Many people claim AI can help us solve climate change, so I decided to ask Google Gemini.
It regurgitated the same points climate advocates have made for for over 40 years:
- Transition to Renewable Energy
- Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions
- Sustainable Agriculture and Land Use
- Climate-Resilient Cities and Infrastructure: Design cities to be more walkable, bikeable, and transit-oriented
- International Cooperation and Policy
So there we have it folks.
If you’ve been waiting for an LLM to give you the list of things we need to do to solve climate change, then you now have the answer as regurgitated by an AI.
Now let’s get on with it.
#AI #ArtificialIntelligence #ChatGPT #ClkmateChange #ClimateCrisis #ChatGPT @fuck_cars
@Showroom7561 They know even if 70% of the population benevolently made compromises for the greater good, there’s still a market for their toxic products.
And they know that if 51% of the public vote for candidates that implement good public policy — that invest in grid scale renewables and storage, that allow higher density mixed use zoning near public transport, that invest in rail and public transport, that implement taxes that capture fossil fuel pollution externalities rather than subsidise them — they’re screwed.
At the grassroots level, building movements and organisations, raising funds, getting good candidates preselected and then elected is going to have far greater impact than individual consumer choices.
If the local council doesn’t understand induced demand and chooses to induce more traffic with more lanes rather than build protected bike lanes, then they are not competent for public office.
They need to go.
If the state government wastes taxpayer money building more roads that induce more traffic rather than on improving bus and train services, they need to go.
And here’s the kicker. Once the Infrastructure is in place, there is no sacrifice.
People choose to catch the modern automated underground Metro that runs every 4 minutes because it’s quicker than being stuck in traffic.
2/3
@Showroom7561 There is no functional difference between powering your lights and your TV with grid renewables and storage electricity vs grid fossil fuel electricity.
Literally the exact same activities (turning on lights, using appliances) go from having a massive carbon impact to a negligible one, depending on if there’s renewables or fossil fuels powering the grid.
I don’t begrudge anyone who makes individual choices to lighten their environmental impact.
But understand that the core of the issue is systemic. It’s bad Infrastructure and bad public policy.
The solution to bad public policy is good public policy.
The solution to bad Infrastructure is good Infrastructure.
And if our political leaders aren’t doing the job, then they need to be held to account, and replaced.
3/3
I think we fundamentally agree to the same thing, and the things that need to happen for us to get there.
I’m probably more pessimistic because our elected leaders (with no foreseeable change happening any time soon) have been waging war on all things green and sustainable. As an example, our provincial leader recently suggested that we stop building cycling infrastructure to help ease traffic congestion. The public voted for him, then re-elected him, despite the massive damage he’s caused our protected areas and the downgrade to transportation he pushes.
So, even when we know what needs to be done. How do we convince voters to make the right choice in their elected officials? And then convince every branch of government to follow suit with making the right decisions. :(
@Showroom7561 I take it you’re talking about Doug Ford?
I don’t follow Canadian politics closely, but from what I’ve read, he sounds like a nasty piece of work (and that whole family too, for that matter).
So I can certainly understand your pessimism!
Just remember there’s always a long game in politics.
Keep advocating, keep organising, keep building connections, alternative institutions, and counterweights. Ford’s reign will end.