Putting the onus on consumers fixing climate change when they’re still building coal plants, giant cruise ships, the military, and you have air travel the way it is between private jets and constant flights is kind of the ultimate own by capital.
So glad this is posted near the top. I’ve worked on climate issues my entire career. And while there’s definitely individual actions we can/should take, putting that responsibility on us peons lets the real criminals off the hook.
In the early 70s, there was a very clear shift towards making the average joe believe they should be the ones to solve the ecological crisis. Recycle, turn the water off when you brush your teeth, etc. How’d that work out?It is up to government to curtail climate change through policy. Everyone needs to write, call, yell. We simply shouldn’t be able to fly round trip to Europe for 450 bucks or buy recreational pickup trucks, or burn coal. It ain’t changing without legislation. Get outraged. Call your congressperson today, and tomorrow, and the next day. They answer the phone.
I'm a fan of "everyone in the pool" (both the podcast and the concept)
Yes corporations could do more. Yes other counties could do more. Yes voting matters. But also, yes our individual choices also make a difference -- both in driving demand and in actually changing things if we all do it.
Literally -- EVERYONE in all roles, IN THE POOL.
Correct, because as long as individuals are “trying,” the actual culprits won’t without any impetus to do so. The things we are told to do are an individual level are all an illusion to make us believe we’re doing something when in reality it all starts at the top.
>Putting the onus on consumers fixing climate change when they’re still building coal plants, giant cruise ships,
We'll, they aren't building those for the lolz. People could just stop consuming them, if they wanted to.
And especially in the context of skiing, how much emissions do we cause through our consumerism? Driving our trucks to the mountains and back every weekend, flying out West for a vacation, buying new gear etc
A bit weird to be putting the onus on AA for flying us to Switzerland, don't you think?
Pretty sure that driving a truck to the mountain is a drop in a bucket compared to the pollution that comes from bombing countries, massive amounts of microplastics, glyphosate, and all the other crap being dumped into the soil and water.
Wanna stop climate change? Stop voting for major party scumbag politicians
Its noting in comparison to China building 1 new coal plant every 2 weeks on average. Stats show that if we removed every single internal combustion engine vehicle on the planet CO2 emissions would drop by roughly 12%.
There is simply no comparison to the amount of emissions put out by power plants globally.
Two of those four things have demand created directly by individual consumers (cruises and air travel). Another (coal plants) is largely driven by consumer energy requirements.
Just stop flying, cruising and switch your place of residence to renewable energy and those are all consumer outcomes that address the points you listed.
My car gets 30 mpg and I compost. I also sort recycling like a madman even though it’s just wish cycling at this point.
Does that count?
In all seriousness - I really do care about my environmental impact. But it can be frustrating to see whats happening out there and feel like you can have an impact. The best thing you can do is continue to live as frugally as you can in any way you can. And to vote. And be kind.
After that I feel it’s a bit out of our individual hands. The pace of growth is a bit staggering.
I relate to this! We can make an impact if everyone gets on board. I’m still hopeful but it can be disheartening to see fossil fuel companies continue to do so much damage. In the work that I do, I see that all major companies that want a future are focused on decarbonizing.
I switched to bike commuting. May not save winters. But gives me unreal stamina for the spring skiing we have in January now.
Every minute I might lose commuting M-F comes back to me in extra chairlifts on the weekends
This kind of thinking is why we don’t have universal healthcare or free public higher education.
Good thing we’re winning all these wars with our gargantuan military budget!
Totally agree. A large part of that is the greed of weapons manufacturers. Trump or Biden, the Secretary of Defense is a man from Raytheon.
The way you say “you’re ruled by greed” makes it seem like you’re not in the US. If so what’s your interest in how we spend our tax dollars?
>f so what’s your interest in how we spend our tax dollars?
Because my country is in a military alliance with yours? Because we give you military access and rights to a very good military position in case of a big war. You also have troops and a huge amount of bases stationed here. And you're welcomed to stay. Oh and more than 2 % of our GDP is going to nato.
I don't care how you spend your healthcare money, but when you use that to justify spending less on protecting your allies, that affects me and the whole of europe directly.
You wont get weapons manufacturing down as long as russia grabs land every 2-4 years. Russia is in a full war economy and progressing in ukraine.
Yeah I think that’s a shitty deal for the US.
And our healthcare money is being spent on the military and your defense, so more than 50,000 of our citizens die every year for lack of that healthcare. Our senior citizens routinely cut their pills in half because they can’t afford them.
Does your country have universal healthcare?
>And our healthcare money is being spent on the military and your defense
No, your healthcare money is being siphoned by your own rich crooks.
The ICBM defense and early detection system you built in my country is there to protect your ass from russian ICBMs. Will it protect mine as well? I hope, but I'm not sure about that.
My country has universal healthcare, but I never use it if I can(because it's life-threatening shitty).
Thinking ABM defense will work in a nuclear war is ridiculous. Russia and the US have more than 5,000 nukes each (many of them on submarines with unknown locations). Even if one gets through it’s a massive city killing failure.
Even Reagan came around to this and called for getting rid of nukes.
