Scientists have been saying these same things my entire life. While they are absolutely correct, the necessary change does not seem to be a priority for leaders. At best it gets lip service and underwhelming commitments. At worst conservatives completely deny the problem. We have social issues blocking our scientific solutions.
I don’t think our existing leadership is capable of being proactive, we are always slow and reactive. We need more radical social change, which I only see happening once a certain generation dies and another takes their place.
My favorite Secretary of Energy Steven Chu said this:
I think the moral of this story is, if you try to fight these new standards, these new ideas, by lobbying against them because some industries will feel threatened, as long as the lawyers and the lobbyists are part of this, progress isn’t gonna be made. As soon as both sides of the aisle, the Republicans and the Democrats, say, “Sorry, it’s gonna happen,” it’s then assigned to the engineers. And then progress is made.
Sadly, the lawyers and the lobbyists have won.
Not gonna happen. We’re fucked.
We should still try like we’re not.
That’s fair, and I do try as an individual, but also as an individual my efforts are effectively meaningless. The real destroyer is capitalism and I don’t like being a doomer, but, we are fucked.
There are actions that can be taken that are far more effective than shit like that. I’d maybe go see what Andreas Malm has to say on the topic, for instance.
There are actions that can be taken that are far more effective than shit like that.
1795 France has some very intriguing tools that could be used to cut the Parasite Class down to size, and to loosen their grip on civilization’s reins.
There’s money to be made. We’ll need it when the climate goes to shit.
We need to make it more expensive to continue the status quo than it is to change. Radical direct action is necessary. Even that probably won’t be enough.
Though, as a climate Posadist, pumping all this carbon into the atmosphere and then setting off a few nukes in resource wars will definitely be a clear signal to ETs that there’s something on earth they could talk to.
We need to stop this or it really is a given. I’ve been in this mindset a lot, but we gotta stop. Finally there’s a tiny light at the end of the tunnel. Los of progress etc. people’s egos and distrust and cynicism about others will truly be our doom should that befall us this century (haha hopefully not this decade)
I’m pessimistic, but I still try, and I hope for the best because I also acknowledge that I might be wrong. Doom and gloom won’t help anyone.
Well said. Optimism is important.
I’m not really worried about humanity’s survival in general, we’re a resilient bunch, we’ve successfully carved out niches for ourselves in damn-near every corner of the planet, as long as the earth is even remotely habitable I’m pretty confident that humans will be around.
The things I’m worried about are
The survival of many other species that aren’t as adaptable as us
The quality of life for us and anything else that survives with us
The survival of vulnerable populations of humans. While humanity as an entire species will survive in one way or another, the same can’t necessarily be said about individuals or particular groups of humanity. I’d rather not see entire families, towns, countries, cultures, races, etc. get wiped out.
We’re all going to die.
Is this the King David interpretation?
But only if we take these radical steps
So… Not gonna happen then?
