss and eventually solve issues together. While one of
my "example" issues is climate change, I wouldn't dedicate the platform only
to this issue but make it a generic tool.

I have written down some of my thoughts about this and if someone is
interested I would be willing to share them and discuss this topic.

While doing some research, I also stumbled upon some ideas by David Ernst ([1]
and [2]). I think he was heading into the same direction some years ago and he
is now running a platform for "liquid democracy" in the US [3].

[1] [http://dsernst.com/2016/02/24/open-think-
tank/](http://dsernst.com/2016/02/24/open-think-tank/) [2]
[https://github.com/utopia/building](https://github.com/utopia/building) [3]
[https://liquid.us](https://liquid.us)

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davidjnelson
This sounds really interesting. What does the “solve” stage look like for
various issues?

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fri_sch
Generally this could include collection, verification and implementation of
solution proposals.

If a proposed solution is accepted by the community its progress can be
tracked. I think it is important to have some kind of status and goal, ideally
in numbers, to encourage people to participate. For many issues we currently
don't receive positive feedback, even when we are actually making progress
(often on a small scale) and I think this is a real problem.

For the matter of climate change this could be setting personal goals like
reducing your own CO2 footprint.

Or community efforts on a local/regional scale. For example collecting
signatures to support a green energy project.

Or financial investments in the renewable energy sector or donations to NGOs,
etc.

Users of the platform could get a estimate of what impact various measures
would have (in this case for example mass of CO2 or raise in global
temperature, etc.) and could see who actively works on a solution.

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davidjnelson
That sounds awesome. I made a github org to get people together who want to
hack on this type of thing: [https://github.com/climate-
technologists/discussion](https://github.com/climate-technologists/discussion)

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davidjnelson
Ideas are fine, but action is important.

Some kind of tool to surface the most pressing problems, list the current best
solutions, then allow users to enlist in implementing the solutions in their
life and tracking them with friends might make an impact.

That could be an open source platform, with volunteer coders, curators, and
donators for server and other costs.

~~~
fri_sch
This sounds very similar to the kind of platform I was thinking about.

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sacrosurf
Your heart's in the right place, but trying to save the world by focusing on a
gas in our atmosphere is probably not the best way to do it.

Whether you're right or not about C02 being a problem, it's more important
that we increase child nutrition and education, having a couple million more
smart & able people to help with stewarding Humanity and Earth will probably
do everyone a lot more help. This piece explains this position well:
[https://youtu.be/T7pwFxQqOxQ](https://youtu.be/T7pwFxQqOxQ)

Also, you're not going to want to hear this but the global climate is a lot
more nuanced than most scientists realize. How many of them can handle the
concepts of electrical engineering? The climate models have not been taking
particle forcing into account, they've all been assuming a simplistic view of
the Earth's dynamics akin to a steam engine:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYoOcaqCzxo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYoOcaqCzxo)

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syllable_studio
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19247308](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19247308)

^ I'd like to contribute this idea: "Creating the world's largest battery deep
below the sea."

I'm working on other ideas as well and would love to contribute in a more
formal decentralized way.

I'll follow this thread and reach out to folks as well! eric at syllablehq.com

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wlib
Environmental problems will only be solved if 1) people can earn money by
solving it 2) people hit a breaking point, and actually drop what they're
doing to help

...and #2 doesn't seem very likely for a while. So the only practical thing to
do right now is spread awareness and to support companies implementing #1. I
made a comment here about permaculture which I recommend you see [1]. And I
also have an example company implementing #1 [2]. And here's an example of #1
actually happening [3].

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18215706](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18215706)
[2] [https://youtu.be/mETzoNau5A8](https://youtu.be/mETzoNau5A8) [3]
[https://youtu.be/_3KkN8hvUCI](https://youtu.be/_3KkN8hvUCI)

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dkiarie
I'm actually at option 2 right now but don't know how to put my skills to use
in this area.

I'm in my early 20's and have reached a breaking point where I'm genuinely
willing to drop everything including quit my job to help towards a realistic
solution.

I'm very concerned that climate change will seriously effect us in the near
future and I don't see change being made quickly enough.

I know I'm in the minority but we number 2's do exist.

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nicholas73
The early 20's are about as free as you'll ever be. It's not a long period of
time either.

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tlb
The best way to open source ideas is simply to publish them. Ideas aren't
protectable by copyright so publishing, either in an open-access journal or
just a blog, is best.

YC published some ideas recently:
[http://carbon.ycombinator.com/](http://carbon.ycombinator.com/)

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tjkrusinski
P sure there is a massive body of research that has been published by journals
like nature.com, etc. I'd start there and scope out what is there/what's not
there.

[https://www.nature.com/search?q=climate+change](https://www.nature.com/search?q=climate+change)

