Ah, the Post Editorial Board: demanding that the people trying to mitigate the damage from climate change they’ve been warning us about for over fifty years while saying not a word about the major corporations still making record profits from preventing any action addressing it.
The lives of some human beings might be saved by A/C, at least for as long as the power stays on. What about animals and plants? Crops? What about deaths and destruction from super-powered storm cells?
Why does the Post Op Ed team value worker productivity over mitigating the effects of climate change? Valuing fourth quarter profits over the planet is how governments and multinational corporations got us into this mess in the first place.
It’s like living in an apartment complex where several of the residents love starting fires, and ignoring them while haranging the fire fighters about how they must fight the fire in a way that saves lives while making it harder to put the fire out. Why are you ignoring the way in which the pyromaniacs who started the fire continue to see human life as valueless?
Yeahhhhh. I have seen almost no one even try to reckon with what a wet bulb event means for wildlife. We can protect at least some people, but vast regions are going to end up completely depopulated of animal life very abruptly. Shit's real, real, real grim.
I do think the comment, while correct, is going far beyond the scope of the article. All the stuff they're talking about is already locked in, there's no stopping it now. The author is discussing one means by which some people can be saved, and the moral ramifications of the poorest people in the world being the ones who will most desperately need cold air.
Major corporations really are the culprit. People using A/C in their homes is nothing compared to the wealthy using it in their empty vacation houses or half vacant, dying malls at night when they're closed. Insisting on having people return to office buildings for work is another large building wasting A/C. Making cars the only form of transportation is another.
As the climate gets worse, you won't be able to walk or bike anywhere. The obvious solution is trains, but good luck getting US lawmakers and their car company constituents to implement mass transit.
Christ we're going to have to... well, we probably won't, but pedestrian tunnels in cities just to get them off ground level. Put them 100ft down where it's cool all the time.
Yah I was wondering about this the other day in a different thread. What happens to places like Las Vegas or Phoenix that are already insanely hot? Do they just become ghost towns? You won't be able to go outside if those areas all turn into Death Valley. Humans can only survive about 10 minutes in 120°F. What happens when it's 150° or higher?
Even if people plan on going underground during the day, I dunno how above-ground infrastructure will do. I think you start running into other problems like buildings warping or water evaporating through glass.
The top comment
Yeahhhhh. I have seen almost no one even try to reckon with what a wet bulb event means for wildlife. We can protect at least some people, but vast regions are going to end up completely depopulated of animal life very abruptly. Shit's real, real, real grim.
I do think the comment, while correct, is going far beyond the scope of the article. All the stuff they're talking about is already locked in, there's no stopping it now. The author is discussing one means by which some people can be saved, and the moral ramifications of the poorest people in the world being the ones who will most desperately need cold air.
Major corporations really are the culprit. People using A/C in their homes is nothing compared to the wealthy using it in their empty vacation houses or half vacant, dying malls at night when they're closed. Insisting on having people return to office buildings for work is another large building wasting A/C. Making cars the only form of transportation is another.
As the climate gets worse, you won't be able to walk or bike anywhere. The obvious solution is trains, but good luck getting US lawmakers and their car company constituents to implement mass transit.
Christ we're going to have to... well, we probably won't, but pedestrian tunnels in cities just to get them off ground level. Put them 100ft down where it's cool all the time.
Yah I was wondering about this the other day in a different thread. What happens to places like Las Vegas or Phoenix that are already insanely hot? Do they just become ghost towns? You won't be able to go outside if those areas all turn into Death Valley. Humans can only survive about 10 minutes in 120°F. What happens when it's 150° or higher?
Even if people plan on going underground during the day, I dunno how above-ground infrastructure will do. I think you start running into other problems like buildings warping or water evaporating through glass.