The Time America Almost Stopped Climate Change | Climate Town
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN recommends it as an entertaining summary of early bipartisan climate action and corporate influence on research.
What it is
Climate Town tells the history of the period when the greenhouse effect was not politically controversial and the US came close to acting on climate. It covers Exxon's early climate science and the policy failures that followed.
Recommended by 2 HN commenters across 3 different months, 2021 to 2023.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec asmor · 2023-04 · on “'Devastating' melt of Greenland, Antarctic ice sheets found”
We got surprisingly close, so close that Exxon had a division on renewable energy in the 80s (but then decided to spend that money on lobbying and disinformation instead). Climate Town has a great video essay on it: [this video]
Recommends erdo · 2021-09 · on “How I debate”
When do you consider the left to have moved on climate? Climate change was a fairly bi-partisan issue initially. George Bush is famous for pushing cap and trade ideas in the late 80s early 90s for instance ClimateTown has a fairly entertaining video about it [this video]
Recommends asmor · 2023-10 · on “Shell Using Fortnite, TikTok, etc. to Convince Kids Fossil Fuels Are Cool”
By the late 70s wasn't a secret, it's more that nobody would listen over the sound of oil prices crashing half a decade later. Exxon even briefly had a substantial research division into renewables. In the 80s! YouTube channel Climate Town has a very good summary of history of early climate chance action, The Time America Almost Stopped Climate Change [this video]
Cites danuker · 2022-06 · on “In defense of cryptocurrency”
So what? If the pollution is the problem, government should tax the externalities through a Pigovian tax. In the EU we have a functioning carbon cap, and as such mining is less profitable here. [LINK] But the US will hear none of it: [this video]
Cites hju22_-3 · 2023-09 · on “Sucking carbon dioxide out of the sky is moving from science fiction to reality”
While I'm not saying this whitepaper is wrong, keep in mind that this is done by Carbon Engineering who receive funding from people and organizations like N. Murray Edwards[1], Chevron Corporation, Occidental Petroleum and BHP[2] which either have hands deep in the oil or mining market, among other things. There is financial incentive to provide results that are in-line with what your funders want, and it's nothing new that this kind of thing has been, and still is being done. It's just hard to prove often. So as with all science, consult multiple whitepapers, including ones that don't have direct or borderline not indirect funding from those who have financial incentive to get a result that