
What can a technologist do about climate change? (2015) - tosh
http://worrydream.com/ClimateChange/?m=1
======
skrap
My opinion: There is no solution to this problem without strong public policy.
What we have here is a problem of the market to deal with a strong negative
externality. There are many ways to deal with this, but they all involve some
sort of collective legally binding action. Carbon tax, cap & dividend,
outright outlawing of certain industries or activities... these are all
possible solutions, each with their own strengths. But individual action is
not gonna cut it on this one. So, invent all the technological solutions you
want. They will be useful, but only to solve the challenge which the public
policy will create. Without the public policy, they're scarcely going to
scratch the surface.

~~~
janj
I've also noticed this when reading about ambitious ideas to solve this
problem, they usually assume/depend on a tax on carbon and it reaching
something like $150/ton by 2030, eg [1]

That means it is up to us, all of us, to identify the politicians who are
delaying this and get them out of office very soon. In my opinion that is the
next step in making meaningful progress and that is something anyone can
contribute to if directed effectively. It's exciting seeing these kids around
the world pressuring their politicians but I want to find an organized, well
funded operation with only one objective, to prevent the wrong people from
being (re)elected.

[1][https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/12/magazine/climeworks-
busin...](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/12/magazine/climeworks-business-
climate-change.html)

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js8
Like many people here, I am a programmer (in Prague). My job is not
particularly meaningful. Is there a way in which I can join the "war effort"?
(It seems there really isn't any effort, but still.)

I mean, I understand there are likely technological problems to solve. Is
there anywhere anybody who is looking for people to work on these problems,
skills notwithstanding (I think I can learn)? Or are we just all waiting for
each other to do something about it?

~~~
LeonB
I have a wiki page full of practical things here:
[http://wiki.secretgeek.net/practical-things-you-can-do-
for-t...](http://wiki.secretgeek.net/practical-things-you-can-do-for-the-
environme)

...even though they are not specifically for programmers. (A programmer
mindset can help with many of those things.)

~~~
LeonB
Also, this site has a growing list of practical things we can do:

[https://everydayactivist.org/choices/home](https://everydayactivist.org/choices/home)

~~~
kaybe
I don't think this is what the GP post meant. All this is necessary, but as a
programmer you can act as a multiplier and do more. (edit: as also the article
discusses, at some points a bit vaguely. It also has some more/different
points compared to this list here.)

Upcoming challenges, for example, are grid balancing with the increasing
amount of constantly changing renewable energy input, maybe to coordinate load
on the grid with it (eg only start washing machines during the day when solar
is available). Predicting near-future inputs from wind and sun forecast models
also plays into this.

You can also always work on making things more energy-efficient or optimize
processes so less energy is used (Manufacturing for example uses so much
transport for in-between steps. Can we get rid of some of them?).

The holy grail is probably carbon capture. Some people are also working on
that and might be able to use your expertise.

Another topic is mitigation. Enabling people especially in poorer countries to
withstand increasingly frequent disturbances better - resilience - will help
greatly. Many non-profits who work on this would love to have you help with
technology. They can also connect you to ongoing state projects I think.

And then there is climate modelling. Some efforts are made to make the models
accessible to the public, but it is hard. If someone put some work into this
that would help a lot. Additionally, scientists are not the best coders. The
best are working on the models, but in general the coding practices are
severely lacking. You might be able to come around and just teach about that,
and learn which kind of tools would be helpful. But then we know all we need
to act at that front.

~~~
LeonB
Interesting in theory.

Do you have a list of places where scientists are inviting coders to come and
talk to them about coding practices? (Or organizations that can help with
this)

What are some non-profits who work on enabling people in poorer countries to
withstand disturbances? Are they looking for coders?

Who is working on carbon capture and looking for volunteer collaborators?

~~~
aaronkaplan
> What are some non-profits who work on enabling people in poorer countries to
> withstand disturbances? Are they looking for coders?

The International Research Institute on Climate and Society at Columbia
University's Earth Institute is looking for a programmer to work on their Data
Library. Unfortunately I don't see a way to get a permalink to the job
listing; you can find it by going to
[https://jobs.columbia.edu/](https://jobs.columbia.edu/) , clicking "SEARCH
OPEN POSITIONS" in the left nav, and specifying Department 6061.

I'm not affiliated with the group. I actually interviewed for the position
last week, but probably won't end up taking it.

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mirimir
This is a _great_ presentation.

I wish that he'd said more about 60% of everything used via electricity being
"wasted". I suppose that it's largely the Carnot cycle. Given that the major
sources are coal, natural gas and nuclear.

For coal and natural gas, that wasted energy means more than doubling CO2
emissions. But there's really no workaround, unless you use those fuels
directly, and get all of your electricity from PV and wind.

That would be a major change. Maybe, as he argues for petroleum, it's better
to just not use that stuff as fuel. Just as chemical feedstocks.

Edit: grammar

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mushufasa
Use your rights as a shareholder to push companies & funds to improve on
climate.

This tries to make that easy, for example:
[https://www.yourstake.org/ask/vanguard-vanguard-tell-
compani...](https://www.yourstake.org/ask/vanguard-vanguard-tell-companies-to-
have-climate-plan/)

------
volume
Bret should team up with Andrew Yang where he breaks down the Freedom Dividend
(UBI) Bret Victor style.

------
jacknews
A great presentation, but he has omitted a huge area where improvements can be
made, if not necessarily directly through software; agriculture.

