Carbon Dioxide Levels Jumped by a Record Amount, U.N. Says
Surging emissions from wildfires may have been behind the increase, which was the largest since modern measurements began more than half a century ago.
Note that it's fossil fuel use that is responsible for the bulk of the added CO2; it's just the year-to-year variation that might be due to wildfires.
Natural gas is helping power the use of artificial intelligence
In 2023, data centers consumed approximately 7.4 gigawatts (GW) of electricity globally, or enough to power more than six million homes.Natural gas is one solution to powering these centers, and Chevron recently announced that it will work with Engine No. 1 and GE Verona to generate electricity for AI. The companies’ plans include building natural gas power plants directly connected to data centers.
During the Gastech conference in September 2024, Mike Wirth, Chevron chairman and CEO, highlighted the role that the Permian Basin could play in powering data centers.
“Natural gas will help power the rapid growth of artificial intelligence with its insatiable demand for reliable electricity,” Wirth said. “This means AI’s advance will depend not only on the design labs of Silicon Valley, but also on the gas fields of the Permian Basin.”
According to Goldman Sachs, incremental data center power demand will drive 3.3 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d) of new natural gas demand by 2030.
Surging emissions from wildfires may have been behind the increase
No, no, no. That not possible. Me told forests -ABSORB- CO², not emit it. If tipping points reached and sink become source, how are Grog's carbon credits going to maintain value?
How Bill Gates private jet fuel itself, carbon neutral like, if planted forests now ash? Grog confused. sad noises
Harnessing technology and global collaboration to understand peatlands
Crowdsourcing photos is a neat way to gauge the health of those ecosystems. I've quoted some excerpts from the article below.
A link to the study: doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ae06…
Peatlands are among the world’s most important yet underappreciated ecosystems. They are a type of wetland that covers a small fraction of the Earth’s land, while containing the most carbon-rich soils in the world.Healthy peatlands shape water cycles, support unique biodiversity and sustain communities. Yet for all their importance, we still lack a clear picture of how peatlands are changing through time.
When peatlands are drained, degraded or burned, the carbon they hold is released into the atmosphere. More than three million square kilometres of wetlands have been drained by humans since 1700, meaning we have lost a huge amount of carbon sequestration potential globally. This makes it all the more important for us to understand and conserve remaining peatlands.
Our study, called The PeatPic Project, used smartphone photography to collect data. We connected with peatland researchers around the world via social media and word of mouth and asked them to collect photographs of their peatlands during 2021 and 2022. We gathered more than 3,700 photographs from 27 peatlands in 10 countries.
We analyzed these photographs to look at the plant colour, telling us how green leaves are across the year, and providing rich information on the vegetation growing there. Changes in green leaf colour indicate when plants start their growing season.
They also indicate how green or healthy plants are, how much nutrient plants take up and when they turn brown in the autumn. Colour shifts can also signal changes in moisture or nutrient conditions, temperature stress or disturbance.
Harnessing technology and global collaboration to understand peatlands
The PeatPic Project used over 3,700 smartphone photographs from 27 peatlands in 10 countries to gather data about how climate change is impacting them.The Conversation
like this
This technology could feed a world of 10 billion.
Yeah, but for how long? Climate change, soil erosion and aquifer depletion.
Trump officials back firm in fight over California offshore oil drilling after huge spill
Trump officials back firm in fight over California offshore oil drilling after huge spill
Sable Offshore Corp. says it wants to work with California to restart the pipeline again.gqlshare (The Mercury News)
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UK Labour ministers met fossil fuel lobbyists 500 times in first year of power, analysis shows
Labour ministers met fossil fuel lobbyists 500 times in first year of power, analysis shows
Lobbyists attended 48% more meetings than Tories, as Labour accused of giving them ‘backstage pass’Matthew Taylor (The Guardian)
Depends
They start to give off CO2 when it gets to hot - or at least can't take up as much anymore
We aren't just losing storage, nature joins us in producing more CO2 the hotter it gets
Plants can only consume so much.
sciencealert.com/trees-struggl…
Trees Struggling to Absorb CO2, Leading Emissions to Skyrocket : ScienceAlert
Recording-breaking carbon emissions in 2023 could be a sign that nature's carbon removal systems are failing, a study awaiting peer-review warns.Tessa Koumoundouros (ScienceAlert)
The Blue-State Governors Who’ve Gone Weak on Climate Policy | They make a big show of standing up to Trump. But what about standing up for the planet?
