On an object level your point seems persuasive, but my prior is still that it’s not a big issue, because I haven’t seen other people highlight this forcibly before. Are you familiar with some discussion of it?
There have been many proposals where just diverting a few percent of worldwide GDP would eliminate global warming. Among them, adoption of renewables and nuclear power.
I mean actionable proposals for effective altruist types. I support adoption of renewables and nuclear power, but I don’t know what I or my friends can do to encourage it in a cost-effective way.
[Edit: I’d add that I think that what you describe falls under the category of “tail risk.” I haven’t heard this issue discussed, and It would be great if you were to write up a detailed account of your view, with citations.]
Loss of biodiversity has definitely been highlighted frequently, although it is often done without reference to climate change (even though it is acknowledged to be the most important factor in general), because people want to have their opinions heard without getting mired in political debates. But the material is there and can be revealed with a simple google search. I’m hesitant to give you links myself because I’d feel like I’m just cherry-picking the articles I want you to read.
I don’t know what I or my friends can do to encourage it in a cost-effective way.
I don’t either, aside from the usual cliche of ‘spreading awareness’ .
There has been a lot of concern about loss of biodiversity and the possible chain effects of collapse to one part of the food chain or another.
It also seems likely that the effects of global warming will be magnified by other effect.s For example, naturally speaking, if the Earth’s climate change many animals would normally just migrate north and be fine, but we’ve broken up huge wilderness areas into many small pieces of “wildlife preserve”, often relatively small areas of natural environment surrounded by built-up areas of human habitation.
A lot of scientists have described what is going on now as a mass extinction event, on a scale that’s only happened 5 times previously in Earth’s history.
As for your other question:
I mean actionable proposals for effective altruist types. I support adoption of renewables and nuclear power, but I don’t know what I or my friends can do to encourage it in a cost-effective way.
Well, if you’re interested, there are a number of fairly simple things people can can do to reduce their power consumption and the amount of fuel they use in transportation by a few percent. This has other positive effects as well, like reducing air pollution. Not that conservation efforts are going to solve the problem by themselves, but at least they may buy us a little time.
On an object level your point seems persuasive, but my prior is still that it’s not a big issue, because I haven’t seen other people highlight this forcibly before. Are you familiar with some discussion of it?
I mean actionable proposals for effective altruist types. I support adoption of renewables and nuclear power, but I don’t know what I or my friends can do to encourage it in a cost-effective way.
[Edit: I’d add that I think that what you describe falls under the category of “tail risk.” I haven’t heard this issue discussed, and It would be great if you were to write up a detailed account of your view, with citations.]
Loss of biodiversity has definitely been highlighted frequently, although it is often done without reference to climate change (even though it is acknowledged to be the most important factor in general), because people want to have their opinions heard without getting mired in political debates. But the material is there and can be revealed with a simple google search. I’m hesitant to give you links myself because I’d feel like I’m just cherry-picking the articles I want you to read.
I don’t either, aside from the usual cliche of ‘spreading awareness’ .
There has been a lot of concern about loss of biodiversity and the possible chain effects of collapse to one part of the food chain or another.
It also seems likely that the effects of global warming will be magnified by other effect.s For example, naturally speaking, if the Earth’s climate change many animals would normally just migrate north and be fine, but we’ve broken up huge wilderness areas into many small pieces of “wildlife preserve”, often relatively small areas of natural environment surrounded by built-up areas of human habitation.
A lot of scientists have described what is going on now as a mass extinction event, on a scale that’s only happened 5 times previously in Earth’s history.
As for your other question:
Well, if you’re interested, there are a number of fairly simple things people can can do to reduce their power consumption and the amount of fuel they use in transportation by a few percent. This has other positive effects as well, like reducing air pollution. Not that conservation efforts are going to solve the problem by themselves, but at least they may buy us a little time.