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I do not doubt that the climate is changing nor I doubt that humans play a large factor in that. Yet I cannot gather the will to be afraid. It is true that we h

I do not doubt that the climate is changing nor I doubt that humans play a large factor in that. Yet I cannot gather the will to be afraid. It is true that we haven't faced this challenge from a prevention standpoint, at least not beyond small mitigations, but when has humanity embraced prevention from the start? We usually leave that as a lesson for the second time... Climate change will stress our civilization and we will deal with that stress, becoming more capable and sophisticated in the process. Well that, or we will die. But that has been the deal since the start. Lets stay awake people, there will be lots of adapting to do!

schiffern 11y ago
>we will deal with that stress, becoming more capable and sophisticated in the process. Well that, or we will die You missed one. It is also possible that we become less capable and less sophisticated (e.g. the dark ages).
pharrington 11y ago
Assuming no major attempt to stop or reverse climate change happens until the major crises start (Im an American), huge swathes of infrastructure will be destroyed or rendered unusable. To say we've grown used to that infrastructure is a adorably naive understatement; like I'm sitting here eating a genetically engineered animal grown a thousand miles away that was only born so it could be killed, while arguing with hundreds of people simultaneously by mashing my finger into a sheet of sapphire and having light waves beamed into space and back. Modern human is so weird that we're essentially a different species compared to what we were/will be without the current global infrastructure. I'm afraid societies dont have or wont quickly be able to develop the knowledge needed to survive the new planet we're making.
- iamcurious 11y ago
  We can build new infrastructure. Europe managed to do that fine after WWIII.
  - pharrington 11y ago
    Well certainly, but the difference is Europe was given loans from decidedly non-postapocalyptic America and they didnt have to worry about understanding an effectively different planet. Reconstruction post climate change isnt really analogous.

schiffern 11y ago

>we will deal with that stress, becoming more capable and sophisticated in the process. Well that, or we will die You missed one. It is also possible that we become less capable and less sophisticated (e.g. the dark ages).

pharrington 11y ago

Assuming no major attempt to stop or reverse climate change happens until the major crises start (Im an American), huge swathes of infrastructure will be destroyed or rendered unusable. To say we've grown used to that infrastructure is a adorably naive understatement; like I'm sitting here eating a genetically engineered animal grown a thousand miles away that was only born so it could be killed, while arguing with hundreds of people simultaneously by mashing my finger into a sheet of sapphire and having light waves beamed into space and back. Modern human is so weird that we're essentially a different species compared to what we were/will be without the current global infrastructure. I'm afraid societies dont have or wont quickly be able to develop the knowledge needed to survive the new planet we're making.

iamcurious 11y ago
We can build new infrastructure. Europe managed to do that fine after WWIII.
- pharrington 11y ago
  Well certainly, but the difference is Europe was given loans from decidedly non-postapocalyptic America and they didnt have to worry about understanding an effectively different planet. Reconstruction post climate change isnt really analogous.