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by SimplyUnknown 1020 days ago
So the solution would be to continue emitting greenhouse gases and ensure it will also get worse in 30 or 50 years?

> The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is now.

Said to be a Chinese proverb, but I haven't extensively verified.

The only viable solution right now to combat global warming is to immediately stop emitting greenhouse gases, even if there is a lag effect.
2 comments
DemocracyFTW2 1020 days ago
> Said to be a Chinese proverb

Unlikely, cf. https://quoteinvestigator.com/2021/12/29/plant-tree/

There's an old Chinese proverb for this, it goes "most of the time it's not a Chinese proverb". Ah, words of sages, the wisdom of ages.

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IKantRead 1020 days ago
Thank you for pointing this out! I have quite a few Chinese friends and they never cease to be entertained by the long list of "Chinese" proverbs that American's claim to know.

It turns out that since for most of Western history China was synonymous with the "mysterious far east", it become common practice to just tack on "Chinese" to the origin of any saying to let it exotic credibility.

Unsurprisingly "May you live in interesting times" is not a Chinese curse.

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throwaway290 1020 days ago
That's not just west. Aladdin is from "China" in original texts too.
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SimplyUnknown 1020 days ago
I guessed as much, but I wasn't able to confirm. Thanks for the search.
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RandomLensman 1020 days ago
Immediately stopping all greenhouse gas emissions would kill a lot of people quickly by breaking supply and production chains for pretty much everything. So that is not an option.
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tejohnso 1020 days ago
It would also result in a near immediate (weeks) increase in global average temperature due to the reduction in aerosol masking.

People like to fixate on a simple correction that they can work toward (more often just talk about), but the situation is not simple. And I don't think people should be making statements that suggest there is a simple solution at this point.

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dudefeliciano 1020 days ago
i don't think anyone ever argued in favor of ceasing the usage of all greenhouse emitting fuel sources all at once. However we can't even agree to gradually phasing them out in a realistic timeline, see Kyoto Protocol
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