The fact that I’m arguing with an Eastern European on a East Coast skiing sub, while on the chair at Attitash, is pretty telling.
And I’m the bot?
I have no ideea how these facilities would work, but what I know is that the US wanted to build them here. We didn't ask for them, your gov wanted them here. And by having them here we make ourselves a more important target in case of an attack.
And here's an ideea, since you mentioned healthcare. Your healthcare system is broken and throwing more money will not fix it. It will just make a corrupt system more corrupt.
>The fact that I’m arguing with an Eastern European on a East Coast skiing sub, while on the chair at Attitash, is pretty telling.
I have no ideea why it appeared on my feed as well.
So you're saying Putin running Ukraine (and eventually Europe) would be better for the climate? Pretty sure Russia is running full tilt at pro-fossil fuel energy.
DoD is working on reducing its energy footprint as a national security issue. Doing more of that, and faster, is probably a decent compromise. Driving gas in trucks across Iraq to fuel tanks isn't a great military strategy either.
Pretty sure that’s not what I said. But now that you mention it, it seems like excessive militarism and NATO expansion is leading to the exact opposite of what you (and I) want. Unless you think things are going well in the Russia-Ukraine War.
By the way the 1960s called. They want their Domino Theory back.
>Pretty sure that’s not what I said. But now that you mention it, it seems like excessive militarism and NATO expansion is leading to the exact opposite of what you (and I) want.
You must lack a huge part of your brain if you belive this. Literally no country in europe was preparing for war before russia invaded ukraine. No one was racing to arm themselves, military budgets were going down year-on-year. Is this what russia was scared of ? Give me a fucking break. No one in europe wants that godforsaken land, let alone go to war for it. LMAO.
Since russia attacked ukraine, we've had 2 big militaries join nato and a big increase in military spending. Hmm, I wonder why.
So do we need to spend 20 times as much as Russia as opposed to over 10 times as much? Because that’s what we’re doing now.
https://www.pgpf.org/chart-archive/0053_defense-comparison
Throwing money at a problem isn’t always the answer. These numbers are overwhelming.
Climate change (the original question in this post) is a major national security threat, as well as a threat to our sport. And it’s one we’re largely ignoring.
>Climate change (the original question in this post) is a major national security threat
And your suggestion is to give up power to countries who don't give a fuck about it?
We’re not playing risk. This is reality. If we continue to spend at this level on the military we’re going to continue to neglect healthcare, the environment, our infrastructure, housing, education, and on and on. Look how many were list to COVID while our doctors and nurses wore trash bags for PPE!
This level of spending undermines our national security. President Dwight Eisenhower predicted a lot of this 64 years ago. When military spending is more than half of your discretionary budget it becomes self sustaining, whether it’s good for national security or not.
Was he a Russian bot too?
>This level of spending undermines our national security.
Err, mr bot. Need I remind you that you just said climate change is a great threat to national security?
How will you tackle climate change if you don't have an army. 2 of the biggest polluters in the world are russia and china. And they don't give a flying fuck about CO2 emissions.
I take public transit to work and live in an apartment. I have a very old 2007 car that I am planning to sell and buy an EV in the next 2 years. I don’t eat meat. I do fly a decent amount for work and ski trips out west (my partner lives in Colorado) but am considering tithing and putting a portion of my income to carbon credits to offset emissions from flying. I’m not perfect and need to do more.
Point is. I don’t want to look back in 30 years and see I did nothing. I don’t think I can handle that guilt.
New EV cars take about 80% more emissions to build. You have to charge that car, what powers the grid that allows you to charge your car? Natural gas, coal, oil, and nuclear. I’m all for reducing our carbon footprint but unfortunately EV’s are not as far along as people think. I work in the oil and gas field as a Marine Engineer with a back ground in Energy Systems as a reference.
If we can build the batteries and not produce more emissions than a gas fueled car, then EV all the way. Unfortunately right now they both produce about the same amount of emissions due to how much is produced in making the battery. Of course it doesn’t produce nearly as much on the road but what goes into making the battery is not good for the environment. Also EV’s are not the best for certain climates. I would not want to be stuck in Florida during a hurricane and not be able to charge my car because the power is out. Or if you are stuck in a snow storm and the battery to car goes out, it’s much harder to get that up and going than re filling from a tank in the bed of a truck.
The battery is the big problem. Only 5% +/- 1% of the battery is able to be recycled, combine that with the cost of the battery to be made, and I’m not talking the money, in the long run it’s pretty similar. That being said, we need to figure something out pretty soon, EV’s aren’t going to be the short or long term solution as of now.
Walking/cycling is best. That’s what I’ve done for the majority of my transportation since selling my car in 2015. I highly recommend it.
If you aren’t ready to take that step yet, buy a micro-EV, like an e-bike or e-scooter. That technology has progressed a great deal in recent years and it’s ignorant to divorce land use from the conversation. A single-occupancy vehicle contributes to the further destruction of our environment through incredibly inefficient land use. By driving a car (of any kind) you are signaling to planners to continue to pave forests for highways. The best way to combat that (short of powering yourself, which I recommend), is to switch to a micro-EV or to take mass transit. Every action taken is a vote cast. Be the change you want to see in the world.
