The original article post for this discussion is here "Drawdown":
Drawdown is the goal for all of us, in terms of taking care of global warming
greenhouse gases = gases that trap the sun’s heat in our air = CO2
drawdown is when the amount of CO2 starts to decline.
How do we reverse global warming? By drawing down the amount of gasses in the air.
HFCs are 100 to 1000x more potent than CO2
peat
tillage
monocropping
We’re all concerned about climate change, of course, but all we do is say woooooo, what can we do, and we don’t do anything but watch tv and eat chips. but I think this video lets us to discuss some points that we can do, like refrigerants. I do think we still need this.
—we just need non HFC refrigerants
—so these chemical engineers can find some solution to this problem. also about this food. Taiwanese love to eat buffet, and it wastes so much food. Like my mom, will take a lot, then try, and be like “ don’t like it”. You should just take a little to find out if you like it or not first. and not waste so much food. so not just in Taiwan, but all around the world we waste food like this. also the convenience store problem, the food expires today, but the food is still on the shelf, and it’s going to get thrown out. Can we not find a way to recycle this? or eat it? or have a sale at 11:00? At least you have one hour to eat it? I just want to say, this problem makes me impressed because it is so vivid to me. my mother just takes so much food and she doesn’t eat it all, it’s such a waste.
—and there’s lots of people like your mom!
—yeah!
So I was interested in this video primarily because he said this: “What we need is to accelerate implementation and to change the discourse from one of fear and confusion, which only leads to apathy, to one of understanding and possibility, and, therefore, opportunity.” so basically what she said. It’s the first time I’ve ever heard people talk like this, in like a national video, and it’s like, “of course” because every time I hear about global warming i just want to crawl into bed and eat cookies.
—you eat cookies, I eat chips, and we all watch television and then go to bed!
—yea basically.
—the video doesn’t tell you how to implement though, especially for individuals. this is the most simple thing we can do for ourselves.
—I feel he’s giving us a map, a concept with which to help ourselves.
—he’s like an expert in any other area, they just say something to keep people confused.
—maybe, but there was new information here about what we can do.
—for most people, the individuals are not experts.
—this is not really about us as individual consumers. He’s saying, “are you in this industry?, can you do more? are you a voter who can ask your government to look into these directions. It’s not about personal action, it’s about starting up collective action.
—ballot initiatives. voters get together and tell the lawmakers, you need to make a law like this. some states in the US have this. it’s not easy to do, but it can be done. is there anything like this in Taiwan
—maybe referendums?
—it’s not the same thing though, they just suggest a way to do, the legislature has to actually come up with the plan and the decision.
—what I like about this is they break the task up into achievable bits. Also, it’s like, different industries can take different initiatives, and government have a lot of different avenues that they can work on to improve things. there’s so many things to try, there’s not just like one thing to fail at.
—But I just want to re-emphasize, that I want cities to figure out how to install safe, affordable wind turbines on the top of every apartment building, and to figure out how the national grid can adjust to the new decentralized input and remain stable. And I want to have, like, a solar power charger for my cell phone. I know solar panels are actually a polluting industry, but wind turbines are basically washing machine level technology, very doable, and very not polluting. It’s just a logistics problem, that’s all. Hey, Taiwan government, put some money into wind turbine businesses and electric grid adjustment.
This video is very interesting to notice, but I’m thinking of how to implement the solutions. Both on the government side and the individual’s. Like we discussed before, if the richest control the government, those solutions wont’ happen. so maybe it’s started from education, moral education most specifically, teach everyone those solutions are good for the future and to change most peoples’ minds. Because the government officials also came from the individuals. So if they have these ideas in their minds, this is for the people who voted for them, the idea will be more easy to implement.
