Hacker News Reader

I can absolutely understand you. A lot of what is done in this area is unfortunately greenwashing and is meant to make you feel good. That's why open source is so important for "impact" measurements. Conclusions based on open satellite data and open source processing pipelines are very difficult to "greenwash". Let numbers based on empirical measurements and open models decide what is actually sustainable for the climate, rather than opaque marketing.

View on HN

Nothing you mention actually does the action of reducing carbon emissions.

Every action you take first creates emissions. Doing nothing often seems to be the safest way to reduce your own emissions. This gives you a good feeling that you are at least not part of the problem. An open source / open science strategy at least prevents greenwashing and allows to at least focus on measures that actually save emissions. However, as long as the systemic / economic problem behind climate change is not solved, someone else will simply create the emissions for you.

Find more about this under the term "Climate Shadow": https://www.mic.com/impact/forget-your-carbon-footprint-lets....

Reply on news.ycombinator.com