How Can We Stop the CO2 That Plants Store from Leaking Back into the Air?

Re:How Can We Stop the CO2 That Plants Store from Leaking Ba... by golemotron on Tuesday April 18, 2023 @01:02PM (#35616687)

We already have a subtractive solution. Birth rate in the industrialized world has plummeted and the demographic wave initiated by industrializaton has crested. We can expect carbon emissions for the next several hundred years to peak soon.

In other words, the problem is solved. Any gargantuan efforts that we apply now are just about trying to get there a decade or two faster. Given the history of worldwide coordination attempts, it's not clear that it is possible or worth it.

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Re:How Can We Stop the CO2 That Plants Store from Leaking Ba... by pg314 on Tuesday April 18, 2023 @03:01PM (#35618406)

The problem is far from solved. It's not enough that carbon emissions will peak soon. They need to come down fast. And we do not have a decade or two.

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Re:How Can We Stop the CO2 That Plants Store from Leaking Ba... by golemotron on Thursday April 20, 2023 @09:21PM (#35648753)

We've had less than a decade since the 1970s. I'm very confident that in 2030 and 2040 we'll be told we have less than a decade too. Do you have doubts?

Alarmism is a good way of moving people to action but it isn't accurate.

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Re:How Can We Stop the CO2 That Plants Store from Leaking Ba... by digging on Tuesday April 18, 2023 @03:09PM (#35618549)

This is wrong on a lot of levels. Primarily:

1. Every nation with a declining birth rate is shitting their pants about it and trying to raise the birth rate. It is seen as an existential crisis to not grow in population.

2. Birth rates have already been dropping for decades and carbon emissions are continuing to climb because we keep finding new ways to spend money on creating carbon emissions.

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Re:How Can We Stop the CO2 That Plants Store from Leaking Ba... by golemotron on Tuesday April 18, 2023 @10:09PM (#35623412)

So, 2 will get better and no country has figured out now to solve 1 yet. Not even handing out money works.

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Re:How Can We Stop the CO2 That Plants Store from Leaking Ba... by landemva on Tuesday April 18, 2023 @10:15PM (#35623468)

.cz seems to have figured it out. Maybe Hungary also, though I would need to look.

"One country that has seen a steep rise in its fertility rate is the Czech Republic."

https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2021/07/improve-u...

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Re:How Can We Stop the CO2 That Plants Store from Leaking Ba... by landemva on Tuesday April 18, 2023 @10:12PM (#35623441)

> carbon emissions are continuing to climb

EPA press release said emissions were decreasing under Trump.

https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/greenhouse-gas-emissions-co...

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Re:How Can We Stop the CO2 That Plants Store from Leaking Ba... by xienze on Tuesday April 18, 2023 @03:23PM (#35618762)

> Birth rate in the industrialized world has plummeted and the demographic wave initiated by industrializaton has crested. We can expect carbon emissions for the next several hundred years to peak soon.

Except population is exploding in Asia and Africa and western nations are intent on importing as many of those people as possible.

What’s baffling to me is how much overlap there is between the “we need to reduce CO2 emissions”, “having children is selfish”, and “we need more immigration” crowds. One of these things is not like the other.

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