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mik posted:Surprise, Trump was full of poo poo on the campaign trail. In this case, let's be glad he was full of poo poo. However, I think the psychopaths he's looking to put in his cabinet don't have an open mind to it.
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Nov 22, 2016 22:07
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Jimbot posted:In this case, let's be glad he was full of poo poo. He's still full of poo poo. He changes his mind on any subject multiple times in the course of a single conversation. He's been known to do it in the same sentence.
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Nov 22, 2016 22:11
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It's because Trump has very few opinions outside of "I am a good business haver" and "Dames, right? Heh." Most of the things that come out of his mouth are either: what he thinks the audience wants to hear, or an attempt to get somebody off his back until the next news cycle, and the rest are petty twitter vendettas against random dissenters.
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Nov 22, 2016 22:15
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Even if Trump is somehow persuaded that climate change isn't a Soviet fabrication, it doesn't change the fact that he still has to deal with a Republican congress and Senate. At best he can hold off gutting the the EPA and refuse to cancel the CPP, which is about as much as we could have expected from Clinton. I don't see how the US meets its Paris accord commitments without a Democrat congressional wave.
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Nov 22, 2016 22:34
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Meanwhile, in Sweden... Far away from Trump Since this thread is about solutions, and action at the local level came up a while ago, I thought I'd share something I'm working on. Also in order to give a different perspective on activism, perhaps. I run Pling Transport in Gothenburg, a cargo bicycle delivery firm. 4 years ago, after I had finished my degree, I couldn't find a job and my sister's SO asked me if I wanted to attend a meeting with a guy who was about to start a company in Malmö delivering "larger than average" things by bike. My sister's SO had a dream of building velomobiles (a human-powered vehicle, often a bike with more than two wheel) and wanted to start a company in order to promote and test his velomobiles as well as attempt to drive a bottom-up change of infrastructure and inspire others to bike more. I had studied environmental science oriented towards social science (hence the lack of work  ) and this sounded as good a way as any to make a real change, so together with him and a mutual friend we founded Pling. First as an off-shoot of the Malmö-company, Movebybike, but later we decided to continue on under our own brand. Some of my colleagues One of the reasons we decided to strike out on our own (though we were always a separate company from Movebybike) was we wanted to run the company as a cooperative business, owned by the employees. The aim would not be to hitch a ride on some green wave but to have sustainability as an end goal in it self, instead of profits. That would make it much harder to secure external capital. But having it worker-owned company would hopefully secure a good work environment for everyone involved as well as prevent us from selling the company down the road and risk it turning into some green wash poo poo (also a private transport company owned by workers run as a non-profit would be sneak socialism and that's just too good to pass up).  A two-seater version of the Armadillo. We will eventually get the same type of coachwork for weather protection of the driver. So we deliver up to 200 kg and 2 cubic meter loads by bike in a radius of a few kilometers from the city center. Mostly using Armadillos, made by my associate's own company, Velove. All of our bikes are electrically assisted but require less than 1/10th of the energy per unit of distance travelled and 1/15th of the resources to build compared to a Tesla. Sweden gets most of its electricity through nuclear and hydro power, but thanks to electricity trading within the EU every kW saved here means potentially less emissions from Danish and German coal plants. The Armadillos also release very little particle emissions and create a lot less noise pollution as well as less congestion, for obvious reasons. Compared to a two-wheel or three-wheel bike they are very stable while still being so slim so as to fit on standard bike lanes. All four wheels are also spring-dampened, for driver comfort and for allowing fragile cargo. The major drawbacks are the aforementioned cargo limit, speed limit of 25 km/h, engine effect of 250W (though the two-seater above is perfectly good for commuting tens of kilometers on a single battery charge and I bet in the US you could slap a 1000W engine on it without it being illegal) and the weight of the bike itself at 80 kg (a slightly thin adult man). Meaning there are limits to how a big an area you can service while staying economically feasible, and it's not very fast up-hill.  Fortunately, a lot of transports need to be carried out in the city centre that are just right for us, cargo too big for normal courier bikes but small enough to not require delivery vans or trucks. Urban centres also happen to be the places where fossil-fueled vehicles release the greatest amounts of pollution, per unit of distance travelled. Restaurants delivering catering are big customers of ours, breakfast, lunch, afternoon fika for different offices. We deliver exams and materials for exhibits for the University of Gothenburg. We run errands for other companies, buying and delivering booze for their office parties, leaving carpets at the dry cleaner, picking up parcels and mail. Occasionally we move people's furniture and participate at different events. Recently we found a locale that we can use as a micro terminal, so hopefully we can begin running distribution soon. Basically we do anything people ask of us, because we're desperate for money. Except sell out.  Moving bikes with a bike...  ...As well as people Would the last four years have been better spent if I had taken a regular job and engaged in politics on my spare time? I'm not sure. Could we have achieved more by playing more "by the rules", seeking venture capital and attempting to go full frontal in several cities at the same time with a different approach to employees (akin to Uber or Foodora)? Perhaps. It's often a struggle with bad wages and all kinds of set-backs but also a lot of fun seeing something grow that you've helped create. It also feels pretty great to not protest against something but stand for a solution, as insignificant as it may be on a grander scale. On the other hand, it may not be so insignificant after all. Movebybike is doing pretty great, they're in several Swedish cities now. There's Bubble Post and other similar companies in several European countries as well as North America (I think Vancouver or Seattle?), DHL are using cargo bikes in The Netherlands (Armadillos among others!) and Germany. I wouldn't be suprised to see similar ventures in big cities that have recently begun building bike infrastructure, like Paris or New York if it hasn't already showed up there. Tl;dr: We're all hosed but you gotta do something, like become a filthy entrepreneur for instance.