A large factor in the current ecological crisis is our agricultural footprint,
and I think there is a lot of scope to innovate there.

For example one of his sidebar statistics shows that fully 50% of US land is
devoted to agriculture. That seems huge, and something to be addressed in
itself. I think we should be aiming to return land to nature as far as
possible.

Growing rice on floating platforms at sea? Lab meat? underground or tall-tower
hydroponic salad farms? Etc, etc.

------
davidjnelson
I created a github organization to allow people to choose an impactful area of
work that Bret outlined in his presentation to do on a donation basis when
they have some free time. The first area I added was Wind Capacity Estimation.

Come join if you'd like to work on this!

[https://github.com/climate-
technologists/discussion](https://github.com/climate-technologists/discussion)

------
kevin_b_er
Vote against those who would destroy the commons in favor of more money.

~~~
hjek
... because checking the right box with a pencil once in a while is considered
sufficient action against a global existential threat?

------
gregcrv
Vote

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hjek
Take the Liberation Pledge[0]; join (or start) a Critical Mass[1]; take action
against the military industrial complex (Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, ...)

[0]: [http://www.liberationpledge.com/](http://www.liberationpledge.com/)

[1]: [http://www.critical-mass.org/](http://www.critical-mass.org/)

------
ThomPete
Invent better forms of energy.

------
ekianjo
Push for more nuclear power.

~~~
godelski
Nuclear (fission) is the _only_ _ _current_ _ form of technology that can
solve the problem.

Side note: anyone know why there's been a recent uptick in nuclear articles on
HN?

~~~
ekianjo
Because more and more people like Bill Gates are pushing for it?

~~~
godelski
He's been pushing it for a decade. Though there seems to be more articles here
that are anti than pro (though both exist).

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DigiMortal
Plants. Plant trees, plant as many trees as possible. The planet is warming
naturally anyways, if we are speeding it up (we are, that's like 99.9999%
certain, right?), we are heading there anyways. Humans will be fine
regardless, the planet will be fine regardless.

Adapt, evolve...and plant trees. Focus on meaning, worrying about climate
change is a fools purpose imo

 _the bigger picture is not climate change_ look past it.

~~~
lenticular
We are heading into very dangerous territory. While there may be some natural
warming, the effects we see now are overwhelmingly anthropogenic, and thus can
be mitigated by emissions controls. Your suggestion to the contrary is not at
all supported scientifically.

We are probably locked in to 2-3C rise at this point, and realistically we may
hit more like 4C or more eventually with politically realistic emissions
scenarios.

If emissions go completely uncontrolled in the future, an ultimate warming of
10C or more, while not likely, is not out of the question. That would be
completely civilization-ending, and would cause a mass extinction of scale not
seen since the P-T boundary several hundred million years ago.

This is a problem we are causing. We need to take it seriously. Anyone who
buys homeowner's insurance should agree with that logic.

~~~
godelski
I think what the OP is getting at is that we need to sequester that carbon.
I'm all in for reducing emissions as much as we can. But that doesn't take
care of the contaminants already in the air and ocean (and what is being
released from under the ice). Sequestration is an important step that we need
to be taking seriously.

Though I don't agree with their comment about worrying is for fools.

Edit: It doesn't seem that's what OP is getting at. But __ _I_ __ think we
need to talk about sequestration in conjunction with radically lowering our
emissions.

~~~
DigiMortal
It's because the human purpose isn't to stay on this planet. Depends on your
worldview, but yes it is a fools purpose in the greater sense of things.

~~~
kaybe
No matter what we do, Earth will stay the most hospitable planet by far for
us. Ten degrees more, ten degrees less.. still a walk in the park compared to
all other places.

~~~
godelski
I think this is what a lot of people forget. And to get technical, there are
places that are (likely) just as hospitable, but we can't reach them in any
reasonable amount of time.

------
yters
Have a clear, convincing response for the top 'climate denier' arguments. For
experimental evidence, provide all the data in an easily accessible form,
explain how to reproduce the compelling results, and provide the software to
do so. Also address possible deficiencies in the data and the modeling
techniques.

------
munk-a
Hrm, I have a less traditional approach. Slap a denier, their numbers are few
so they'll probably get a good 2-3 slaps each, then we can talk like
reasonable people. /s

(Please don't do violence...)

But honestly, at this point, it's futile, idiots are idiots and people who
aren't idiots need to fix things within our political system and then send a
bunch of the top idiots to jail to teach them a lesson. My patience for
gradualism has entirely dissolved. If you're one of the many Californians of
HN here please devote some time to kicking Feinstein out of office next round,
her continued republican-lite attitude isn't getting anything done.

~~~
fooblitzky
I've been enjoying some success just talking to climate-change deniers. Just
calmly, rationally, taking the time to listen to their concerns and ideas
(which are crazy paranoid). Not my idea - it's outlined in this awesome TED
talk:
[https://www.ted.com/talks/katharine_hayhoe_the_most_importan...](https://www.ted.com/talks/katharine_hayhoe_the_most_important_thing_you_can_do_to_fight_climate_change_talk_about_it?language=en)

It takes a lot of patience, but I find after a while they feel like they've
been heard and they become more open to learning more about the science behind
climate change, feel less threatened by it, etc. The media is doing a poor job
of educating the public on the issue. It's also slow, because it's a one-on-
one approach that takes a lot of time. But I figure it's worth it if I can
change one climate-denier's mind.

