7 karma · joined May 3, 2022
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1149643 https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111... https://naisma.org/naisma-resources/government-relations/the... https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/The-potential-conserva...
Imagine we discover an alien planet with no predators. Should we allow ecological merging, with reasonable expectation of large biodiversity loss. The problem is, the alien planet doesn't have a pesticides industry propped up around saying "foreign bad"
But I have no idea, and am not qualified to answer that hypothetical.
I'm sorry but an anonymous comment on good reads, should not hold the same weight as a book that references academic papers.
In any case it isn't as black and white as "Invasive = Bad" one doesn't need to look far for that evidence.
https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/The-potential-conserva...
https://spartina.org/project_documents/revegetation_program/...
Here is another perspective too: https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/22796160/invasive-species-...
Edit After Downvote: I get it - They were a major nuisance to you. Lanternflys weren't a one time thing. This has happened before - remember stink bugs? This has happened many times and it is going to get worse. Please don't shoot the messenger.
As someone originally from Pennsylvania - PA seems especially excited about invasive species. The spotted lantern fly was a big nuisance. Everyone talked about it. The spotted lantern fly and even this pear tree are not the enemy.
Invasive species thrive in ecosystems that we create. You don't want spotted lantern flys? You don't want thorny pear trees? Maybe ask who is defining the term "invasive species" and why they are defining them as such? Anyone thinking about cutting down your pear tree. Read "Beyond the War on Invasive Species: A Permaculture Approach to Ecosystem Restoration" [0]
0: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/25782048-beyond-the-w...
Take a look at Code Complete: Chapter 25. Does a way better job explaining this than I could in a comment box.
For example recycling plastic is your responsibility - but what if your city burns plastic recycling? What do you do? Do you continue to buy plastic blame the companies for using it and the city for burning it? Why should the individual be penalized?
This seems more gray to me, like yeah okay I'm going to reduce the amount of plastic I buy in that case. And there are alternative like paper. In programming it feels more black and white. There is map and it serves a single purpose.
The problem is telling individuals to focus on optimization.
Let's use javascript as an example. Say you need to transform an array. You can use `.map` or a `for` loop in javascript.
You see a lot of articles like this https://dev.to/henryjw/array-map-much-slower-than-for-loop-5... that say a `for` loop is faster. And sometimes it's true.
By the logic of the original article, you should hyperoptimize your code. The problem is. If everyone writes `for` loops instead of using `map`. When map eventually becomes more efficient there's all that garbage code out there that has to be refactored.
Ignoring the problems associated with benchmarking - this for example claims map now being faster than for loops. https://leanylabs.com/blog/js-forEach-map-reduce-vs-for-for_...
It comes down to return on effort. We only have so much effort to put at solving this problem. You maximize your return on effort by having a clear separation of responsibility. In this case the individual's responsibility is to write code to the latest spec. The institution's responsibility is to make the code written as efficient as possible.
A single website saving .000000001 ppm of carbon (exaggerating) is just never going to be worth the effort. But a compiler improvement on all websites running javascript. Now that's totally worth it.
Further reading behind this logic: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3828902-thinking-in-syst...
https://stackify.com/premature-optimization-evil/
Code Complete (chapter 25.2) https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/code-complete-second/07...
Where I agree with the article is to use tools like lighthouse and write code that uses the language properly. It is absolutely individual's responsibility to do this. The responsibility of making code efficient (dare I say "green") lies in those writing the browser engines/compilers.
0: https://medium.com/@mitpress/individualization-plant-a-tree-...
This is a good critique of low-code/no-code in general. The root problem I see of "Unfortunately, when we frame the problem space that way, we have allowed our tools to think for us." is that in reality there are just not enough qualified software engineers out there.
Clarification: I mean of course if you create a volcano in the wrong spot that would be bad, but like if you're drilling for thermally heated ground water can stuff go wrong?
I couldn’t disagree more. This is one of the biggest failures of the modern environmental movement. The individualization of environmental guilt. See https://medium.com/@mitpress/individualization-plant-a-tree-...
We need systemic change. Not pressing the eco button on your solar powered dishwasher.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25782048-beyond-the-war-...