- cross-posted to:
- climatehope@lemmy.world
- climate@slrpnk.net
- cross-posted to:
- climatehope@lemmy.world
- climate@slrpnk.net
(not my OC nor my OP, just helping spread the message around:-)
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Great but I already do as much as I personally can handle. Would be great if society at large, e.g. laws, regulations, and big corps, could get on the same level.
Me: dusts off hands Installed solar on the roof, bicycling to work, updated the insulation on all my windows, and drastically reduced the amount of plastic in my life.
Tech Company Next Door: CONSUMES 70 MwH OF POWER FOR TWO YEARS STRAIGHT POWERING AN UNOPTIMIZED AI
Me: Begins flipping through a copy of How To Blow Up A Pipeline
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That’s all you can do.
It’s not “all” you can do, though. At what point does “eco-terrorism” turn into “justified self-defense?”
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Tuesday.
I agree, many of us have maxed out passive improvements. Now let’s work on active.
Call your local oil company CEO. Get a job at Exxon and really half ass it. Visit your town government and demand better public transport and electric busses. Take a dump on the nearest gas pump.
Only some of those are jokes and I’m not sure which.
Don’t poop on stuff you don’t own.
Don’t poop on stuff you don’t own.
Bad news for everyone who rents their home, and thus doesn’t technically own a toilet :(
Oof, it’s gonna get sticky with that last group, there. 😅
There’s a clear difference between being in big trouble and being completely screwed. If we can avoid the extinction of humanity and go with catastrophic disasters and famine that eradicates vast majority of the population, we should totally do it.
Ideally, we would avoid all that, and go back to the good old days. Every small step towards that goal is worth it, although taking longer steps is highly encouraged.
Is climate change an extinction level threat? I’ve never heard that.
I think we’re firmly in “catastrophic disasters and famine that eradicates vast majority of the population” territory.
It’s a question, as you said, of how severe the disasters and famine will be.
Is climate change an extinction level threat? I’ve never heard that.
I read somewhere before that the release of methane from the melting ice caps (?) could create a knock on effect of global warming turning the Earth into another Venus
How much of that is actually true I never looked further into.
The planet has previously been 15C above current levels due to flood volcanism so earth turning into a Venus just straight up isn’t happening. It is potentially mechanically possible but we’re talking conditions so extreme that we couldn’t make it happen even if we wanted too with our current level of technology.
This is highly speculative, because climate science is fiendishly complex, and the error bars in these estimates are as wide as the solar system. However, there is a concept called the “runaway greenhouse effect”, in which the global average temperature spirals out of control, roasting the entire plant. Not exactly the kind of concept you want to think about too much.
its to late, its over, to prevent catastrophe.
its not to late to ensure we have a minimal catastrophe instead of a maximal catastrophe.
NOT Uplifting
I strongly believe that there’s a regression of global society that will prevent humanity from surviving the next k/t level impact. I weakly believe that the climate catastrophe that we are headed toward currently will cause such a regression. I weakly believe that if we don’t take global action in the next 4-5 years, we will be unable to avoid a catastrophe of that scale.
I don’t think the current global leadership can be convinced through lobbying. Non-violent opportunities to replace the global leadership are dwindling. When/if only violent means remain, I will simply enjoy what wealth I have until I am extinguished by the Glorious Revolution as the Bourgeoisie scum I will have become.
Above a certain threshold there will be no discernible difference in the outcome to our civilisation.
The planet is fine. The people are fucked. G. Carlin was and is right.
No offense, but this is exactly the kind of active pessimism that this post is trying to combat. The only mindset that creates positive change is active optimism. In other words, hope for better and taking action to try and get there.
Note that this is not to be confused with inactive optimism. “Everything will just work out on its own”. That also doesn’t work.
Active pessimism is the most damaging mindset, though, because it actively drains others of their will to make things better. Feeling hopeless is real and understandable, I’ve been feeling it, too. Spreading it around and shutting down those who are trying to do better isn’t the way to process it, though.
No offense, but this is exactly the kind of active pessimism that this post is trying to combat
I agree with you, but I’m not sure the post is really effective for that goal.
Okay. But every minute we can delay reaching that threshold will be worth it.
To me it’s the same as the US democracy right now. Yes it’s far too late to see no ill effects and we are already facing the consequences, but every act of resistance to unlawful, immoral and unconstitutional orders slow them down, and with enough co-ordination may slow them down enough before Trump and the oligarchs become truly unstoppable.
For any issue that effects our world’s existence, stand boldly and take action. Don’t let the fear of the inevitability of it consume you.
“The Earth will just shake us off like a bad case of fleas.”
It’ll at least determine how many species survive. And the threshold to total human extinction is very high, so every ton of co2 is part of a life saved.
It’s just a question of how bad we’ll have it at this point.