* archive.today
* web.archive.org
The Blue-State Governors Who’ve Gone Weak on Climate Policy
They make a big show of standing up to Trump. But what about standing up for the planet?The New Republic
US and Canada weigh revival of ‘zombie’ Keystone XL pipeline in trade talks | Controversial project to ship heavy crude to Texas coast was killed by Biden administration on environmental grounds
* archive.today
FT
The latest UK and international business, finance, economic and political news, comment and analysis from the Financial Times optimised for your device on app.ft.com.Financial Times
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Toward cleaner, safer Philadelphia waterways
Climate change and ancient infrastructure make Philadelphia vulnerable to potentially catastrophic flooding, but federal, state, and local efforts are meeting the moment.
I figure they just haven't gotten around to yanking federal support for this kind of adaptation measure
Prospects Dim for Denmark’s Renewable Energy Star
Orsted, which helped create and dominated the offshore wind industry, has felt a huge impact from these setbacks. The company said last week that it would lay off 2,000 people, or 25 percent of its staff, over the next two years.Instead of lining up new, multibillion-dollar wind farms to build in shallow waters around the globe, Orsted will mainly focus on finishing those it has under construction and managing them or selling them off.
Orsted said 235 of the 500 layoffs planned for this quarter would be in Denmark
Wood Mackenzie, an energy consulting firm, forecast that less than 50 percent of the cumulative targets set by national governments, excluding China, for offshore wind for the end of the decade will be achieved.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/business/denmark-orsted-wind-farms-trump.html
Hope
cross-posted from: slrpnk.net/post/28796937
Yet every time we open Pandora's box there's Andrew Tate or his like.
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CO2 from wildfires increases by 9% as climate crisis supercharges infernos
CO2 from wildfires increases by 9% as climate crisis supercharges infernos
Greenhouse gases from wildfires at sixth highest level on record after blazes in large areas of the Americas and AfricaSandra Laville (The Guardian)
Judge Throws Out Children’s Lawsuit Against Trump’s Energy Policies
The group had challenged the president’s executive orders as unconstitutional. A judge “reluctantly” said the suit was too broad in scope.
This Hydrogen has no Color
This Hydrogen has no Color
Peregrine Hydrogen has an unusual idea for making clean Hydrogen, one that it says fits into existing industrial processes. One of the world's largest Phosphate mining companies is interested.Hanno Böck (industrydecarbonization.com)
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Approaching peak phosphorus - Nature Plants
Any long-term solution to the projected decline in phosphate supply must involve improving phosphorus use efficiency in crop plants.Nature
Controversial UK oil field reveals climate impact if approved
Controversial UK oil field reveals climate impact if approved
The impact from the Rosebank oil field is estimated at nearly 250 million tonnes of planet warming CO2.Esme Stallard (BBC News)
Americans can’t afford their cars any more and Wall Street is worried
cross-posted from: lemmy.world/post/37630345
If only we had invented and built some sort of alternative mode of collective transportation. Maybe it could be in tunnels and ride on metallic rails. It would serve many people and make periodic stops to the same locations instead of the highway clusterf- we have today. Sad that we don't, but a man can dream though. A man can dream though. A man can dream.
copymyjalopy likes this.
Big Tech’s big bet on a controversial carbon removal tactic
Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage can scale faster than other approaches. But some experts are dubious about the climate benefits.
Archived copies of the article:
* archive.today
* web.archive.org
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I am dubious that business people and techbros give a shit enough to remain rational about this vs. just sell the vibe of caring.
Actually I am very sure they don't.
Caring with too big of an ego to listen doesn't count as caring.
This strategy will end up catastrophically failing, no matter, techbros and business people will have made a killing in profits while delaying actual action on climate change.
