www.volts.wtf Catching up with enhanced geothermal
A deep dive into Fervo's geothermal breakthrough: slashing costs, scaling up, and uniting the political spectrum behind always-on clean power
Sustainability and decentralised social media enthusiast 🇮🇪🏴
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3 mo. ago
When I post here I get replies. On mastodon I don’t.
That's fair. Say you were setting up a server and you planned to migrate users to it, and it was going to be their first experience of the fediverse, do you think this is something you'd feel obligated to tell them about?
Sorry I forgot to address your point - migrating people to a more technical setup would be a challenge in itself, but then informing them that deletion across servers isn't guaranteed would likely give them cold feet.
I'd hazard a guess that ActivityPub users are a small portion of the population, especially considering the people I'm thinking of setting a server up for are Facebook users in a medium sized town - mostly people over the age of 40 who only started using social media in the past ten years.
It's no secret that onboarding is a barrier to entry for Mastodon for example, and even then most people likely haven't even heard of it. I am the only person on any of my social circles who is aware of it.
I think it's fair to say that we can all end up regretting some of the stuff we've put online months or years after the fact.
For example, it means ActivityPub is definitely not an appealing place for young people to have their first cringe moments online.
The risk of being cancelled is higher, and I think everyone has the right to regret their past self and try to clean it up if they want to.
The fact that the delete button can only guarantee deletion on your own server is not robust considering one of the primary appeals of the fediverse is that servers can communicate with each other. It means unease/distrust is built in from square one.
Update: So far many of the responses point out that if you post anywhere on the internet you are prone to this issue, i.e. even if you delete something someone may have copied it etc.
I do believe this is different. Yes, we are always at risk from malicious actors, but usually when using social media we can operate under the assumption that the delete button works. That is not the case for ActivityPub. Even without bad actors, your content may not be deleted. I think it's safe to say that this is an unappealing issue for most potential users.
Serious Question - Is the ActivityPub deletion problem a fatal flaw?
I've been using federated social media for a while now and I recently considered setting up an instance for my local community as a sort of Facebook alternative. However, as I thought about it, I wondered if ActivityPub's deletion problem (i.e. if a user deletes their content on their server it doesn't guarantee the content being deleted on other servers) is a fatal flaw. I worry that it would be difficult to secure buy-in from people if they were made aware of this issue, which they have the right to. It does make me wonder if the ATProtocol will be the better protocol if and when it becomes open source.
I'm curious as to other drivers users' thoughts. While it is an issue that we may be happy to live with given the numerous other benefits ActivityPub provides, is it a flaw that will ultimately prevent wide scale adoption?
I've happily found that there is much more interaction here than on Mastodon :)
As long as they're reducing their meat intake that's ok with me :) I say that as a non-vegan who has greatly reduced my meat intake
I sheath my sword in shame
I'm not sure how we got here, but when discussing EVs this criticism always comes up, and forgive me if I'm making an incorrect assumption about you but it's almost always from someone living in a North American city. Your points are valid in the context of your own area, but the world is a lot bigger and there are so many regions that have developed to require cars that cannot be switched to primarily public transport. Public transport can link small towns to each other for example, but they cannot bring every single inhabitant to and from their own address, and not everyone is able to just get out and walk instead.
The simple truth is that electric vehicles are better than vehicles that run on fossil fuels, and that is a valid and sensible opinion to have. Yes we should also have more public transport and walkable areas, but that is not a valid point against the introduction and distribution of EVs.
I don't think you're saying much
Yes you're right, people are not smart and will lose track of the greater picture if we distract them. Forgive me.
Those windmill blades are all pointing the same direction!
Volts Podcast - Very interesting geothermal discussion
This is a great episode about geothermal, very technical and practical. I'm curious about the fracking side of it - this has been controversial in traditional oil fracking, not only because of the fossil fuel side of it but also the effect it has on nature.
What do you think? Is it a necessary evil if (as they say) it would provide enough energy to last until the heat death of the universe?
European Alternatives Website
european-alternatives.eu Homepage | European Alternatives
We help you find European alternatives for digital service and products, like cloud services and SaaS products.
