I don't even know why they bother publishing the same fucking articles every week. At this point people are numb to the information.
They aren't numb, they just don't give a shit. Never did.
Sure there's a solid chunk of the population who doesn't give a shit and doesn't believe there's a problem to begin with.
But a lot of people do give a shit but are realistically powerless to effect change. Turning all your lights off and walking to work isn't going to change shit. It's big business that is mainly at fault here. They've just spent years brainwashing everyone to think that if we don't leave the water running while brushing our teeth it's magically gonna solve all our problems.
So what are people who can't make an actual dent in the problem to do with a weekly "ANOTHER TIPPING POINT HAS BEEN REACHED" sort of article? It's basically noise now.
But a lot of people do give a shit but are realistically powerless to effect change.
They could've started by voting for parties and candidates that want to actually do something. But the matter of the fact is that all climate actions cost money and will affect us, and that's not what voters want. And yes, swapping your car for alternatives and eating less or no meat & diary products is actually having a big impact. Same with where and what you buy as those large companies that everyone cries about are in the end still producing their shit for you and me.
The people in power don't give a shit. I'm quite depressed by all of this.
We know... but can anyone really do anything? We reguraly get scientific breakthroughs that may help, but are too new to meet the scale required. We regurally hear PSA like "Recycling helps" or "Only you can prevent forest fires" but once again, the scale of the issue is far larger than paper straws or other feel good wishcycling programs. We reguraly see that the ~100 companies directly responsible for the problems not suffering any concequences, investigations into wrong doings are met with armies of lawyers, lobbyists (see bribery), and limp-wristed regulations with fines that are considered "the cost of doing business" instead of a penalty to be avoided.
For me, the fear and panic of impending climate collapse has given way to apathy and resignation. We know its a problem, its just that the scale requires real global action, its a global prisoner's dilemma, and im not confident people will get it right.
Change is happening. We're reaching peak carbon this year or the next 2 years. China is widely forecast to emit less Carbon next year than this year.
We just need to keep chipping away. This problem was created over 100+ years and it takes time to turn the ship.
Unfortunately, even if we stopped using all petroleum products right this second, there's still that nasty 50 year lag between emissions and atmospheric outcome. We'll be seeing the Earth get hotter and hotter for many years to come before it changes, and by that time, the cascading system failures of Earth's biomes may be well past the point of no return.
there’s still that nasty 50 year lag between emissions and atmospheric outcome
Are you sure about that?
Humans have caused major climate changes to happen already, and we have set in motion more changes still. However, if we stopped emitting greenhouse gases today, the rise in global temperatures would begin to flatten within a few years. Temperatures would then plateau but remain well-elevated for many, many centuries. There is a time lag between what we do and when we feel it, but that lag is less than a decade.
https://climate.nasa.gov/faq/16/is-it-too-late-to-prevent-climate-change/
We don't have 100 years to get on the right track. Soon, a global heating feedback loop will become prominent enough that it will make "the right track" an ineffective solution.
Personally I'm of the opinion that tipping points should not be a focus. I think people have reached a level of fear saturation, and no more fear can influence the system, it just precipitates right back out. While you can replace one fear with another, this can be inoculated against with faith, which is fairly accessible and common.
I think we need to actually take a page from Biden here, and stop pumping fear and consequences, and start pumping hope. Our stick is so waved the thing is fraying, but our carrots are underutilized.
Guys like Elon Musk, of all fucking people, are beating us in the hope dept. How the fuck did that happen?
Because the truth has limits on how hopeful and how simple it can be. Whereas the lies of billionaires have no such limitations.
I agree with your point that the messaging isn't working. But pushing hope without radical reform of our current systems is basically just trying to diffuse the reaction to the facts without actually changing the facts leading to the reaction.
Agreed. But I think we need to focus our attention away from actual solutions to major problems, and onto minor solutions to minor problems, that will give us a footing for actually being able to take steps forward again.
We need to fight the battle right in front of our faces, instead of focusing on our more standard long-term views. Otherwise we're going to be strategically and tactically outmaneuvered by people that follow fewer rules than we do.
It's a feasibility and priorities consideration.
The problem with that being that the "minor solutions" aren't really solving the problem. We've been doing "minor solutions" for many years now, and we have only accelerated in our destruction of the environment.
We need drastic change. Failing some deus-ex-machina-esque invention that quickly and cheaply solves the issue with no sacrifice needed, then we have to be demanding radical change. If that isn't possible, our other option is to just fail and die.
In my opinion, this position requires some cherry picking to avoid evidence of times when different things have improved over the past few decades.
In our current unprecedented circumstances, drastic change on a short timescale is going to require one of two things: the suspension of our democracy, or wide-scale bloodshed. Neither of these is actually particularly likely to result in positive change either.
The problem is there may not be survival for all of us at the end of this tunnel. But only one way might work in time, and that's the one we've been using for a couple centuries and seen okayish results with.
Otherwise you're asking for authority, and putting all your trust in it. That has like, a 5% of working or something, and a 95% of the authority being co-opted by fascists in the near future. It's a rock and a hard place. Catch 22. We've been maneuvered into this situation, very cleverly. By fucking McConnell, mainly, but whatever. That idiot has to live with his party now.
edit for wording
In my opinion, this position requires some cherry picking to avoid evidence of times when different things have improved over the past few decades.
Quite the opposite. The times when we have made improvements have come precisely because we have made the sorts of decisive changes that we needed to make, that we are currently pretending are impossible.
We actually solved the issue with the ozone layer, precisely because we took action and passed regulation banning their usage, despite the objections of businesses.
Same thing with leaded petrol. We took decisive action and addressed the problem at a systemic level, rather than just softly appealing for people to make the "right choice uwu".
In our current unprecedented circumstances, drastic change on a short timescale is going to require one of two things: the suspension of our democracy, or wide-scale bloodshed. Neither of these is actually particularly likely to result in positive change either.
I agree that unrest seems basically inevitable. Because the people with the power to make the changes required have shown us in no uncertain terms that they never make the changes required.
So I'm not sure why continuing to pander to those delusions with half-measures is preferable.
I'm hoping change can be accomplished through general strikes and direct action. So that widespread bloodshed can be avoided.
The problem is there may not be survival at the end of this tunnel. But only one way might work in time, and that’s the one we’ve been using for a couple centuries and seen okayish results with.
Oh. So you are completely insane. Because we absolutely have not been seeing okayish results.
I suppose it depends on what you consider "okayish". You sound to me like a utopian, which I admire, but cannot personally accept.
At any rate, if you look out at our world and see only disaster, that's a function of your news feed, not reality. It's just not that black and white.
I don't only see disaster. But I do see a specific problem, with a very obvious answer, that continues to get worse and worse with catastrophic future consequences. A problem that we continuously refuse to address in a meaningful manner.
Agreed. Everyone that cares already knows. Those that don't care aren't listening.
It's time to write about workable solutions for those who care. What we can do to prepare, what we can do to mitigate, and what we can do to survive in this new world coming our way.
Are we supposed to be really excited about one of our apocalypse options?
Just go with it and die from it when the time comes. The way money decides for us how this will go, there's no stopping it. Fuck it. It ain't important if earth lives on anyway
I heard stopping eating meat can help climate issues but I don't think we have to stop eating meat we just need to start eating the rich. The other other white meat.
I loved waking up to this knowledge.
Should've woken up earlier. Then it could've been the 4th shitty thing you'd heard today and it would've stung less.
And yet I get asked by people why I have anxiety and stress when reports like this come out.
What now? Nothing seems to help to get the population and politicians to care
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