Comment by bskinny129 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by bskinny129 | Hacker News Reader

> A Climeworks app could be installed on my smartphone, he explained. It could then be activated by my handset’s location services. “You fly over here to Europe,” he explained, “and the app tells you that you have just burned 1.7 tons of CO₂. Do you want to remove that? Well, Climeworks can remove it for you. Click here. We’ll charge your credit card. And then you’ll get a stone made from CO₂ for every ton you sequester.” He sat back and sighed. “That would be my dream,” he said.

That's what I'm working on! Get people who care to take personal responsibility for their own travel. It is just $2-4 dollars a week - a tiny sum for people who fly frequently. In beta for iOS now if you are interested in giving it a shot: https://www.producthunt.com/upcoming/pledge-balance

An independent app has the benefit of not being stuck with just this Climeworks best case $100/ton direct air capture. Soils and grasslands seem to be a low hanging fruit closer to $10/ton.

I’m sorry, but trying to save the planet via a charity while taking a vig to get rich at the same time isn’t going to work. The scale of the problem is just too large, and the number of individuals at the retail end of the carbon economy with the desire and disposable income to not only undo their own emissions is tiny.

No vig

The tough part about a problem of massive scale is no solution is good enough. So you sit around debating a global carbon tax for decades while attacking any other effort that is an incremental approach?

If you want to sell good feelings, I guess that’s fine, but never convince yourself that you’re making an impact.

Approval accepted and I will stay away from the kool-aid.

Someone less convinced about these issues will react to this by saying: „good idea, make those who are interested in this climate thing pay and leave the rest of us alone“.

Hopefully this is a more palatable solution for skeptics than a big carbon tax or even doing nothing. There is an obvious connection between cars and airplanes spewing gunk into the air, you don't need to make a case with global warming models - just be responsible for your own mess and nothing more. Everyone understands pollution and being responsible for their direct actions.

Everyone understands pollution and being responsible for their direct actions.

And yet still only 2% of the population is vegan.

I don't suppose it will work if we just leave this to the people who care. Most people do care, but enough to sacrifice their comfort.

I would argue being vegan is a very hard change, equivalent in my mind to asking people who care about the environment to never fly or get in a car with an internal combustion engine. Those people exist, but man is that a lot to ask!

It is a much smaller ask to opt into paying 5 cents more for a burger to offset. But with travel the connection to emissions is more obvious and wealthy people have a larger share (a rich person doesn't eat 10x more steak than average, but does fly 10x more).

You lost me on the comparison between never flying/driving and eating responsibly and well, but i think the "never" part of the equation is going to cause a lot of friction.

If being a vegan is hard, use condiments! Don't be a vegan, just eat way less meat (especially red) and stuff made with palm oil which would both benefit both the climate and your health. Actually the heck with the planet, heart disease will take your number faster than climate change.

"By 2020, 90% of Ford’s North American sales will consist of larger vehicles with lower fuel economy" Not buying an SUV that never leaves the pavement which rides on GIANT tires might also be something to consider in the personal choices category. If you really need to see above everyone else, install a periscope.

Internalize profits, externalize costs.

The fact that people think that you can just buy your way out of the laws of physics makes me so frustrated I want to cry. We are truly doomed.

I mean, I have children. What am I going to tell them.

I see it more as a stop-gap. Reducing some of the damage transitioning to renewable energy over the next 1-3 decades. And optimistically doing my small part.

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