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I was going to argue that you only need wait for the US to surpass the UK in silencing dissent, but then you said civilized.. I’m not so sure that the US can compete based on that metric anymore.
I feel like in a way, it is too late. The human race decided it doesn’t care to fight climate change. There is going to be significant disruptions, especially near the equator. But on the other hand, even if we overshoot our climate targets, there is always a chance for us to reverse the damage dealt using technology and by reclamation of ecosystems that have been destroyed. I think as long as our species survives we can fix things. But we need a massive, massive change in attitude to muster the political will to do something.
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Yeah, it kinda seems like humanity wants to ride that tiger
Kind of feels like in 20-30 years time we’ll be claiming its worth fighting for a climate that doesn’t immediately kill us if we go outside for 20 minutes instead of 15.
Or to put it another way, do these scientists not see there’s a difference between living and surviving?
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Ok
God forbid someone tries to think past the next quarter.
If the future can’t be livable and people just wants a quiet suicide for the human race I’ve got good news. There’s a very easy solution for avoiding that discomfort that also happens to be the #1 way to reduce your carbon footprint.
But if you want to keep living and not just surviving, suck it up…
A bit sad how pessimistic everyone is. Renewables are currently becoming the most economic way to produce electricity and even states that do not care about the environment are investing in it. EVs are making progress as well. And while it is true that a lot of damage has already been done and we will face the consequences, I also feel that decarbonization is inevitable even from a economic perspective at this point. The speed at which this happens is variable though and determines how many people will die, this is why it is important to not be pessimistic and hopeless but to try steering things in the right direction.
A bit sad how pessimistic everyone is.
Americans are pessimistic because we don’t have a functional democracy and our fascist oligarchs are too stupid to use their resources to fight climate change… And the rest of the world is pessimistic because the world’s most powerful economy and military has fallen to fascist oligarchy.
Nothing will change until we abolish the billionaires and replace our two party system with a modern multiparty parliamentary system with proportional representation
USAmericans have a religious attachment to fossil fuels that I can’t understand. “Drill baby drill” isn’t even economically viable and yet has become a call to prayer for many US politicians.
It’s rich people who want to keep being rich without risking going into a different thing.
Please stop attributing it to everyone, it’s really annoying
Who is voting for them and why do they win elections if there isn’t a substantial of people who support the idea? “Drill baby drill” isn’t a secret, it is what Republicans have been running on for over a decade.
Just slightly more people (who bother to vote) than who don’t. Doesn’t make it 100%, it’s not rocket science.
Many USAmericans are pessimistic because we were finally taking a medium sized step in the right direction, and somehow half the country thinks that’s a bad thing
True. The Middle East is the fastest growing renewable market after China and the Middle East already has very low fossil fuels and electricity prices. Of course they don’t have absurd tariffs on Chinese renewables.
The Middle East would rather sell their product to other people than use it themselves.
“Never get high on your own supply”
OPEC members have excess capacity. Saudi Arabia for example can produce an additional 3 million barrels per day without having to do anything or spend anything. So no, your assessment is wrong.
We couldn’t get people to wear a mask or get a shot when a disease was killing millions in the open.
We definitely can’t get people to change their behavior over climate change.
That’s because billionaires like Robert Murdock own all our media and they use their power to push disinformation to undermine class solidarity and democracy.
If we want to save the world then we have to get rid of the billionaires asap as they are the greatest threat to democracy.
Then maybe don’t leave it up to them. This OOP refers to a goal, not a process.
I’m not sure this tweet counts as news?
A fair concern. It’s no peer reviewed research article that’s for sure, but it was somewhat news to me and may be to others who likewise did not know and/or needed to hear it.
“News” here meaning from an authoritative source (though I did not confirm that this person even so much as exists, much less is actually a climate scientist) and bringing information that is not trivially already known to the audience.
A lot of the “news” focuses on the tipping point (to be able to reverse the effects of climate change), thus leaving a gap between that vs. what we are now desiring more to know: just how fucked are we all?
But if it needs to be removed, that’s okay with me - I don’t want to mess up the community’s implementation of the rules.
Ok, got it. No burning at the stake. We’ll use guillotines.👍
Seriously, if there’s one thing I don’t miss from reddit (I tell a lie, there’s dozens of things I don’t miss from Reddit) it’s the “Actually we’re too far gone, and everyone’s going to die in seven days because none of you jokers will buy a Tesla!~” nonsense
Funfact: Conspiracy Bullshit in the other direction is still Conspiracy Bullshit
Really? I knew it had gotten bad over there since the Rexodus but wow, it sounds rough. I’m so glad we are over here in The Good Place instead. Wait a minute…!? 🤡
i saw a video on youtube, by someone named sabine said everyone gave up on climate action, yea they gave up like years ago, the only miracle was when lockdown happened, and global co2 fell very fast and nature quickly reclaimed certain areas. like they pretended to care, but never did anything to stop it. even in research i heard that you cant frame climate change was leaning towards caused by “people” or your research wont get funded, thats how bad funding grant sis for research for some universities.
sabine also posted absolute horseshit about trans people so I don’t trust anything she says about science anymore
She posted a nuanced video about hormones and surgery on trans-identified minors, that considered both sides of the issue. If you find that “absolute horseshit” then you are not interested in science but in religion.
get out of here. there’s no both sides to the issue and she used faulty evidence to push bullshit that’s been debunked over and over.
