About

I am Tivadar Pongó. Here I will write about values I live by and problems I care about in the world.

Email address: pongo.notmetivadar@electronproton.me

Climate change / global warming / sustainability

Global warming is one of the many big global issues that I care about. It is caused by the atmosphere warming effect of green house gases (carbon-dioxide, methane and other gases) released in excess by human activities (burning fossil fuels, raising cows, etc…). Apart from the large scientific consensus on the existence of human-caused climate change, I also have some anecdotal observations from my memories. One of which is the amount of snow we had in Hungary in the winters of 2000s when I was a kid vs how much we have nowadays. Needless to say, there was much more snow back then, I have memories of building snowmen and playing in the snow basically every year. A more recent event was the 2024 heat wave during the summer in Hungary which took like a month, something like which I have not experienced such before. This event was proven to be intensified by climate change.

Personally, I think that there won’t be a doomsday but rather the climate will kill us in a stochastic way, i.e. more floods, more heatwaves, more radical weather events will cause increasing deaths and the extinction of species. Food shortages will also be “only” apparent in the increase of prices (based on basic supply and demand law). Due to extreme events, insurances will cost more. Overall it will cost us money, lives and natural scenery. Rich people will nearly not notice it but will be quite bad for poorer people.

The solution to global warming is manifold, we can do against it on a personal, institutional and governmental level. There are many articles online detailing the possible ways to reduce our climate impact e.g. Wikipedia.

Open Source Software, open access in science

I admire the idea of open-source software. There are many great examples of this, such as linux, numpy, ffmpeg, most programs on linux, etc.

Open access in science should be standard but even today many articles and books are behind paywalls, even though probably most of the research were funded by public money.

Minimalism

I am a minimalist as in not owing too many things (although this is relative), and not wanting to own much more. I aim to gain joy in life not through the consumption of goods but rather by enjoying the company of family, friends, colleagues, having a meaningful job and spending time in nature.

Anti capitalism

There are definitely positive things about capitalism but in my opinion there are many more on the negative side. One core idea of capitalism is that competition lowers prices and ensures better products, thus better for consumers. This is the theory but many times large corporations tend towards monopolization buying up competition. Lobbying also undermines democracy. In order to have higher profits, companies enshittify their products. Another common arguments for capitalism is that this is the most optimal way of distributing resources. As if there was an existing demand for getting addicted to social media or all those cheap mostly plastic items which end up in the landfill shortly after the buy date.

Reuse, repair, recycle

This one relates to sustainability and minimalism too. Why buy disposable plastic bottles or other products when you have reusable alternative? Why throw away a piece of torn clothing or faulty electronics when it could be fixed? Why buy new products when many times used items are a good alternative? All these things can also decrease one’s environmental footprint. I don’t claim that I do all of these perfectly but it is something to strive for.