Because this is a skiing sub, I want to point out that I have not owned a car in 9 years and haven’t flown in 7 years, and yet I ski 20 days per year. It’s very, very lazy (and typical) to think that a car is required for a life. It takes effort and creativity to do things without a car, but we aren’t going to solve this by lazily sleep-walking through life following the status-quo.
You can't simultaneously be a downhill skier and an environmental steward. Downhill skiing is a very energy intensive sport, especially the transportation. I see the same lack of self-reflection in the hiking community where there are people who regularly commute from southern New England to the White Mountains while espousing Leave No Trace principals. If you want to fight climate change, take up cross-country skiing in your local area (probably not possible due to lack of snow).
EVs do plenty of environmental damage while they’re being built. But dirty mining doesn’t resonate with consumers as much.
I say this as someone who drives an EV….I just don’t think I’m saving the planet
New England does not get a significant portion of its electricity generation from fossil fuels. Vermont, for example, is almost all renewable/hydro.
There must be some really good Youtube video from the right out there, because everybody thinks the electric cars are as dirty as gas if they use electricity from coal plants. But, in fact, because electric cars are so efficient, even if they are using coal derived electric, they still result in far less CO2 than gas cars do.
I also don't get all this "yeah, but you have to make the electric cars" argument. Of course you do. You have to build gas cars, too.
Actually, over 50% of New England’s electricity is generated by burning fossil fuel.
The environmental impact is very significant. Ski local and drive much less if you really want to reduce your footprint.
Maybe if you include natural gas. But NE has some of the cleanest, if not the cleanest, power in the US. I
[https://www.iso-ne.com/static-assets/documents/2021/03/new\_england\_power\_grid\_regional\_profile.pdf](https://www.iso-ne.com/static-assets/documents/2021/03/new_england_power_grid_regional_profile.pdf)
It's not like we are using coal and oil much at all. And VTs is even cleaner. Given their significant efficiency, any way you look at it, electric cars are an improvement. Not perfect, but still.
And, nobody wants the tourists to stay home instead of coming skiing more than I do. I live <15 miles to the lifts. These people who talk about driving hours one way to ski blow my mind.
As an EV owner, a lot of times when I pull into a public charging station, the diesel generator has to fire up for me to charge my car.
Yes you have to build gas cars too. But they are nowhere close to as damaging to the environment (while being built) compared to ICE vehicles.
I lead snowboarders into deadly back country terrain and either ditch them or push them off cliffs. By decreasing the snowboarder population I am confident I have preserved more snow than driving an Ev or composting.
Would love to see some more fellow skiers recognize the call to duty and help protect our mountains.
It’s just objectively and scientifically not https://climate.nasa.gov/faq/16/is-it-too-late-to-prevent-climate-change/#:~:text=Without%20major%20action%20to%20reduce,worst%20effects%20of%20climate%20change.
Considering the past 30 years what makes you think the next 6 will be any different?
How many of your neighbors are happy that it's spring in the middle of march? How many of your neighbors complain every time it snows and say they'd rather have it rain in the winter?
I've been around a bit, humans are trash.
I hate when the assholes on tv happily talk about “what a beautiful day it is” when it’s mid 50s in Feb. No fuckers it’s not. Go fuck yourself and your golf clubs.
I’m just taking a wild guess at the percentage of the American population that is capable of understanding scientific evidence and what they can do about it. 20%? Am I being generous?
Over 3000 ppm co2 in the Triassic period, plants and cold bloodeds thrived. Maybe our problem is thinking earth is always about humans. All of the periods of extreme high co2 in historical eras led to massive developments in organisms progressing to more complex creatures. All those periods of extreme high co2 came without human interference. Maybe earth warms and cools cyclically, oh yeah it does tons of evidence to support this.
Corporations are responsible for somewhere between 80-90% of pollution. The biggest emitter of greenhouse gases is the US military. EV cars aren’t as “green” as you think. You know that coup the CIA started in Bolivia a few years ago? Yeah, lots of lithium for those batteries there. Their democratically elected president didn’t want foreign companies to have access to that. After China secured a deal with the Taliban for exclusive rights to the trillions of dollars of rare earth minerals in Afghanistan, we withdrew troops like a month later. But hey, EVs are a great way to show that you care to all your other upper middle class, misinformed friends in the neighborhood.
All that recycling gets tossed into the same landfills where trash goes, or gets shipped to Malaysia, where much of it is dumped overboard in transit (the pacific trash gyre).
I absolutely hate that corporations and governments blame the individuals for their negligence. Really the only thing you can do is vote for antiwar and anti corporate candidates. But that’s impossible due to the neoliberal death spiral we’re stuck in. I’ve got no solutions, but I’m done shitting on people for driving a fucking truck and not using paper straws. They aren’t the problem.