I heard she made another dumbass video about autism but couldn’t stomach to go through it.
she’s full of shit.
So religion then
if you don’t understand what words mean, then yeah sure
As individuals we can try, but the average population is too selfish and isn’t going to stop until it’s too late
Between the likes of pollution, deforestation, wars, extinction of species to name a few…the only thing that could save this planet is humanity somehow becoming infertile.
I don’t know if it’s really selfish more people are a part of a system that is bigger than them that forces them into situations that have a negative impact on CO2 levels
Working a job that has low pay which probably force people to housing that is further from their work place, in America most cities don’t have a great public transportation infrastructure nor do they have alternative commuting options like protected bike lanes. This forces people to have to drive more.
The Return to Office bullshit has forced more cars on the road that were not there 4 years ago which is impacting CO2 levels
These are just 2 of many different things that the system has created that have put people in situations that make slowing CO2 levels more difficult.
Yeah I mean…we are all born into an already existing system. I guess we could all kill ourselves to help the planet, but that’s not really a great option for the self. I don’t have the power to change my country’s infrastructure as a singular being.
I guess we could all kill ourselves to help the planet
There’s a scene in the show Utopia where one of the antagonists is talking to a woman with her child at the bus station. She says they could drive but it’s better for the planet if she takes the bus.
He says if she wants to save the planet she should kill her kid, because raising a child in a first world nation is one of the most carbon-intense things you can do if you can’t afford a private jet.
I agree with both of those examples
Would that even matter? As in e.g. the timing and speed - like those still alive would keep going for quite awhile, perhaps all the more so given increasing technology, especially if the effects of aging were to be if not eliminated entirely then pushed back even a little bit more, or cancer, etc.
The average population isn’t too selfish, the 1% is.
They wouldn’t have made it to the richest 1% if they weren’t so selfish, and now they have great power over us all, especially regarding the climate.
I think it’s both
When I worked in an office, the amount of people who would demand that the heating was cranked up as they were sat there in a cotton t-shirt instead of layering up.
The amount of people I know who have every light turned on in their house, the heating on all day throughout the winter, don’t bother with basically insulation, don’t turn things off at night, drive to places that are easily in walking distance etc.
I could keep going on forever with a list of small and basic changes such as products purchased, recycling, waste etc but I’d be here forever.
And yet all that pales in comparison to a CEO taking a private jet to work hundreds of miles every day.
And all that pales in comparison to the amount of CO2 released by the cargo ships and planes going all around the world every day to support our global economy.
Not trying to absolve the average Joe of their responsibility towards the environment, but like, there’s only so much actually in our control. And even if every single one of us 99%ers did everything in our power correctly, unless we see huge global systematic changes at the policy level (like we did with the ozone layer), it probably won’t be enough.
And all that pales in comparison to the amount of CO2 released by the cargo ships and planes going all around the world every day to support our global economy.
Yeah, and who’s fueling said global economy? Regular people browsing Shein ordering ridiculous amounts of plastic-wrapped shit priced at ridiculously low levels.
Carbon tax is the only solution because it would affect both the rich and the poor. Yeah sure a rich CEO wouldn’t feel a simple 2 or 3 fold cost increase to their jet-setting, but if at the same time their company makes a lot less money because people ain’t buying their pointless shit now that carbon is taxed and things are expensive? That CEO might just start flying less too. And we’d need way fewer cargo ships operating if people bought fewer goods. Oh and manufacturing might become more decentralized again once carbon tax from transportation is an actual cost to consider.
Thing is, nobody is going to want a carbon tax. We’d all have to be inconvenienced for that. We all take so much shit for granted. So we’re all fucked.
Yeah, and who’s fueling said global economy? Regular people browsing Shein ordering ridiculous amounts of plastic-wrapped shit priced at ridiculously low levels.
Sure, yes, average people play their part in the global economy. But I think the infinite growth mentality is a big part of it too, which again, falls solely on the CEOs.
Ultimately I do agree with your overall assessment, things do feel kinda hopeless right now, because it just doesn’t seem like very many people in a position to make a difference are really doing anything.
Hmm
Remember that it can always be worse. Even if it’s irreversible in our lifetimes, it can always be hotter and more extreme.
