• 54 Posts
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Joined 9 months ago
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Cake day: September 21st, 2023

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  • Grow up.

    I’d vote for a plank of wood before Trump, and it’s not because I believe the plank of wood is doing the right thing in Gaza. Someone is going to become president of the United States, and unfortunately for now that’s either a Republican or a Democrat. Trump will be worse in Gaza, in addition to being much worse on a whole bunch of other issues.

    Ultimately I’d like to see many parties, no more electoral college and ranked choice voting. But I live here and now, so I’m going to vote for the option that’s least harmful.






  • You’re right, we’ve got to get rid of fossil fuel. As one example, the article talks about how energy storage has reduced the need for gas peaker plants. In California in April the power required from those plants was half what it’s been in April the prior three years.

    Still plenty of progress that needs to be made, but what’s notable is that it’s now cheaper for a business to turn to green energy and storage to solve a problem. There’s not an incentive to build new polluting tech. So while the impact of climate change is going to get worse (because those emissions and warming are already baked in) the business argument for fossil fuel is no longer viable.





  • With respect, I think you’re projecting a discussion with a different person onto this article.

    You’re right, the climate is going to get worse before it gets better. You’re right, the impacts of climate change will disproportionately affect poor and underdeveloped areas. We can’t make that go away with positive thinking, and it’s not enough for humans as a species to survive, we need to focus on reducing suffering while we’re turning the ship.

    What I took away from this article is that the market forces for cheap renewable power and the means to store it are now stronger than the forces for CO2 emitting power. And those forces are moving faster than predicted. That’s good, and it’s ok to talk about something good when it’s true!

    People who have been paying attention and care about others have good reason to be wary about the narrative “oh, everything is going to be fine” because that’s what industry and politicians have been saying for a long time instead of taking needed action.

    We’re at a point where most people recognize climate change is real, and they can see it’s effects. We’re also at a point where many people don’t have hope for the situation. It’s dangerous to tell people “shit’s fucked and there’s nothing you can do about it” because they might believe you and do nothing.










  • This is one reason I’m especially interested in worker cooperatives.

    You’re right, people spend 8+ hours a day at work, strengthening business owners, who are essentially working against them. Then some small fraction of people have/take the time to learn about issues affecting them and volunteer a couple hours a week for their chosen cause.

    Even those in a union are negotiating from the standpoint of “the company owns the equipment/processes/customers and we own our labor”.

    What if instead the workers also own the business? Now you’re spending eight hours (or less) a day working on something that directly benefits you, and with which you’re intimately familiar. It’s possible to make democratic decisions because it’s not some abstract issue or far away politician. And every successful worker cooperative reduces the money going to some micro-king, and in turn reduces the distorting effect of corporate money on our electoral system.