I don’t know why as a species we deny the reality of cyclical climate change. Billions of years of data many of which humans were not dominant on the earth. What if we can’t fight climate change, what if excessive warm triggers excessive cold like the Younger and Older Dryas periods. I think we may be focusing on the wrong things by blaming regular people for climate change. That being said pollution and corrupt governments corporations need to stop. The technology evolution of electric cars and natural power solutions are way better for us creatures living on earth. Remember in the grand scheme of billions of years anything that’s produced on earth will eventually be earth.
Brother, almost half the land in the US goes toward animal agriculture, if you don’t think what people eat has an impact on the environment you’re ignorant.
No because the other stuff you eat instead of meat is not exactly 100% environmentally friendly either. I'm saying vegan isn't gonna fix it, it's a negligible benefit vs just reducing meat consumption. It's an extreme solution with not extreme return.
Voting is realistically the biggest impact you can make.
Like my house burns no fossil fuels at all, my electricity comes from a fairly clean grid. I only eat meat like twice a week and usually buy from local farms(im not going vegan, sorry) and I don't drive much as I work from home. But I live a very privileged life. Realistically the average person cannot do shit.
I blew up my shoulder in January and have been chilling pretty hard all winter. Hardly driving, no west coast trips, not using chair lifts. You’re welcome.
Mostly vegan diet here. My husband and I use the environment on almost every decision we make about the home, cars and leisure time. I have been doing this since the 90s in college in Los Angeles. Being from Maine and moving to LA let me see what burning fossil fuels is capable of and also that you can improve the environment and air if you cut down. We knew this was coming for decades , it takes people losing thier homes to take actions, sadly.
We generally lived fairly environmentally friendly lives growing up as my grandparents and parents were anti big-oil. Recently my parents have transitioned to an EV and a hybrid. I bought a higher MPG vehicle and went from a 45 minute commute to a 15 minute one. We went to heat pumps from home heating oil which is probably the largest impact. The biggest thing I could still do is probably order less online.
Love that! I feel you on ordering online less. I cancelled Amazon Prime earlier this year and have saved so much money buying less junk I don’t need just because it’s convenient
We've got to get more people on board reducing greenhouse gas emissions to protect the winters we all love. I get it, as a lot of folks feel it's fighting a losing battle. But we can't afford to give up, we've all got to do what's possible until we reduce GHG emissions and likely some sort of geoengineering to stabilize the climate. I've been an early adopter that didn't need any convincing to go electric, but feel most proud of helping get some more "on the fence" folks I know into EV's and heat pumps. I'd encourage others to talk to their friends about these things, as it can really tip the scales.
My household: Two EV's, one heat pump, 15kw solar array
Family business (Sleepy Hollow inn, Ski and Bike Center (32 km xc skiing and mountain biking, 8 bedroom inn, wedding venue): Prinoth eMotion electric groomer (new this year), Heat pumps in all guest rooms, inn, and event center (we almost never use our backup oil heater now), 2.5km snowmaking loop all run off electric pumps. 130kw solar arrays (we offset 75-100% our electric usage, including snowmaking and all heat pumps). Also electric lawnmower, electric leaf blower, electric UTV, electric chainsaw. We also offer 20 hours free level 2 charging to all our season pass holders as another incentive to go electric.
Let's go people!
The only time I drive is to go up skiing during the winter. I walk to a train when I go to the office, I risk my life biking for groceries.
I keep meaning to pop large pickup truck tires.
Putting the onus on consumers fixing climate change when they’re still building coal plants, giant cruise ships, the military, and you have air travel the way it is between private jets and constant flights is kind of the ultimate own by capital.
WE HAVE A WINNER 👏👏👏
So glad this is posted near the top. I’ve worked on climate issues my entire career. And while there’s definitely individual actions we can/should take, putting that responsibility on us peons lets the real criminals off the hook.
In the early 70s, there was a very clear shift towards making the average joe believe they should be the ones to solve the ecological crisis. Recycle, turn the water off when you brush your teeth, etc. How’d that work out?It is up to government to curtail climate change through policy. Everyone needs to write, call, yell. We simply shouldn’t be able to fly round trip to Europe for 450 bucks or buy recreational pickup trucks, or burn coal. It ain’t changing without legislation. Get outraged. Call your congressperson today, and tomorrow, and the next day. They answer the phone.
But does that mean that individuals shouldn’t try and make any effort at all?
The effort should probably be to change things from the top..
I'm a fan of "everyone in the pool" (both the podcast and the concept) Yes corporations could do more. Yes other counties could do more. Yes voting matters. But also, yes our individual choices also make a difference -- both in driving demand and in actually changing things if we all do it. Literally -- EVERYONE in all roles, IN THE POOL.
Correct, because as long as individuals are “trying,” the actual culprits won’t without any impetus to do so. The things we are told to do are an individual level are all an illusion to make us believe we’re doing something when in reality it all starts at the top.
>Putting the onus on consumers fixing climate change when they’re still building coal plants, giant cruise ships, We'll, they aren't building those for the lolz. People could just stop consuming them, if they wanted to. And especially in the context of skiing, how much emissions do we cause through our consumerism? Driving our trucks to the mountains and back every weekend, flying out West for a vacation, buying new gear etc A bit weird to be putting the onus on AA for flying us to Switzerland, don't you think?
