We can’t afford to be apathetic climate doomers
#ClimateDenial #ClimateChange #ClimateDefeatists
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jul/26/we-cant-afford-to-be-climate-doomers
@MikeBarbre I disagree completely, as one of the doomers she's describing.
It'll take me a min to form a coherent rebuttal.
@MikeBarbre “They’re surrendering in advance and inspiring others to do the same”
Example – I’ve stopped recycling, since it is meaningless in the United States.
Evidence: https://www.npr.org/2020/09/11/912150085/waste-land
https://www.npr.org/2022/02/14/1080699424/waste-land-bonus
https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2020/03/13/fix-recycling-america/
@MikeBarbre Root cause – recycling was a bullshit ploy by big plastic to appear environmentally acceptable, but never to actally reduce our use of petrol. Our government has not been serious about recycling in the idea’s entire history. Both parties have ignored the lack of a national strategy on recycling.
The root cause, as always, is the US politicians that protect big business and not citizens. That is not going to change.
@MikeBarbre
I want to recycle, but I don’t see the point of lying to myself about the plastic bottle I shouldn’t have bought in the first place.
@MikeBarbre
“But the defeatists often describe a present they assert are locking in the worst outcomes.”
Correct – we have a situation where our government is completely opposed to protecting it’s citizens. Why? Because our government has classified corporations as citizens.
Individuals do not matter to the US Government (unless you have a SCJ in your pocket), only corporate interests.
@MikeBarbre
The present situation is the natural outcome of democracy + capitalism, and it will be the end of our species IMO.
@MikeBarbre
“Doomers discourage people who otherwise might act, so they’re working toward the worst outcomes they claim to dread. You would expect them to be quietly unmotivated, but a lot of them seem to have an evangelical passion for recruiting others to their views”.
Yep.
Except I’m not dreading it, I’m looking forward to it. Bring on THUNDERDOME.
@MikeBarbre
Climate stories like this one, from today’s NYT (27/7/2023)?
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/27/us/supreme-court-mountain-valley-pipeline.html
Notice that lawyers who are working FOR THE PROJECT were in the Obama admin? Neither team blue nor team red actually want to stop getting rich from fossil fuels. Notice how the Biden admin also support this.
The NYT tells the story from the project’s standpoint, pointing out the need for these fuels as we go into winter in the Northern Hemisphere.
@MikeBarbre
The only balance to that assertion is a single line regarding environmental groups contention that congress “overstepped it bounds”.
NYT is NOT telling a balanced story on climate, because they have been the mouthpiece for the big business actually running our government for decades. See IRAQ.
@MikeBarbre The reality is that readers DO want climate stories, so major news outlets are giving them to us. Those stories are just presented in a way that minimizes the environmental damages, while promoting the big business benefits.
@MikeBarbre
Energy transitions are measured in decades, not years. I live in a society where every 4-8 years there is (potential) upheaval of policy, and where citizens have no perspective of geologic time. Our population is not fit to understand the problems, because we don’t teach (the masses) how to think, only what to think.
@MikeBarbre
Significant victories? I can think of 1.
Humanity allowed scientific evidence to inform policy on CFC’s back in the 80’s/90’s and we successfully worked together to address O3 .
Counterpoint:
GM – Created a kick-ass electric car 30 years ago. The story is terrible.
https://www.ev1.org/
@MikeBarbre This guardian opinion article is making the same mistake I see all over….the author has a narrow perspective on time.
In my mind, the decisions of my grandparents generation to ignore Hubert’s warnings are just as impactful as the decision to allow the Mountain Valley Pipeline is in 2023.
Humanity needs to stop being so fucking selfish, seeing only the things that happen in our lives as important. We need to have a species-level perspective.
@MikeBarbre We’re not fucked because we lack optimism, we’re fucked because of a worldwide corporatocracy that is cashing in on our lack of foresight.
That isn’t going to change.
@MikeBarbre I agree with her penultimate paragraph, except the optimism. While we know what to do, the systems that are in place will prevent it from happening. We do have solutions. We also have a worldwide economy that is dependent on the oil subsidy.
Humanity sold out our species for profit a long time ago.
@MikeBarbre To begin with, if we were actually doomed, the proper response should not be to say "oh well, can't do anything about it, better go to my soulless day job and act normal."
If we actually were doomed, everyone should quit and go touch grass and party.
We're not.