I never said they were a panacea, I'm well aware of the issues around hydro. My comment was in response to claims made about the reliability and capacity of renewables in the video
However, and this is a side point, I do think the relative harms of the Itapui dam are dwarfed by the increasing apparent consequences of global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions. Massive sections of amazonas transitioning to a dry sclerophyll forest or no forest at all is killing a lot more critters than the dam ever did, and is already affecting rainfall patterns and water reliability in adjoining rich agricultural areas. So renewable have that big advantage over fossil fuel generated power.
I don't take it personally, I like to argue, and B3ta is a good place to do it, as it's not as if the place matters. And the OP is quite possibly a Poe anyway. Though perhaps my general disgust levels are a little raised when during once in a thousand year heatwaves and fires in western north america, massive floods in europe and china, billionaires thought it a great idea to start space tourism, yet another source of emissions, just so ultra rich people can get a 10 minute astronaut scout badge.
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cumquat may will not be commenting further on the allegations, Fri 23 Jul 2021, 1:00,
Reply)
Heh fair enough...
I personally sit on the middle in this.
I think you're right that the greenhouse gas emissions issue is the greater problem right now. But I do also get irked by the way that alternative options are often presented as an easy fix (except for fission which everyone hates even though it's clearly the best one).
I'm not gonna get fully drawn into the whole Bezos thing again, except to say that I believe his ultimate goal for pushing this space program is to get humans living in space so that we stop fucking up the planet. I read a interesting interview a number of years ago where he explained this, but I cannot for the life of me now find it (I think it was in some Airline's onboard magazine). So, no doubt he is bit of a ruthless cunt, same as Musk, but if their space programs can be made viable long term then I think that's a good thing.
(, Fri 23 Jul 2021, 11:20, Reply)