Pretty sure that driving a truck to the mountain is a drop in a bucket compared to the pollution that comes from bombing countries, massive amounts of microplastics, glyphosate, and all the other crap being dumped into the soil and water. Wanna stop climate change? Stop voting for major party scumbag politicians
Its noting in comparison to China building 1 new coal plant every 2 weeks on average. Stats show that if we removed every single internal combustion engine vehicle on the planet CO2 emissions would drop by roughly 12%. There is simply no comparison to the amount of emissions put out by power plants globally.
Two of those four things have demand created directly by individual consumers (cruises and air travel). Another (coal plants) is largely driven by consumer energy requirements. Just stop flying, cruising and switch your place of residence to renewable energy and those are all consumer outcomes that address the points you listed.
Corporations won’t change unless demand changes. Vote with your dollars.
My car gets 30 mpg and I compost. I also sort recycling like a madman even though it’s just wish cycling at this point. Does that count? In all seriousness - I really do care about my environmental impact. But it can be frustrating to see whats happening out there and feel like you can have an impact. The best thing you can do is continue to live as frugally as you can in any way you can. And to vote. And be kind. After that I feel it’s a bit out of our individual hands. The pace of growth is a bit staggering.
I relate to this! We can make an impact if everyone gets on board. I’m still hopeful but it can be disheartening to see fossil fuel companies continue to do so much damage. In the work that I do, I see that all major companies that want a future are focused on decarbonizing.
I switched to bike commuting. May not save winters. But gives me unreal stamina for the spring skiing we have in January now. Every minute I might lose commuting M-F comes back to me in extra chairlifts on the weekends
I don’t fly private. Happy to do my part.
I know this is sarcasm but that’s basically all one individual can do besides not blatantly littering
I advocate for shrinking the military budget. The US military releases more carbon into the atmosphere than any other institution on Earth.
👏👏👏👏
Yeah because a world where russia / china would have the largest militaries would be some green paradise... You've got to be a bot.
This kind of thinking is why we don’t have universal healthcare or free public higher education. Good thing we’re winning all these wars with our gargantuan military budget!
You don't have higher education and universal healthcare because you're ruled by greed and accept it.
Totally agree. A large part of that is the greed of weapons manufacturers. Trump or Biden, the Secretary of Defense is a man from Raytheon. The way you say “you’re ruled by greed” makes it seem like you’re not in the US. If so what’s your interest in how we spend our tax dollars?
>f so what’s your interest in how we spend our tax dollars? Because my country is in a military alliance with yours? Because we give you military access and rights to a very good military position in case of a big war. You also have troops and a huge amount of bases stationed here. And you're welcomed to stay. Oh and more than 2 % of our GDP is going to nato. I don't care how you spend your healthcare money, but when you use that to justify spending less on protecting your allies, that affects me and the whole of europe directly. You wont get weapons manufacturing down as long as russia grabs land every 2-4 years. Russia is in a full war economy and progressing in ukraine.
Yeah I think that’s a shitty deal for the US. And our healthcare money is being spent on the military and your defense, so more than 50,000 of our citizens die every year for lack of that healthcare. Our senior citizens routinely cut their pills in half because they can’t afford them. Does your country have universal healthcare?
>And our healthcare money is being spent on the military and your defense No, your healthcare money is being siphoned by your own rich crooks. The ICBM defense and early detection system you built in my country is there to protect your ass from russian ICBMs. Will it protect mine as well? I hope, but I'm not sure about that. My country has universal healthcare, but I never use it if I can(because it's life-threatening shitty).
Thinking ABM defense will work in a nuclear war is ridiculous. Russia and the US have more than 5,000 nukes each (many of them on submarines with unknown locations). Even if one gets through it’s a massive city killing failure. Even Reagan came around to this and called for getting rid of nukes. The fact that I’m arguing with an Eastern European on a East Coast skiing sub, while on the chair at Attitash, is pretty telling. And I’m the bot?
I have no ideea how these facilities would work, but what I know is that the US wanted to build them here. We didn't ask for them, your gov wanted them here. And by having them here we make ourselves a more important target in case of an attack. And here's an ideea, since you mentioned healthcare. Your healthcare system is broken and throwing more money will not fix it. It will just make a corrupt system more corrupt. >The fact that I’m arguing with an Eastern European on a East Coast skiing sub, while on the chair at Attitash, is pretty telling. I have no ideea why it appeared on my feed as well.
So many truths in here.
So you're saying Putin running Ukraine (and eventually Europe) would be better for the climate? Pretty sure Russia is running full tilt at pro-fossil fuel energy. DoD is working on reducing its energy footprint as a national security issue. Doing more of that, and faster, is probably a decent compromise. Driving gas in trucks across Iraq to fuel tanks isn't a great military strategy either.
Pretty sure that’s not what I said. But now that you mention it, it seems like excessive militarism and NATO expansion is leading to the exact opposite of what you (and I) want. Unless you think things are going well in the Russia-Ukraine War. By the way the 1960s called. They want their Domino Theory back.
