<story><title>Alaska’s Permafrost Is Thawing</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/08/23/climate/alaska-permafrost-thawing.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>bryananderson</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve become convinced that decisive action will never be taken as long as it requires a decrease in the standard of living (that is, less energy use).&lt;p&gt;I am out of ideas for how to convince the world to drastically draw down our fossil fuel use. Everything has been tried.&lt;p&gt;It has become a cliche that our problems cannot be solved by technology alone, but this one really may be up to technology alone. Human nature is not going to change.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Recurecur</author><text>My stance is that if society has decided it&amp;#x27;s serious about CO2, it is necessary to put a whole lot more effort into next-gen nuclear than has been done so far. Even so, small companies like ThorCon, Terrestrial Energy and others are making good progress. The next step is a plan for a major, worldwide rollout of (mostly modular) nuclear reactors.&lt;p&gt;That avoids the issue of a possible decrease in the standard of living, and provides an affordable mechanism  that doesn&amp;#x27;t involve coal for India, Indonesia and other countries that need to build out their electric grid.&lt;p&gt;Lots of good info here:
&lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;thorconpower.com&amp;#x2F;news&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;thorconpower.com&amp;#x2F;news&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Video from ThorCon CEO making his case:
&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=Q4xjQWBw7i0&amp;amp;feature=youtu.be&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=Q4xjQWBw7i0&amp;amp;feature=youtu.be&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Alaska’s Permafrost Is Thawing</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/08/23/climate/alaska-permafrost-thawing.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>bryananderson</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve become convinced that decisive action will never be taken as long as it requires a decrease in the standard of living (that is, less energy use).&lt;p&gt;I am out of ideas for how to convince the world to drastically draw down our fossil fuel use. Everything has been tried.&lt;p&gt;It has become a cliche that our problems cannot be solved by technology alone, but this one really may be up to technology alone. Human nature is not going to change.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>atomi</author><text>There&amp;#x27;s a great Documentary[1] about the recent mass Coral Reef bleaching too. Our leaders who do nothing about this and those of us who elect them are screwing up royally.&lt;p&gt;1. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=b6fHA9R2cKI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=b6fHA9R2cKI&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>