Hacker News Reader

Comment by reaperducer | Hacker News Reader

So because glass manufacturing isn't the biggest source of pollution, we shouldn't do anything about it?

That's like saying we shouldn't bother doing anything about the toxic waste in your local lake because the oceans are still a mess.

And let's not save endangered wildflowers until we get the pandas sorted out.

To quote an internet cliché: Why not both?

View on HN

This is a less-than-compelling retort. The point isn't "don't do it", the point is "well, why?". OP even admits the more compelling thing here would be to talk about how it's an improvement on glass thermally. The pollution savings are indeed unimportant, but make for good clickbait. That's the annoying part.

It's a waste of time and mental bandwidth to even think about this. The impact is just too small. Better to focus finite energy, attention and political capital on things that actually move the dial.

Exactly, and this is just pragmatism at work.

Sometimes I think people who blindly continue their enviro-rituals are somehow worshipping — it’s more about what it costs them than how much it actually moves the needle.

Caring for the environment is not a religion, and the earth is not a god who demands sacrifice. But it is a precious resource worth protecting.

I was tempted to say this, but am conflicted because I still think it's important for individuals to be conscientious about their actions. Individual actions accumulate to potentially large impacts. However, in general, I agree with you. A large scale, wide impact change motivated by a 0.00005% emissions reduction that is potentially negated by the oxidizing bath and synthetic polymer is simply a distraction. Essentially, emissions from the manufacturing are a red herring and the article almost completely missed the big picture impact this could have.

It's 5 times more thermally efficient than glass. So while the process of making glass may not produce much C02. The process of heating and cooling does.

Premature optimization is the root of all evil.

—Donald Knuth

Reply on news.ycombinator.com