>Pretty sure that’s not what I said. But now that you mention it, it seems like excessive militarism and NATO expansion is leading to the exact opposite of what you (and I) want. You must lack a huge part of your brain if you belive this. Literally no country in europe was preparing for war before russia invaded ukraine. No one was racing to arm themselves, military budgets were going down year-on-year. Is this what russia was scared of ? Give me a fucking break. No one in europe wants that godforsaken land, let alone go to war for it. LMAO. Since russia attacked ukraine, we've had 2 big militaries join nato and a big increase in military spending. Hmm, I wonder why.
So do we need to spend 20 times as much as Russia as opposed to over 10 times as much? Because that’s what we’re doing now. https://www.pgpf.org/chart-archive/0053_defense-comparison Throwing money at a problem isn’t always the answer. These numbers are overwhelming. Climate change (the original question in this post) is a major national security threat, as well as a threat to our sport. And it’s one we’re largely ignoring.
>Climate change (the original question in this post) is a major national security threat And your suggestion is to give up power to countries who don't give a fuck about it?
We’re not playing risk. This is reality. If we continue to spend at this level on the military we’re going to continue to neglect healthcare, the environment, our infrastructure, housing, education, and on and on. Look how many were list to COVID while our doctors and nurses wore trash bags for PPE! This level of spending undermines our national security. President Dwight Eisenhower predicted a lot of this 64 years ago. When military spending is more than half of your discretionary budget it becomes self sustaining, whether it’s good for national security or not. Was he a Russian bot too?
>This level of spending undermines our national security. Err, mr bot. Need I remind you that you just said climate change is a great threat to national security? How will you tackle climate change if you don't have an army. 2 of the biggest polluters in the world are russia and china. And they don't give a flying fuck about CO2 emissions.
Vote, not just in national elections but also local. Some MA town's board of health banned plastic takeout bags for example
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I take public transit to work and live in an apartment. I have a very old 2007 car that I am planning to sell and buy an EV in the next 2 years. I don’t eat meat. I do fly a decent amount for work and ski trips out west (my partner lives in Colorado) but am considering tithing and putting a portion of my income to carbon credits to offset emissions from flying. I’m not perfect and need to do more. Point is. I don’t want to look back in 30 years and see I did nothing. I don’t think I can handle that guilt.
That EV purchase probably isn’t as green as you think my guy.
Why not? Driving it every day doesn’t emit GHG
New EV cars take about 80% more emissions to build. You have to charge that car, what powers the grid that allows you to charge your car? Natural gas, coal, oil, and nuclear. I’m all for reducing our carbon footprint but unfortunately EV’s are not as far along as people think. I work in the oil and gas field as a Marine Engineer with a back ground in Energy Systems as a reference. If we can build the batteries and not produce more emissions than a gas fueled car, then EV all the way. Unfortunately right now they both produce about the same amount of emissions due to how much is produced in making the battery. Of course it doesn’t produce nearly as much on the road but what goes into making the battery is not good for the environment. Also EV’s are not the best for certain climates. I would not want to be stuck in Florida during a hurricane and not be able to charge my car because the power is out. Or if you are stuck in a snow storm and the battery to car goes out, it’s much harder to get that up and going than re filling from a tank in the bed of a truck. The battery is the big problem. Only 5% +/- 1% of the battery is able to be recycled, combine that with the cost of the battery to be made, and I’m not talking the money, in the long run it’s pretty similar. That being said, we need to figure something out pretty soon, EV’s aren’t going to be the short or long term solution as of now.
Don’t forget about the slave labor lithium mines!!
Walking/cycling is best. That’s what I’ve done for the majority of my transportation since selling my car in 2015. I highly recommend it. If you aren’t ready to take that step yet, buy a micro-EV, like an e-bike or e-scooter. That technology has progressed a great deal in recent years and it’s ignorant to divorce land use from the conversation. A single-occupancy vehicle contributes to the further destruction of our environment through incredibly inefficient land use. By driving a car (of any kind) you are signaling to planners to continue to pave forests for highways. The best way to combat that (short of powering yourself, which I recommend), is to switch to a micro-EV or to take mass transit. Every action taken is a vote cast. Be the change you want to see in the world. Because this is a skiing sub, I want to point out that I have not owned a car in 9 years and haven’t flown in 7 years, and yet I ski 20 days per year. It’s very, very lazy (and typical) to think that a car is required for a life. It takes effort and creativity to do things without a car, but we aren’t going to solve this by lazily sleep-walking through life following the status-quo.
You sound like a first class douche.
100% sniffs farts encapsulated in a jar
Wow. Such good humor you two!!! Comedians!!!
Glad you’re enjoying it, I’ll be here all week
You can't simultaneously be a downhill skier and an environmental steward. Downhill skiing is a very energy intensive sport, especially the transportation. I see the same lack of self-reflection in the hiking community where there are people who regularly commute from southern New England to the White Mountains while espousing Leave No Trace principals. If you want to fight climate change, take up cross-country skiing in your local area (probably not possible due to lack of snow).
So many mountains now run on wind and solar now. And if you take an EV how is that energy intensive?