But experts have raised a number of concerns about various approaches to BECCS, stressing they may inflate the climate benefits of the projects, conflate prevented emissions with carbon removal, and extend the life of facilities that pollute in other ways. It could also create greater financial incentives to log forests or convert them to agricultural land.When greenhouse-gas sources and sinks are properly tallied across all the fields, forests, and factories involved, it’s highly difficult to achieve negative emissions with many approaches to BECCS, says Tim Searchinger, a senior research scholar at Princeton University. That undermines the logic of dedicating more of the world’s limited land, crops, and woods to such projects, he argues.
“I call it a ‘BECCS and switch,’” he says, adding later: “It’s folly at some level.”
Chinese freighter halves EU delivery time on maiden Arctic voyage to UK
The Istanbul Bridge's maiden voyage, originally expected to take 18 days, was delayed by two days due to a storm off the coast of Norway but the ship still reached Europe earlier than the 40 to 50 days it takes freighters going through the Suez Canal or around the Cape of Good Hope.The new Northern Sea Route, running entirely through Arctic waters and within Russia's exclusive economic zone, can now be navigated by ships due to global warming.
Forty years ago today (Oct 15, 1985) a clear loud climate warning was given. We didn't listen.
Forty years ago today (Oct 15, 1985) a clear loud climate warning was given. We didn't listen. - All Our Yesterdays
If you and I lived in a rational world, a world that cared about the future of human life – and indeed all life – on the planet, then by now October 15 would be internationally recognised as “The Day We Woke Up.drmarchudson (All Our Yesterdays)
Global Investors Are Pouring More Money into Climate Tech | Clean energy companies, EV makers and other green firms attracted $56 billion in the first nine months of 2025 — more than in all of 2024.
Global Climate Tech is Attracting More Investors Than Pre-Trump
Clean energy companies, EV makers and other green firms attracted $56 billion in the first nine months of 2025 — more than in all of 2024.Coco Liu (Bloomberg)
Teens Who Sued Hawai‘i Say Climate Plan For Aviation Doesn’t Fly
Interisland flights are Hawaiʻi’s biggest transportation carbon producer, making up more than half of all emissions related to civilian travel in the state.
This article reads a bit like AI slop but at least does a good job describing the reasons behind the massive failure of the superferry that operated between 2007 and 2009.
Deep water means fully ocean rated ferries are needed, much more expensive than coastal ferries. Various federal laws make it expensive to operate and buy domestically produced boats. Locals protested the effects on whales. NIMBYs don’t want more easy access promoting overtourism. Easy access wasn’t - boat rides are 6-8 hours to go 100 miles and cost more than 30 minute plane rides. The operator lost a court case and went bankrupt hard.
Ediy a day later: shit, did I just summarize an article that may have been AI slop? In a public forum that will be ingested in future trainings, no less. I’m sorry and I’ll try not to train it again with direct feedback.
Why You Can’t Travel Between Hawaii’s Islands By Boat
This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I earn a small commission if you use the links. View our Privacy Policy and for more.You're planning yourBryan Murphy (Hawaii's Best Travel)
On this week’s “More To The Story,” environmentalist Bill McKibben examines how the remarkable rise of solar power could (finally) begin to slow climate change.
How a climate doomsayer became an unexpected optimist
On this week’s “More To The Story,” environmentalist Bill McKibben examines how the remarkable rise of solar power could (finally) begin to slow climate change.Mother Jones
To Meet Pledges to Save Forests Spending Must Triple, U.N. Report Says
Four years after a global pledge to end deforestation, the amount of money going toward conserving and restoring forests is not enough, the analysis found.
Trump’s Tariff Fight With China Means Trouble for a Vast Wilderness in Brazil
Brazilian farmers are lobbying to roll back deforestation restrictions in order to sell more soybeans to the huge Chinese market.
What happened is kind of like what happened to the cotton market in the Civil War — back then the South decided to threaten to withhold cotton destined for British mills in order to force the British to intervene on their side. Instead, the mill owners set up a cotton industry in Egypt, and stopped needing to buy from the US anymore. This meant that the high profits from cotton never returned. In the same way, Chinese pig farmers have switched their sourcing of soy, and no longer buy from the US
Trump’s Tariffs Should Force a Reckoning With America’s Soy Industry
The industry became the world’s second-largest not because of human demand for soy, but to feed China’s pigs.The New Republic
Record leap in CO2 fuels fears of accelerating global heating | CO2 in air hit new high last year, with scientists concerned natural land and ocean carbon sinks are weakening
Record leap in CO2 fuels fears of accelerating global heating
CO2 in air hit new high last year, with scientists concerned natural land and ocean carbon sinks are weakeningDamian Carrington (The Guardian)
Government told to prepare for 2C warming by 2050
Government told to prepare for 2C warming by 2050
The Climate Change Committee said the UK should make climate change adaptions beyond the Paris Agreement.Justin Rowlatt (BBC News)
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Yeah. Two years ago, mainstream studies were estimating 3°C by 2100 - and it's well documented at this point how climate scientists deliberately underestimate predicted rates of warning to avoid being seen as alarmist.
