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0 pointsmaxharris10y ago0 comments

I live in Ballard, a neighborhood of Seattle, which is right on the ocean. If and as sea levels rise, every single person here would be better off running away from their homes, abandoning everything they own and starting from scratch somewhere inland.

For each of us, even this would be better than abandoning industrial civilization, which is the thing that gives us hospitals, abundant food, clothing, shelter, clean/hot/cold water, and everything else needed for a good human life.

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yongjik10y ago

Holy strawman. Taxing fossil fuel now equals abandoning industrial civilization?

But I agree on one point. When (not IF) the sea level rises, some people are bound to end up better off, by taking opportunities and exploiting all the other people who have to find new place to live.

Some people will do absolutely anything to make money, and don't care how their action will affect people living now or a generation from now. Human nature.

maxharrisOP10y ago

Holy strawman. Taxing fossil fuel now equals abandoning industrial civilization?

As of 2007, Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, leading opponent of the Keystone XL pipeline, wants taxes that will prohibit 80% of fossil fuel use. Since then, he has called for outlawing 90-95% if fossil fuel use.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_McKibben

If you don't believe this, there is a very famous article of his that Rolling Stone published in 2012.

There are few voices standing in his way, and if he accomplishes his stated goals, that is an abandonment of industrial civilization.

ZeroGravitas10y ago

I thought basically all nations had signed on to completely decarbonize by the end of this century?

That will effectively mean leaving a lot of fossil fuels in the ground.

You'll have to pencil in the details for how this equals "abandoning industrial civilisation". Is this because of that EROI numerology thing?

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