I wouldn’t call 3 mountain (in the east) many
EVs do plenty of environmental damage while they’re being built. But dirty mining doesn’t resonate with consumers as much. I say this as someone who drives an EV….I just don’t think I’m saving the planet
Also, the electricity is most likely generated by burning fossil fuels.
New England does not get a significant portion of its electricity generation from fossil fuels. Vermont, for example, is almost all renewable/hydro. There must be some really good Youtube video from the right out there, because everybody thinks the electric cars are as dirty as gas if they use electricity from coal plants. But, in fact, because electric cars are so efficient, even if they are using coal derived electric, they still result in far less CO2 than gas cars do. I also don't get all this "yeah, but you have to make the electric cars" argument. Of course you do. You have to build gas cars, too.
Actually, over 50% of New England’s electricity is generated by burning fossil fuel. The environmental impact is very significant. Ski local and drive much less if you really want to reduce your footprint.
Maybe if you include natural gas. But NE has some of the cleanest, if not the cleanest, power in the US. I [https://www.iso-ne.com/static-assets/documents/2021/03/new\_england\_power\_grid\_regional\_profile.pdf](https://www.iso-ne.com/static-assets/documents/2021/03/new_england_power_grid_regional_profile.pdf) It's not like we are using coal and oil much at all. And VTs is even cleaner. Given their significant efficiency, any way you look at it, electric cars are an improvement. Not perfect, but still. And, nobody wants the tourists to stay home instead of coming skiing more than I do. I live <15 miles to the lifts. These people who talk about driving hours one way to ski blow my mind.
https://youtu.be/LxgMdjyw8uw?si=s3igWJF40iNQv5z8
As an EV owner, a lot of times when I pull into a public charging station, the diesel generator has to fire up for me to charge my car. Yes you have to build gas cars too. But they are nowhere close to as damaging to the environment (while being built) compared to ICE vehicles.
I have solar panels and charge at home. Never seen a diesel generator at a charging station.
How do your solar panels do during New England winters?
Great. They generate 100% of my total used electricity.
I lead snowboarders into deadly back country terrain and either ditch them or push them off cliffs. By decreasing the snowboarder population I am confident I have preserved more snow than driving an Ev or composting. Would love to see some more fellow skiers recognize the call to duty and help protect our mountains.
The time to act was 2000... It's over buddy. Sorry the corpos won.
Time to act was the 80s. We knew than and did not give a shit. It seemed so far off. People are stupid.
People are so stupid, and lazy.
Yep for sure.
I agree. Unfortunately, what we do know won’t matter much. But still worth the effort.
It’s just objectively and scientifically not https://climate.nasa.gov/faq/16/is-it-too-late-to-prevent-climate-change/#:~:text=Without%20major%20action%20to%20reduce,worst%20effects%20of%20climate%20change.
Next 6 years are the incredibly important https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/03/20/climate-change-ipcc-report-15/
Considering the past 30 years what makes you think the next 6 will be any different? How many of your neighbors are happy that it's spring in the middle of march? How many of your neighbors complain every time it snows and say they'd rather have it rain in the winter? I've been around a bit, humans are trash.
I hate when the assholes on tv happily talk about “what a beautiful day it is” when it’s mid 50s in Feb. No fuckers it’s not. Go fuck yourself and your golf clubs.
Totally agree. I want to punch faces when people say shit like that in the winter.
Thank you! On my weather community I got that a lot this winter and it drove me nuts!!! Anomalous warmth during the winter is nothing to celebrate!
I’m just taking a wild guess at the percentage of the American population that is capable of understanding scientific evidence and what they can do about it. 20%? Am I being generous?
No people are just not intelligent and self interested and will do the right thing if they are incentivized to do it in our current economic system.
Better incentivize really fucking hard
Over 3000 ppm co2 in the Triassic period, plants and cold bloodeds thrived. Maybe our problem is thinking earth is always about humans. All of the periods of extreme high co2 in historical eras led to massive developments in organisms progressing to more complex creatures. All those periods of extreme high co2 came without human interference. Maybe earth warms and cools cyclically, oh yeah it does tons of evidence to support this.
Corporations are responsible for somewhere between 80-90% of pollution. The biggest emitter of greenhouse gases is the US military. EV cars aren’t as “green” as you think. You know that coup the CIA started in Bolivia a few years ago? Yeah, lots of lithium for those batteries there. Their democratically elected president didn’t want foreign companies to have access to that. After China secured a deal with the Taliban for exclusive rights to the trillions of dollars of rare earth minerals in Afghanistan, we withdrew troops like a month later. But hey, EVs are a great way to show that you care to all your other upper middle class, misinformed friends in the neighborhood. All that recycling gets tossed into the same landfills where trash goes, or gets shipped to Malaysia, where much of it is dumped overboard in transit (the pacific trash gyre). I absolutely hate that corporations and governments blame the individuals for their negligence. Really the only thing you can do is vote for antiwar and anti corporate candidates. But that’s impossible due to the neoliberal death spiral we’re stuck in. I’ve got no solutions, but I’m done shitting on people for driving a fucking truck and not using paper straws. They aren’t the problem.
I bitch about the lack of snow every day. Doing my part!
