Notices by Jonathan Schofield (urlyman@mastodon.social), page 2

@glynmoody interesting. In terms of waves of chaos, a massive and sustained spike in food prices compounded by a huge influx of migrants seem the more probable first waves

Thing 1, thing 2,
and induced demand.

If you build thing 1 so that it enables more of thing 2 to happen, then it should not come as a surprise when more of thing 2 happens.

Now, if thing 2 *already* has a low* carbon and material footprint – like cycling – the induced demand is of low (not no) impact.

But if thing 2 is not low carbon, you’ve made cumulative overshoot *worse*

- - -

*relative to its alternatives

…a culture that understood climate science as existential would manage demand *first* while it explored potential technical fixes.

We’re exploring technical fixes while pouring petrol on the fire

“Yeah, but the UK’s carbon emissions are less than 1% of the global total. Why should we bother? What about Chiiiiiina?”

Well, when we add all the emissions of the 188 UN countries that each have a share less than 2%, they add up to 40% of the problem, that’s why.

#climateDiary

@aral damn. Swift recovery to you

@onepict

@feld you know SUVs and cybertrucks are a thing right?

You cannot seriously be telling me that the US builds only the lightest vehicles it can, including the form factors of many EVs https://mastodon.social/@urlyman/113174900809732487

@feld cars have been getting bigger and heavier beyond necessity.

If we were serious about decarbonising (spoiler, we’re not) we’d do things differently https://www.uselessgroup.org/research/vehicles

@feld I said “as light as possible”, as in no heavier than needed for the task for which they’re essential.

That doesn’t exclude trucks, or any other class of vehicle that we agree by consensus are essential

@feld what am I hastening here?

@feld these things are interdependent, so it’ll be tough to figure out where to mail the certainty to

@feld thermodynamics doesn’t give a damn what Americans think is the backbone of their economy, but I accept that many will die – with a semi on – thinking they can beat it. They can’t, and they won’t.

It’s good that EVs promise the possibility of phasing out fossil-fuelled transport.

But, given that tyre particles “account for 28% of microplastics entering the environment globally”

and that plastics are a factor in biodiversity loss and fertility decline…

EVs should be *as light as possible*

https://www.port.ac.uk/news-events-and-blogs/blogs/protecting-our-environment/car-tyres-shed-a-quarter-of-all-microplastics-in-the-environment-urgent-action-is-needed

“Most people with a conscience here have found that the coverage is frankly despicable and certainly not up to our editorial standards”
https://mastodon.scot/@kim_harding/113735579669788912

@dansup great name, sounds great

@supapp

…I almost began sobbing at the sheer shitness, not just of me, but of what Portsmouth has become.

I really wanted to buy a plant. Something with life. I knew just the place. But I didn’t know the independent place had closed

…this may seem unrelated but today I walked my city in search of a Christmas gift for someone I love very much. I’d left it too late. So I was already in a black mood about my own recurring ineptness. But also at the performativeness of buying a gift they don’t need.

So, on top of that, as I walked from fruitless place to fruitless place I became almost overwhelmed at the sadness of my hollowed out city…

Kinda like putting this trend on an exponential of stupid https://mastodon.social/@urlyman/112767616997017525

In essence, as AI results delivery moves from text to video, its exponential resource consumption itself goes exponential https://todon.eu/@tek/113704409652277689

“When I see the Barnardo’s Christmas appeal for warm blankets and pyjamas for children, I cannot help but think of Labour’s refusal to scrap the two-child benefit limit this year.”

https://mindly.social/@Sadderp/113701351897830372

#climateDiary
While I am in no doubt that renewables are a necessary step towards sustainable power generation without fossil fuels (though probs not sustainable), the sheer scale of the way it’s being implemented worries me greatly.

It’s just recreating existing capital power relations and building out differently centralised infrastructure.

And neither of those attributes are fit for a more chaotic future
https://solarcene.community/@The_Sun/113550644184894339