At this point I agree with 2°C by 2040 and bet on 3°C by 2050. 5°C by 2100, 10°C if some of the worst case feedback loops exist.
Brazil’s first private Amazon road paves new trade route to China as pro-deforestation mindset prevails
cross-posted from: lemmy.sdf.org/post/44101271
Archived
- Brazil’s government has signed a 30-year contract to privatize a section of the BR-364 highway, a key part of its plan to create an overland corridor to Peru to streamline commodity exports to China.
- Critics warn that expanding the highway into well-preserved rainforest risks repeating its history by attracting illegal loggers and land grabbers, a pattern that previously cleared vast areas for agriculture.
[...]
Fueled by soybean, corn and beef production, [the Brazilian state of] Rondônia is now one of Brazil’s leading agribusiness states, where a pro-deforestation mindset prevails, rooted in a population largely disconnected from the forest, rivers and traditional Amazonian culture. This view gained renewed momentum under Jair Bolsonaro, the far-right president from 2019-2022, who won all 52 of Rondônia’s municipalities in both the 2018 and 2022 elections.
Cutting across Rondônia, BR-364 has become a key route for moving grain, beef and minerals to ports on the Madeira River in Porto Velho. From there, commodities from Brazil’s central-west region are shipped downriver to foreign markets via the Atlantic Ocean.
Brazil's first private Amazon road paves new trade route to China
A road that once opened the Amazon to destruction is being expanded, and critics fear history will repeat itself.Alexandre de Santi (Conservation news)
Dozens Are Dead and Dozens More Missing as Catastrophic Rains Devastate Mexico
While it’s difficult to draw a connection between any specific downpour and climate change in real time, studies suggest that, as global temperatures rise, storms produce more extreme rain because warm air holds more moisture than cool air.
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A Coal-Processing Plant Closed. Local E.R. Visits Dropped Sharply.
As President Trump tries to revive the United States coal industry, research has found that closing a coal facility can improve local health.
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The disasters we talk about shape our priorities and determine our preparedness
In December 1989, the United Nations declared Oct. 13 International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction. At the time, the aim was to make disaster-risk reduction part of everyday thinking worldwide.Today, this mission is more urgent than ever as disasters strike more often and with greater force.
And although substantial progress has been made, there is still much to achieve in reducing disaster risks and their impacts.
One of the main culprits for overlooking certain disasters is the way we talk about them. We tend to focus more on the narratives surrounding rapid-onset events — wildfires, earthquakes, hurricanes — versus long-term crises like climate change.
The disasters we talk about shape our priorities and determine our preparedness
From drought to soil degradation and environmental pollution, why does society overlook the most impactful disasters?The Conversation
Russia’s Arctic Sea route sells speed at the planet's expense, another new study finds
cross-posted from: lemmy.sdf.org/post/44071783
ArchivedA recent study published in Nature Communications by Pengjun Zhao, Yunlin Li, Caixia Zhang and co-authors examines how the opening of Arctic shipping routes is set to reshape not just the global shipping traffic, but global carbon emissions. The research points to possible environmental advantages from shorter routes, but also reveals hidden risks that complicate the promise of this new era in maritime trade.
Here is the study published in Nature
Key points:
- A Shorter Route Doesn’t Guarantee a Cleaner Route: The Arctic shipping route can cut some journeys by up to 40%, particularly between Northern Europe and Northeast Asia, but efficiency gains may be offset by induced shipping demand and shifts in global fleet patterns.
- Arctic Emissions Could Surge: Maritime emissions within the Arctic could rise sharply, from 0.22% to as much as 2.72% of global shipping emissions, creating a new climate hotspot.