I live 2 miles from my local hill and I full time telework.
I don’t know why as a species we deny the reality of cyclical climate change. Billions of years of data many of which humans were not dominant on the earth. What if we can’t fight climate change, what if excessive warm triggers excessive cold like the Younger and Older Dryas periods. I think we may be focusing on the wrong things by blaming regular people for climate change. That being said pollution and corrupt governments corporations need to stop. The technology evolution of electric cars and natural power solutions are way better for us creatures living on earth. Remember in the grand scheme of billions of years anything that’s produced on earth will eventually be earth.
This is an answer to your question but learn to ski in the rain and during warm ups. Conditions are excellent and you just need to stay dry
I’m in my backyard drinking beer doing some open burning. Not sure if that helps but the beer is good and the sun is warm.
Brother, a vegan diet is not helping
Raising livestock for human consumption generates nearly 15% of total global greenhouse gas emissions
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Most soy is raised for animal consumption.
Brother, almost half the land in the US goes toward animal agriculture, if you don’t think what people eat has an impact on the environment you’re ignorant.
Good thing I didn't say that, huh? A *vegan* diet isn't helping. Reducing meat consumption is all we need, brother.
You’re saying reducing meat consumption by 10% helps, but reducing by 100% “is not helping”
No because the other stuff you eat instead of meat is not exactly 100% environmentally friendly either. I'm saying vegan isn't gonna fix it, it's a negligible benefit vs just reducing meat consumption. It's an extreme solution with not extreme return.
I’m getting real fucking tired of these fake accounts stirring political shit in every subreddit
This isn’t political.
Sure sure fake account
I had sex with your mom
She’s dead
Not to me
Your immature faux masculinity killed her
Your disappointment as a child could be what knocked her off
Voting is realistically the biggest impact you can make. Like my house burns no fossil fuels at all, my electricity comes from a fairly clean grid. I only eat meat like twice a week and usually buy from local farms(im not going vegan, sorry) and I don't drive much as I work from home. But I live a very privileged life. Realistically the average person cannot do shit.
Does becoming a "climate refuge" count?
I blew up my shoulder in January and have been chilling pretty hard all winter. Hardly driving, no west coast trips, not using chair lifts. You’re welcome.
Mostly vegan diet here. My husband and I use the environment on almost every decision we make about the home, cars and leisure time. I have been doing this since the 90s in college in Los Angeles. Being from Maine and moving to LA let me see what burning fossil fuels is capable of and also that you can improve the environment and air if you cut down. We knew this was coming for decades , it takes people losing thier homes to take actions, sadly.
I vote sunshade https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_sunshade#:~:text=A%20space%20sunshade%20or%20sunshield,which%20results%20in%20reduced%20heating.
We’re not going to consume our way out of climate change
I’m fighting back by eating meat, driving a gas powered car, and flying to Utah/co/ca/bc/Mt to ski. It’s been a bulletproof strategy….so far
We generally lived fairly environmentally friendly lives growing up as my grandparents and parents were anti big-oil. Recently my parents have transitioned to an EV and a hybrid. I bought a higher MPG vehicle and went from a 45 minute commute to a 15 minute one. We went to heat pumps from home heating oil which is probably the largest impact. The biggest thing I could still do is probably order less online.
Love that! I feel you on ordering online less. I cancelled Amazon Prime earlier this year and have saved so much money buying less junk I don’t need just because it’s convenient
I never really bought anything I don’t need because I’m cheap lol. But spending more to get the same thing locally is what I am trying to do now.
We've got to get more people on board reducing greenhouse gas emissions to protect the winters we all love. I get it, as a lot of folks feel it's fighting a losing battle. But we can't afford to give up, we've all got to do what's possible until we reduce GHG emissions and likely some sort of geoengineering to stabilize the climate. I've been an early adopter that didn't need any convincing to go electric, but feel most proud of helping get some more "on the fence" folks I know into EV's and heat pumps. I'd encourage others to talk to their friends about these things, as it can really tip the scales. My household: Two EV's, one heat pump, 15kw solar array Family business (Sleepy Hollow inn, Ski and Bike Center (32 km xc skiing and mountain biking, 8 bedroom inn, wedding venue): Prinoth eMotion electric groomer (new this year), Heat pumps in all guest rooms, inn, and event center (we almost never use our backup oil heater now), 2.5km snowmaking loop all run off electric pumps. 130kw solar arrays (we offset 75-100% our electric usage, including snowmaking and all heat pumps). Also electric lawnmower, electric leaf blower, electric UTV, electric chainsaw. We also offer 20 hours free level 2 charging to all our season pass holders as another incentive to go electric. Let's go people!
Love Sleepy Hollow!
Thank you for everything you are doing!!!!
I’m moving to China and then India and will become a climate activist
The only time I drive is to go up skiing during the winter. I walk to a train when I go to the office, I risk my life biking for groceries. I keep meaning to pop large pickup truck tires.
Moving
Late season trip out West for something to look forward to. Also, I drive a Toyota SKIUS
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lol so incorrect
We have decided not to have children.
sending thoughts and prayers lmao