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Your perspective holds no water whatsoever. Clean air can be enjoyed by someone actively polluting the air for their neighbours. Or water downstream. So don't a

Your perspective holds no water whatsoever. Clean air can be enjoyed by someone actively polluting the air for their neighbours. Or water downstream. So don't act like it's as simple as us deciding to act. It requires a consistent solution that will impose costs on some participants and less cost on others. Almost 40 years of proven science and we're sitting on our hands. And don't get me started on the fact that the current approach of ignoring the problem, sabotaging efforts and rolling back legislation is a politically enforced solution itself, of the negative type. More than half Of all us citizens recognise climate change as a threat and want something done. We have leadership that have hijacked that will to stifle progress.

hutzlibu 8y ago
Polluting a river is something very direct and very visible. Also therefore directly punishable if people violate it. It makes sense for the average Joe, that weird chemicals from a factory don't belong in a river. But in the contrast declaring CO2 as bad is something very arbitary. We all exhale CO2. So suddenly CO2 is bad, exhaling is bad?? ... is a bit off worlds for the common people. As CO2 clearly is something normal. Nature needs CO2. The excess is the problem. That we suddenly release all the stored carbons from millenias. But still this is less clear. How much is too much. Because burning fires is something humans do since we are humans - very counter intuitive to declare it all wrong now. So corrupt leadership is not really the problem if the common people are not fully convinced that CO2 is really that bad. And we are talking about the global population. Not just the intellectuals in the western world. And even if they are aware that it is not ideal - if they feel cold now, they will burn coal to warm themself now, if they lack (affordable) alternatives. (I do). So they also would not push their politicans to forbid this. And in a democracy it is the will of the common people that matters. So the problem is just a little bit more complicated, than you make it. Saying politics should do something is easy - but is still not a real solution. Solutions would be affordable alternatives. And if you look at the developement of prices of solar panels and batteries for example ... you see that change is happening. I just don't see it is comming from politics. Politics can maybe help the process, yes. But not so easy. As out whole industry is based on fossil energy. Changing that simply takes time. So teach people about is, yes. But don't preach to them nor force them. Otherwise they will circumvent it.

hutzlibu 8y ago

Polluting a river is something very direct and very visible. Also therefore directly punishable if people violate it. It makes sense for the average Joe, that weird chemicals from a factory don't belong in a river. But in the contrast declaring CO2 as bad is something very arbitary. We all exhale CO2. So suddenly CO2 is bad, exhaling is bad?? ... is a bit off worlds for the common people. As CO2 clearly is something normal. Nature needs CO2. The excess is the problem. That we suddenly release all the stored carbons from millenias. But still this is less clear. How much is too much. Because burning fires is something humans do since we are humans - very counter intuitive to declare it all wrong now. So corrupt leadership is not really the problem if the common people are not fully convinced that CO2 is really that bad. And we are talking about the global population. Not just the intellectuals in the western world. And even if they are aware that it is not ideal - if they feel cold now, they will burn coal to warm themself now, if they lack (affordable) alternatives. (I do). So they also would not push their politicans to forbid this. And in a democracy it is the will of the common people that matters. So the problem is just a little bit more complicated, than you make it. Saying politics should do something is easy - but is still not a real solution. Solutions would be affordable alternatives. And if you look at the developement of prices of solar panels and batteries for example ... you see that change is happening. I just don't see it is comming from politics. Politics can maybe help the process, yes. But not so easy. As out whole industry is based on fossil energy. Changing that simply takes time. So teach people about is, yes. But don't preach to them nor force them. Otherwise they will circumvent it.