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Nov 22, 2016 22:42
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Captain: Please tell me about your customers. You explained that you fill a niche between small trucks and couriers. For such loads are your customers using you for primarily economic or environmental reasons?
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Nov 23, 2016 01:20
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That is awesome Captain Scandinavia! I wonder if I could set up the same thing in my city.
sitchensis fucked around with this message at 01:50 on Nov 23, 2016 |
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Nov 23, 2016 01:34
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Arctic sea ice (extent) gained 100,000 sq km on the 20th and almost 200,000 sq km on the 21st, which is good. Sadly, it's still 900,000 sq km below 2006's record low for the 21st, so there's still a ways to go for it to recover. Good news is that it ought to be pretty cold up there for at least a few more days. Five days of this high rate of freezing will meet 2006. By the crossover from 2006 to 2012 record lows on December 7th, sea ice must recover from 8.6 million sq km to 10.75 million sq km; 15 days for 2.15 million sq km, or 144,000 sq km/day. Evil_Greven fucked around with this message at 02:31 on Nov 23, 2016 |
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Nov 23, 2016 02:24
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Accretionist posted:Tell them global warming will cook the United States and send 50,000,000 Republicans screaming across the border. ProPublica did a pretty good series on the legislative water wars happening between various states in the American southwest right now, which is probably a good portent of things to come.
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Nov 23, 2016 03:17
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Rap Record Hoarder posted:ProPublica did a pretty good series on the legislative water wars happening between various states in the American southwest right now, which is probably a good portent of things to come. could you link it please?
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Nov 23, 2016 03:19
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I think it was the "Killing the Colorado" series: https://projects.propublica.org/killing-the-colorado/story/what-you-need-to-know https://www.propublica.org/series/killing-the-colorado ProPublica has been doing a lot of great investigative research into environmental issues in the US over the last few years, especially around water access. Well worth your time to look over. Mat Cauthon fucked around with this message at 04:55 on Nov 23, 2016 |
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Nov 23, 2016 04:22
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Florida update: High tides in Miami stranded an octopus in a parking garage. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/11/supermoon-tide-miami-sea-level-octopus-garage/ quote:Octopuses prefer cramped, dark spaces, and the marine invertebrates are increasingly drawn to pipes as the rising sea in the Miami area means more of them are now underwater.
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Nov 23, 2016 04:47
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Accretionist posted:Tell them global warming will cook the United States and send 50,000,000 Republicans screaming across the border. Don't worry, this is already covered under NAFTA. If you couldn't guess Canada is severely legally constrained in terms of controlling water exports to the US, no invasion required. This wasn't accidental.
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Nov 23, 2016 05:03
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Nocturtle posted:Don't worry, this is already covered under NAFTA. If you couldn't guess Canada is severely legally constrained in terms of controlling water exports to the US, no invasion required. This wasn't accidental. British Columbia signed away its water rights long before NAFTA. Back in the 1950s, actually. The Columbia River Treaty hosed this province hard. Best part is, when we renegotiated it a couple of years ago we gave even more away to the Americans. 
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Nov 23, 2016 07:23
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Rime posted:British Columbia signed away its water rights long before NAFTA. Back in the 1950s, actually. The Columbia River Treaty hosed this province hard. Canada will always have more water than the southwestern US, barring some really radical changes to how and where moisture tend to fall. Rain shadows ain't nothing to gently caress with, and in the parts of Canada where this is a factor - whoop - you've got another ocean right there, and it's getting bigger by the day.
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Nov 23, 2016 07:54
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Entropy is the primal force of existence. Embrace the void. Ye need not despair, simply cease to care. Liberation is at hand; change your mind and you change your relation to time. Life is is what it is is, cherish it while you exist and then be consumed peacefully by the void. Don't worry, be happy. Death has stalked our shoulders since life bootstrapped itself. Nothing fundamental has changed, we now simply understand our circumstances.
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Nov 23, 2016 08:19
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Captain Scandinaiva posted:Cool swedish stuff That is goddamned awesome. Do you know where this would be pretty good and cool? Every major city in Norway where a car-free city centre has been proposed. The big problem so far has been transportation of goods (not so much people, public transport is obviously exempt). It would probably prompt some people to get rid of cars, as well. In my dream world, this combined with free public transportation would probably have a very significant effect on emissions and be great social tool as well.