A useful resource for those trying to move away from US owned products and systems
Shoutout to the Beyond Plastics team!
grist.org Why some Starbucks locations are switching from plastic to paper cups
Green groups say it’s a “clear admission” that the plastic ones aren’t recyclable.
Mentioned in the article is a stunt by Beyond Plastics whereby they put GPS trackers in plastic Starbucks cups to see how many actually went to recycling centers. 32 out of 36 went straight to landfill.
I want to hear about similar stunts that ordinary people can perform to highlight issues! If you have any please share them below!
The fact that most of the car ads I see these days are for electric vehicles - especially trucks - makes me happy
What are some other signs you've noticed that signal things are moving in the right direction?
Environmentally friendlier AND Canadian made. I love it.
www.pv-magazine-australia.com U.S. start-up unveils ‘world’s largest’ transparent organic PV window
California-headquartered Next Energy said its laminated transparent power-generating windows were produced with its pilot production line.
Pretty cool
Have you heard of the ARK project?
I recently came across this video about ARKs (Acts of Restorative Kindness) - small rewilded spaces that form a global rewilded network.
I thought this community would be very interested in this! It was started by an Irish woman and has spread all over the world. You can find the official site here: https://wearetheark.org/
Maybe you already have an ARK that could join the growing collective, or maybe you're interested in starting one.
Climate Book Recommendations
I've been enjoying climate books recently. I've just finished How to be a Climate Optimist by Chris Turner, and before that The Ecology of Commerce by Paul Hawken.
Are there any books that you consider foundational/required reading for climate issues?
Some users from c/degrowth recommended The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber & David Wengrow and Survival of the Friendliest by Brian Hare & Vanessa Woods which I'm looking forward to checking out.
Network States - Is this where we're headed?
Observing what is currently happening in the US has led me down the Network State rabbit hole. The linked video is a great place to start if you're not already aware of these ideas.
Unfortunately these concepts seem to be cosied up to modern fascism/monarchism, but I do wonder if this is genuinely the likeliest alternative to modern day capitalism. Yanis Varoufakis' idea of technofeudalism seems like another way of viewing this.
Could greener, more altruistic network states co-exist with money and power hungry billionaire-led communities? Or would their greed and ambition be detrimental to the efforts of those trying to save the natural earth?
Genuine question - is degrowth compatible with human nature?
Degrowth is a noble ideal to strive for, and it would certainly mitigate a lot of our current problems if implemented. However, I fear that it is an ideal that can be adopted by the few but not the many. Growth, progress and personal ambition are inherent human traits - it may not be the case for all people, but it is certainly evident in today's society and many societies that have come before. In my opinion, we need solutions and frameworks that most (if not all) personalities can exist within. I worry degrowth is wishful thinking, and would love to hear your thoughts.
All of that said - I believe it is a very worthwhile thought exercise and even if all degrowth principles cannot be implemented, some can and that is what matters.
Compostable dishes vs washing dishes
Many cafés and fast food places these days provide disposable dishes and cutlery when you're eating in. This used to infuriate me, but it seems to be improving slightly now as the trend has moved towards using compostable dishes instead of plastic ones.
However, it's still waste. It makes me wonder, what is more costly in the long run? Providing customers with compostable items or running hot dishwashers and using soap and water all day to reuse dishes?
Waste shouldn't enter our homes in the first place
The fact that it's the consumer's responsibility to sort their waste and to try and minimise its impact on the environment in the first place is completely wrong to me.
Most people in urban areas rely on stores for basic survival, and the vast majority of products we buy there come with unnecessary waste. It doesn't make any sense to then tell these people "by the way, you'd better clean up that mess when you're done because it's bad for the environment". If governments were truly concerned or willing to act, this waste wouldn't make it into our homes in the first place.
If a company wants to sell a product, they should be held accountable for the waste that comes along with it. They should have to prove that they can reuse the waste and be incentivised to reduce it. If they can't, they can't operate.
Ecocide laws need to become commonplace, and the consumer should not be responsible for their waste if they haven't got legitimate alternative options. I understand this community is
Social Marketing?
Is anyone here involved in or aware of any organisations that create marketing campaigns that aim to tackle climate change via social influence?
An example that comes to mind are the UK group Led By Donkeys, but they focus on politics. I’m very interested in this line of work and would love to know more about it.