- Heavy Emitters Set to Dominate: Oil, gas, and chemical tankers are expected to make up the bulk of NSR traffic, amplifying the carbon footprint of rerouted shipping flows.
- Policy Matters More Than Distance Saved: The study finds that relying on current IMO targets or Green Corridors only modestly reduces emissions. Only a robust Net-Zero strategy with cleaner fuels, caps, and regional implementation could fully offset added Arctic emissions.
- Risks of Carbon Inequality: Route shifts may concentrate emissions in specific areas while reducing them elsewhere, creating localized “hot spots” of pollution exposure.
- Technological & Environmental Constraints: Short-term fuel savings may be undermined by Arctic-specific challenges such as extreme weather, heavy fuel oils, spill risks, inadequate infrastructure, and regulatory gaps.
The findings in the study do support claims that the Northern Sea Route is a shorter and cheaper alternative to existing shipping routes. However, the study is only the latest to sound the alarm over the potential environmental and safety risks inherent to the route.
In recent weeks, the Bellona research group presented their findings from years of analysis into the dangers posed by the Northern Sea Route. You'll find a video on the linked site for some of the main findings.
Russia’s Arctic route sells speed, at the planet's expense - ArcticToday
Researchers are sounding the alarm that the Northern Sea Route is not the climate boon its advocates promiseMary McAuliffe (ArcticToday)
Fact-checking a Trump administration claim about climate change and crops
A recent Department of Energy report falsely states that rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere will boost agricultural yields. In fact, climate change is much more likely to make food scarcer and more expensive.
Is there an extension to Betteridge's law of headlines for fact checking right wing governments?
Pretty sure the answer is always "yep, they lied again"
Exposed: Uncontrolled biogas expansion funded by public purse
More than €37 billion in public money available and €28 billion of private investments committed – with added risks to climate and healthA new report from the Methane Matters coalition – a consortium of civil society organisations – finds that The EU has handed the biogas industry billions of euros of public money to expand, without ensuring adequate environmental controls.
Exposed: Uncontrolled biogas expansion funded by public purse
More than €37 billion in public money available and €28 billion of private investments committed - with added risks to climate and health A new report from the Methane Matters coalition - a consortium of civil society organisations – finds that The E…EEB - The European Environmental Bureau
jared
in reply to Track_Shovel • • •like this
hpx9140 likes this.
Track_Shovel
in reply to jared • • •themeatbridge
in reply to Track_Shovel • • •Andrew Beveridge
in reply to themeatbridge • • •toynbee
in reply to Andrew Beveridge • • •Kind of amazing that people still need to be convinced to wear helmets while riding.
You'd have a hard time convincing me to ride without one.
Andrew Beveridge
in reply to toynbee • • •There's a bunch of kids who are interested in the club but can't afford their own bike. Cycling is pitifully rare here in the US so I'm hoping to improve that in a small way 🙏
toynbee
in reply to Andrew Beveridge • • •In that case, masterful self plug.
Where are you located in the US? I think I have a few unused bikes.
Andrew Beveridge
in reply to toynbee • • •Helmet Heads - South Carolina Youth Cycling Program
Helmet Headstoynbee
in reply to Andrew Beveridge • • •johan
in reply to toynbee • • •This is very context related. As an example, in the Netherlands almost no one wears a helmet while riding a bike and the cyclist union discourages the government from any legislation requiring people to do so.
Cycling is so safe, you really don't need one (unless you think you should also wear one walking down the street). The cyclist union's argument is that if you force people to wear a helmet, fewer people would cycle, more would drive a car and in the end more people would end up getting hit by a car.
That being said, I would 1000% wear a helmet in most other countries.
Default Username
in reply to Andrew Beveridge • • •zxing.org/w/decode.jspx
If on desktop
ZXing Decoder Online
zxing.orgFishFace
in reply to themeatbridge • • •But.. they're sharing an image? Where else would you like it to go, in the EXIF metadata?
Like in a radio advert, you just remember the URL and type it in!
thatKamGuy
in reply to themeatbridge • • •FWIW I know on iPhones if you tap and hold on a QR code in an image, it should give you the option to open the link.
