Lesser consumption will.
Technological solutions, megadeaths to reduce consumption or dealing with climate change. These are the only realistic options. China and India aren’t staying poor.
I mean, megadeaths in poor third world coastal regions won't necessarily force people in New York to reduce consumption. If (for example) sea level rise starts threatening New York directly, then it can afford Netherlands-style solutions that somewhat mitigate the local consequences.
No doubt you could go much further along that road.
And what's wrong with wearing more clothes in the winter?!
Likely house lacking enough insulation - this is what is wrong.
I'm not averse to building insulation either though.
If your hands and feet are getting cold at 17-18c you're obviously blessed with a better climate than I.
Insulation and air sealing makes a huge difference, especially in cold climates like where I live, where it often gets down to -25°C or colder in winter. I live in a basement with very old, leaky windows, so the floor never really warms up. When I'm at my computer I tend to not move much, and in that position there's poor blood flow to my hands. I turn up the electric heater when I need to (electricity is very expensive here), but I normally rely on the gas stove at the other end of the house.
I actually have no problem being outside when it's cold, and even prefer it over summer. The difference is that I don't stand in one position when I'm outside. When I'm outside I'm shovelling snow, turning a wrench, or walking.
If you get to -25c you get colder winters than me. It surprises me that you get cold at 17-18c, I wonder if its a draft, or you have poor circulation (Raynauds disease ?) Or maybe it because I have kids, so never actually get the chance to sit down.
Setting temperature is almost orthogonal. delta T is not much different between 17-18 and 24 if it is -10 outside.
When my house was built it has 1 inch of loft insulation. Now as far as I can tell there weren't condensation problems, but that wouldn't have been enough to keep the house warm through winter so you would still need extra heat/clothes/both.
I do for the record now have over a foot of insulation in the loft and still require extra heating, and I put a jumper on.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_between_U.S._states...
There is no way you are going to get Americans to voluntarily reduce their standard of living outside of a war. That applies to Europeans, Australians, Canadians, Chinese and everyone else too. Americans aren’t special.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with wearing more clothes in winter but it is a consistent vote loser, like all the other realistic proposals for individual action on climate change. This past winter I wore plenty of extra clothes but people like being able to walk around inside in a T-shirt and pants. Everywhere they can afford to they do it more or less as soon as it’s affirdable, maybe with a thirty year generation gap.
My point is you don't have to reduce your standard of living (quality of life). Does the average American have a better standard of living than the Average European, and is it so much better that it accounts for the much higher carbon footprint?
I've never voted for anyone on the basis of wearing more or less clothes. Id hazard a guess that most voters wouldn't identify it as a top 10 issue. Plus didn't Jimmy Carter tell people to wear a sweater?
Yes. The only countries with higher average individual consumption than the US are Norway and Switzerland.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_household...
The only country with bigger houses than the US is Australia.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/average-h...
Jimmy Carter wasn’t re-elected.
Not sure what this number tell other than that we all in developed countries need to reduce our footprint, but some more than others
The average European living in a city may not have a car, that is not the same as the average American who lives in a city and doesn't own a car. European cities are have a lot better public transportation, so you don't need a car.
In my experience houses in the city tend to be smaller than houses in the country. But the city is where the wealth is created, so it doesn't seem to me that larger houses should be an indicator of wealth in and of itself. I'm undecided whether living in the city with a smaller house but higher income would lead to a higher quality of life versus living in a bigger house in the country, but with a lower income. I suspect its probably down to personal preference.
Which means it's effectively impossible to do, because as soon as you try, they'll vote you out of office. Short of suspending elections, I don't see how democracies make the level of changes needed until we're actually suffering badly from climate change. But historically it doesn't seem like the types of people who become tyrants do so because it's the only path available to save the society from itself.
Not need to be so dramatic. Upgrading one's iPhone every other year instead of every year hardly constitutes poverty.
I believe that fighting climate change vs quality of life is false dichotomy. We can do both. See this comment for example https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19267752
Good luck convincing Midwesterners or Texans who think nothing of driving someplace for four hours that a massive gas tax is worth it. Good luck convincing everyone in the suburbs to abandon their homes to move into a city. Good luck convincing people used to taking two holidays to the suna year that they can have one every two years.
What I think or you think does not matter. What the median voter thinks matters and if you try to make them consume less outside of a war they will vote you out.
If you and everyone in your country decreases their consumption and number of offspring then the slack will taken up by others until the environment once again bears as much as it can.
I understand what you're saying, but it's acceptable to take a stand against sweatshops, child labour etc. Why not against pollution?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_...