Thread by @swardley

Should generate about 20 kWh of solar today which is about 50% of my total power usage. By beginning March I should be back to complete self generation on a daily basis. Need to replace the electric heaters this year, get more efficient systems installed and extend my solar.

X : What's the cost?
Me : Not the point. I'm driven by a need, an intent to put more into the system than I take out. Hence I'm constantly looking to reduce my footprint, to reduce consumption, to drive more generation.

X : Views on solar geoengineering?
Me : Firing particles into the atmosphere to reflect sunlight?
X : Yes.
Me : Absolutely effing mad. We need to scale up renewable energy production, get more efficient in use, kill off fossil fuels completely, plant billions of trees etc ...

... we need to change behaviour (i.e. consumption, consumerism, diet etc), move manufacturing into space (we should be able to slowly start within a decade at current rates) and yes there are some major engineering efforts we can make to try and reduce impact.

... anyway, the pandemic itself (or more importantly the isolation economy it has created) give us a chance to help address some of this assuming we don't try and recreate the monstrous system that existed before. We're going to have a do a lot of rebalancing in society.
X : ?

Me : You can't tackle climate change unless you tackle inequality. We're going to need rapid action and a whole discussion on the balance of "Me" verus "We" to get us through the shocks coming.
X : Travel?
Me : You mean jetting off on holidays?
X : Yes
Me : Sailing boats?

X : You're kidding?
Me : I don't think you realise how serious this is. It's no different from when I left the environmental field in the 90s. We have a chance to mitigate impacts, if we take this seriously, we adapt and our society has that "me" versus "we" discussion.

... which also means, forget the office, forget travelling around the world for meetings etc ... all of that stuff needs to go. We need to adapt to the isolation economy, tough as it is.

X : What about depopulation?
Me : Eh? Oh, no ... you mean the fantasy of Thanos as an archetypal environmentalist? It's not worth commenting on other than purges throughout history tend to be fascists, neoliberals or communists. Try to avoid these extremes.

Hmmm ... looks like I'll only hit 17kWh of power generation today ... oh well. Still, it gives me plenty to power the night and keep a decent battery reserve in place. 7 power interruptions since end Nov.

Anyway, time to go put some bread on.

X : Whose fantasy?
Me : Eh? Oh, the Thanos thing? It's a fantasy of far right extremists that environmentalists are some Thanos finger twitching genocidal maniacs. It says a lot more about the people with that fantasy than actual environmentalists.