I’d be surprised if Android doesn’t have a similar behaviour available?
brown567
in reply to themeatbridge • • •MyTurtleSwimsUpsideDown
in reply to Track_Shovel • • •like this
MyTurtleSwimsUpsideDown likes this.
quercus
in reply to MyTurtleSwimsUpsideDown • • •Become a 🌻 Social Justice Druid 🌿
Passing Wildlife-Friendly Property Maintenance Ordinances
NEW GUIDE: Passing Wildlife-Friendly Property Maintenance Ordinances - The National Wildlife Federation Blog
Shelby Clemente (The National Wildlife Federation Blog)like this
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webghost0101
in reply to Track_Shovel • • •scytale
in reply to Track_Shovel • • •Goretantath
in reply to Track_Shovel • • •Buelldozer
in reply to Goretantath • • •We also have them because they are nice to look at, smell good, and pleasant to use; the exact same reasons that the wealthy had them.
Most alternatives to a traditional lawn lose at least two of those and they can take just as much time to maintain.
Suburban lawns are a problem but there's very few, if any, alternatives that provide the same benefits.
DV8
in reply to Buelldozer • • •Nice to look at is subjective. I find them ugly, but ofcourse that is rooted in knowing that they're basically dead land that just looks green. Just like tree plantations aren't as pretty as a forest. What I find prettier is chaotic growth that is mostly left to it's own.
Smell, again subjective, I find the varried smell much more pleasant. But the smell is always superceded by the nearby dairy farm anyways in my case, as it is for my neighbours with their grass yards
"Pleasant to use" you mean easy for kids to play on? Can't argue with that if you have kids. I don't and I enjoy watching my chaotic yard used more by birds and insects. , knowing that there's at least more life in there.
samus12345
in reply to Track_Shovel • • •kbobabob
in reply to Track_Shovel • • •Buelldozer
in reply to kbobabob • • •kbobabob
in reply to Buelldozer • • •tempest
in reply to kbobabob • • •Nah they just used the poors to take care of it.
Which I guess is still sorta true today.
Buelldozer
in reply to kbobabob • • •Yes they used literal shit, both animal and human.
I can't answer that but it really wouldn't surprise me. The ruling class commonly imported plants and animals from all over the world.
No pictures exist, obviously, but I'm quite sure that groundskeepers were doing whatever was necessary to make their Lords estate look as good as possible.
grue
in reply to kbobabob • • •The "that isn't native" part is mostly a US problem. The reason they aren't native here is that Europeans brought over the same turfgrass species they'd been using at home.
"Kentucky bluegrass," for instance, is actually native to Europe, despite the name. Ditto for fescue, bermudagrass, etc.
corsicanguppy
in reply to Track_Shovel • • •Bungalows have never been sustainable, tax and infrastructure-wise. We need a similar one.
Mayberry and cars were neat for the 50s, but we've sacrificed green space and agri space for bungalow sprawl. We either have to reduce people or forget single-level fire-trap houses and driving 20 min to a parking lot for daily needs.
tempest
in reply to corsicanguppy • • •I don't know where you live but I have not seen a new bungalow built in 40 years.
I've seen plenty knocked down to build a McMansion on though.
grue
in reply to tempest • • •It's not an issue of the style of house; it's an issue of the lot square footage allocated to a single house (i.e. dwelling units per acre).
Think of it like this: if you've got a single family house on a square 1-acre lot, that's a little over 200 feet on each side. Assuming it's not a corner lot and you've got a neighbor across the street, your tax dollars basically need to pay to maintain 100' of street, water and sewer pipes, etc. plus the cost per mile of city vehicles driving past it. (Plus some amount related to the depth of the yard and its effect on the length of other roads on other sides of the block, but let's ignore that for simplicity.)
In comparison, if it were 4 1/4-acre lots instead (with 50' of street frontage each), each family would only be responsible for 25' worth of infrastructure. Or if it were a 10-unit multifamily building on that lot, each family would only need to pay for 10'.
Unfortunately, because tax is based on property value and not street frontage and value doesn't scale linearly like that, what ends up happening is that the city loses money on the large-lot single-family, and those people (who are already generally some of the richest since they can afford large lots) end up getting subsidized by the (poorest) people who take up the least amount of space.
