Show HN: I built a climate change app | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: I built a climate change app

changeit.app

18 pointstiagorbf24 comments

Is it a bitcoin miner?

Oh, you mean a climate change prevention app.

It’s a step. While our personal actions matter, unless I am in control of a major pollution source (energy, transportation, agriculture, ?) does it make more sense to put effort into changing the rules for everyone?

I think the app missed a big one, but not having children would massively reduce your carbon imprint.

Except that’s a biological imperative.

If the earth's population suddenly dropped to 0, that would help global warming a lot too. Does that mean we should do it?

Not having kids always struck me as a short sighted solution (not saying you are specifically advocating for it but there are those that do).

One/two/three less people will have negligible impact but if the most environmentally aware people are the ones not having children, not passing on their values, the next generation will be missing their voices. Fixing this is a relay race through the generations, not a sprint for an individual or couple.

If anything, the most environmentally aware of us should have more kids than average to help dilute the ranks of ignorant people and boost overall awareness. That would lead to higher chances of good leadership in 2060 and beyond.

That's how I feel too. During the peak of the US and European lockdowns, back in April of last year, daily emissions fell by like only 10-20%.[1] Tells quite a story about how much our personal actions matter.

[1] You can just google it.

Appreciate the effort sort of but misguided

Our personal choices, imo, matter approximately zero

That's always controversial to say but I feel like the evidence bears it out

There is prob a report out there somewhere that says "well actually, personal choice does, in fact, matter a little bit"

To which we have to ask

"Well how much is a little bit, and is it worth parroting the oil industry's 60-year old propaganda message that personal choice, not policy, matters?'

personal choice does matter. but people are lazy and entitled and would rather government force someone else to fix the issue for them so they can have a good conscience without changing their lifestyle at all.

you actually need both. not just one or the other

I agree with you. However, I am not sure if is only people being entitled, I believe that the problem is also connected with the lack of knowledge. We were always told that is not up to the individual to worry about climate change but to the politicians and companies. That and the fact that it is a very complex problem to solve serves as a great argument for people to "ignore" the problem

we were always told that is it is _not_ up to the individual??

it seems there's a pretty long history of the opposite:

https://www.vox.com/22429551/climate-change-crisis-exxonmobi...

this would mirror the strategy of Republicans, generally, Big Food (get that exercise, kiddos!), etc.

it's not 'the system' that is responsible, and certainly not big corporations or the oligopolies or the billionaires or the elite, it's _you_.

One big source of climate damage, especially in the United States, is food waste. The average American throws away a third of their food. The culture and TV treat food waste as normal.

How much "food waste" is done by individuals instead of corporations?

Plenty. Uneaten leftovers, rotten food...

Right, I was looking for an actual statistical answer based on data. Obviously there are instances of individual food waste, my point is that maybe we can make a much larger impact by focusing on food waste at corporations and restaurants.

Gonna need a source on this before I believe it. I'm skeptical food waste plays a major role in GHG emissions.

Last I checked, burning fossil fuels and making plastic accounted for the vast majority of harmful emissions.

Food is produced primarily with fossil fuels.

> The American food supply is driven almost entirely by non-renewable energy sources and accounts for approximately 19% of the total use of fossil fuels in the United States.

https://sustainability.emory.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/...

Buying local and eating less meat is social signalling. Wasting less food is making personal sacrifices for the environment.

Your own source doesn't agree. On page 3 it says:

"What you can do: - Buy foods grown locally - Avoid purchasing processed foods - Cut back on meat"

I understand that GHGs are emitted in producing, shipping, refrigerating, and disposing of the wasted food. I am 100% for reducing waste, but we have bigger fish to fry than biodegradable food waste.

I'm not sure the food waste is referring to solid waste, but the emissions produced (fuel and electrcity) in producing/shipping/storing/delivering food that is not actually used.

Although the output of GHG in terms of grams is only 7% of US total, for food waste those grams would predominantly be methane and nitrous oxide, which have much higher warming potentials.

Ceasing the burning of fossil fuels would be significant. But stopping organic matter from decomposing in a landfill would also be significant — and it’s currently feasible and scalable.

https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.compostingcouncil.org/resource/res...

Thanks for the info and source!

That is very much true. In Germany, for example, people waste about 55 kg of food per year. If you are able to cut that in half and let's say that 1 kg of food produces around 0.7 kg of CO2 (average), you will be able to reduce 15 kg of CO2 per month. We have more information in the app if you are interested.

You know, I reflected on this, and if you add up the whole food supply chain, people driving to grocery stores, overproduction, refrigeration, etc. then wasted food starts to look like a bigger problem than I initially give it credit for.

Thanks. I was going to reply, I concede that reducing meat consumption is probably a help too, but I wouldn't endorse "vegetarianism for all."

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