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Comment by dorgo | Hacker News Reader

Global warming is the primary, if not the only, reason for an expensive transition to renewables. If global warming is stopped/reversed then there is no reason to not to burn more oil, is there? I don't like it, but I won't argue against fossil fuels with abstract moral reasons.

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There are plenty of other reasons to get off fossil fuels. Burning them is bad for human health, they cause economic and geopolitical instability, supplies are finite, they cause ocean acidity that destroys ocean ecosystems, excess CO2 causes less nutritious plants, etc.

And renewables provide huge opportunities. Do you have any idea what it unlocks if you have unlimited clean energy? You could have massive, vibrant, beautiful cities and agriculture in the middle of the Sahara, and that's just the beginning.

Moving to electric cars also hurts the environment a lot, maybe not in the countries that buy the cars but in the countries where the materials are mined.

In reality we need structural policies that countries that spearhead pollution (like the USA) will never adopt. America is a car-centric country it is designed that way. Not only that but people expect their deliveries fast and also to be able to get what they want at all times... its a massive cultural shift.

It seems very difficult to stop climate change, i would say impossible, because socially, politically and economically we have built machine that cant be stopped anymore.

The universe isn't a morality play where we are damned because of our bad behavior. We have options. We should use science and reason to decide what to do.

I‘m not sure what you are eluding to. Are you saying it is ok to exploit finite resources? That‘s also a morality play. Is it ok to live at the expense of future generations? I think we should finally start minimizing these external costs. We have the duty to do so.

> Moving to electric cars also hurts the environment a lot, maybe not in the countries that buy the cars but in the countries where the materials are mined.

Well mines are not pretty. I have gold and coal mines not far from here, and they are ugly.

Go to Biafra and see what the oil industries look like to those places. AN oil spill in an estuary makes a mine look like a park.

> It seems very difficult to stop climate change, i would say impossible, because socially, politically and economically we have built machine that cant be stopped anymore.

Either we stop it, derail it, or burn it down completely. Or we all burn, and it will be worse.

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