It's both unjust and a perverse incentive to consume more space than you need.
TheBloodFarts
in reply to grue • • •grue
in reply to TheBloodFarts • • •TheBloodFarts
in reply to grue • • •merc
in reply to Track_Shovel • • •Are you still dressed like this?
Then why does your bed still look like this?
Look, I get the idea. Lawns are bad. But, the argument is a stupid one. Just because things haven't changed in a few centuries doesn't mean they necessarily should change. Beds are essentially the same design as hundreds of years ago because that design works. Why are lawns necessarily different than beds?
zalgotext
in reply to merc • • •Beds don't have an adverse effect on our ecosystem like lawns do
Also beds back then were made of straw and rope, maybe feathers if you were rich. Nowadays they're made of a precision engineered combination of different types of foam and springs, all topped with self-cooling materials, placed on bases that can detect if you're snoring and automatically adjust the mattress's angle and softness to get you to stop. Beds are way fucking better than they were centuries ago. Yards are still useless wastes of space.
merc
in reply to zalgotext • • •Mattresses, maybe. Beds were beds. The basic design of beds hasn't changed.
The point is that some things haven't changed in centuries because they do the job just fine. So, the argument that "this is the way it was 300 years ago, therefore it's bad" is a shitty argument.
shiftymccool
in reply to merc • • •The basic design of lawns doesn't need to change: a relatively cleared area around a house. The exact composition of the lawn can change, though. Why does it need to just be some genetically modified grass that provides nothing? Let natural grasses, clover, and flowers take over.
I'm pretty convinced HOAs are causing firefly extinction (among others). Better spray your lawn, i see a dandelion. Fire up the single-stroke leaf blower to push that one leaf out to the end of your driveway for the next 20 minutes.
merc
in reply to shiftymccool • • •I'm not really interested in lawns, just the bad argument that was used to claim that something being in use 300 years ago means that it's necessarily out of date and needs to be replaced.
webp
in reply to merc • • •merc
in reply to webp • • •zalgotext
in reply to merc • • •merc
in reply to zalgotext • • •zalgotext
in reply to merc • • •Yeah you keep saying that, but that's not really the argument being made. If you'd actually read all the text, you'd find the argument being made is that lawns are no longer environmentally sustainable, which is just true.
Just because something was done 300 years ago doesn't mean it's ok to do now. And acknowledging that isn't saying that things that are old are necessarily bad. It's just recognizing that things change.
merc
in reply to zalgotext • • •zalgotext
in reply to merc • • •merc
in reply to zalgotext • • •zalgotext
in reply to merc • • •chilicheeselies
in reply to merc • • •Lawns were easily maintained by the livestock that simply ate the grass. What we are doing now is a facimile of that by wasting energy to pretend sheep live nearby.
Do you have livestock? By all means have a lawn, it makes sense!
greedytacothief
in reply to chilicheeselies • • •merc
in reply to chilicheeselies • • •RickAstleyfounddead
in reply to Track_Shovel • • •So cheap lawns are trending in this context am i right?
SkunkWorkz
in reply to RickAstleyfounddead • • •WIZARD POPE💫
in reply to Track_Shovel • • •iloveDigit
in reply to WIZARD POPE💫 • • •Pretty sure the mowing is the exact problem. Can't remember if it's solved by using an old school push-powered mower or something
Edit - after looking into it, seems like push mowers don't help because Americans eating meat will cause as much pollution pushing a mower as using gas? Not sure
WIZARD POPE💫
in reply to iloveDigit • • •iloveDigit
in reply to WIZARD POPE💫 • • •WIZARD POPE💫
in reply to iloveDigit • • •iloveDigit
in reply to WIZARD POPE💫 • • •WIZARD POPE💫
in reply to iloveDigit • • •iloveDigit
in reply to WIZARD POPE💫 • • •greedytacothief
in reply to Track_Shovel • • •People on here always talk about how lawns need a bunch of fertilizer to work, but that never made sense to me because we've never done that around here. But then I learned that's because everyone just has clover growing along side their grass.
Anyway I think shaming people for their lawn is a bad idea. I think killing your lawn will only catch on if it's presented as a way to make your lawn cooler. You're not a bad person for having a lawn, but you could change it into something so much more interesting by including native flora.