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Nov 23, 2016 08:44
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treerat posted:Entropy is the primal force of existence. Embrace the void. Ye need not despair, simply cease to care. Liberation is at hand; change your mind and you change your relation to time. Life is is what it is is, cherish it while you exist and then be consumed peacefully by the void. Don't worry, be happy. Death has stalked our shoulders since life bootstrapped itself. Nothing fundamental has changed, we now simply understand our circumstances. Alternatively, do something beneficial to life while you can. Who knows, maybe the dolphin people will make a plaque to remember the "good" humans.
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Nov 23, 2016 08:51
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/nov/22/nasa-earth-donald-trump-eliminate-climate-change-researchquote:Donald Trump is poised to eliminate all climate change research conducted by Nasa as part of a crackdown on “politicized science”, his senior adviser on issues relating to the space agency has said.
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Nov 23, 2016 11:41
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Even if deftly handled, that's a set back. Another quote: quote:Kevin Trenberth, senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, said as Nasa provides the scientific community with new instruments and techniques, the elimination of Earth sciences would be “a major setback if not devastating”.
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Nov 23, 2016 13:36
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Accretionist posted:Even if deftly handled, that's a set back. Maybe you shouldn't have voted for Trump then.
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Nov 23, 2016 14:00
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hey cool if we don't measure it climate change can't possibly happen right
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Nov 23, 2016 14:02
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Fangz posted:hey cool if we don't measure it climate change can't possibly happen right In a post-factual society, does it really matter
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Nov 23, 2016 14:03
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you elitists are telling the water level is rapidly rising up to my chin why don't you get out of your echo chamber glub glub glub
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Nov 23, 2016 14:12
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Fangz posted:hey cool if we don't measure it climate change can't possibly happen right It worked for gun violence
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Nov 23, 2016 14:16
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Fangz posted:hey cool if we don't measure it climate change can't possibly happen right It's quantum.
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Nov 23, 2016 14:18
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His Divine Shadow posted:It's quantum. Are you certain?
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Nov 23, 2016 14:22
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Fangz posted:hey cool if we don't measure it climate change can't possibly happen right Gum posted:It worked for gun violence Brb, 
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Nov 23, 2016 14:22
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Nice piece of fish posted:Are you certain? As long as we don't measure it we will have a Schrödinger's arctic where it's both hot and cold at the same time.
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Nov 23, 2016 14:41
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Fasdar posted:Alternatively, do something beneficial to life while you can. Who knows, maybe the dolphin people will make a plaque to remember the "good" humans. Define "beneficial"
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Nov 23, 2016 14:55
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Who could inherit NASA's work anyways?Nice piece of fish posted:Maybe you shouldn't have voted for Trump then. These are for generating av change revenue, and not for informational purposes. Accretionist fucked around with this message at 15:34 on Nov 23, 2016 |
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Nov 23, 2016 15:12
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His Divine Shadow posted:As long as we don't measure it we will have a Schrödinger's arctic where it's both hot and cold at the same time. But you had to think about your answer, which measured your thoughts, and so altered the outcome ~
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Nov 23, 2016 15:26
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Fangz posted:https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/nov/22/nasa-earth-donald-trump-eliminate-climate-change-research  
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Nov 23, 2016 16:10
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Fangz posted:https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/nov/22/nasa-earth-donald-trump-eliminate-climate-change-research We fortunately have incredible interest in cubesats. poo poo's available to undergraduate and graduate researchers. I have lost the ability to keep track of the sheer volume of cubesat environmental science projects going through my largest client (a research university) alone. I think we'll be okay.
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Nov 23, 2016 16:38
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Jesus loving Christ, I hope scientists and engineers start walking out.
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Nov 23, 2016 17:07
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CommieGIR posted:Jesus loving Christ, I hope scientists and engineers start walking out.
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Nov 23, 2016 17:10
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Potato Salad posted:We fortunately have incredible interest in cubesats. poo poo's available to undergraduate and graduate researchers. I have lost the ability to keep track of the sheer volume of cubesat environmental science projects going through my largest client (a research university) alone. Phew, that's reassuring. *Massive out of control Kessler syndrome*
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Nov 23, 2016 17:25
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You are way overestimating what can be miniaturized into cubesat form. Our best chance is probably to turn to the Chinese to pick up some of this stuff. They might do it for national prestige, or to make the US look bad, or at least to save their cities from the Gobi Desert. Anyway Trump seems intent to turn NASA into another bread and circuses act, and certainly I don't think anyone in NASA should collaborate with this bullshit.
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Nov 23, 2016 17:46
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Potato Salad posted:We fortunately have incredible interest in cubesats. poo poo's available to undergraduate and graduate researchers. I have lost the ability to keep track of the sheer volume of cubesat environmental science projects going through my largest client (a research university) alone. Cubesats can't do this kind of monitoring.
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Nov 23, 2016 17:52
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hobbesmaster posted:Cubesats can't do this kind of monitoring. Some of it can. Do we know if the entire 2bn NASA budget is getting moved?
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Nov 23, 2016 18:03
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