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This wasn't the summer I was expecting: although we've managed to melt a huge amount of the arctic ice cap, temperatures in the northern hemisphere were still

This wasn't the summer I was expecting: although we've managed to melt a huge amount of the arctic ice cap, temperatures in the northern hemisphere were still bearable, even though this was one of the hottest summers on record, and there were lots of forest fires in Siberia and the US. An even hotter summer heatwave causing large numbers of deaths in continental cities should make politicians take much closer notice. Although it doesn't please me to say this, I think this is the crisis we need in order for this problem to start being taken much more seriously. Change can happen in a crisis.

jfengel 6y ago
Politicians don't notice until their supporters notice. There's really no way for a politician to turn around and say, "Hey, it turns out I just noticed that climate change is a real and bad thing, and we should do something about it." Politicians elected on a climate-change-is-a-hoax platform will continue to do so, crisis or no crisis. For that matter, the climate-change-is-a-hoax politicians are doing equally well with COVID19-is-a-hoax. That applies to only half the population in one country with about 4% of the world's population, but it's responsible for 25% of the greenhouse gas emissions (and 20% of the COVID19 deaths). The new data may nudge enough of them to cause a significant change in the outcome if an election, but it would at best be temporary since so many other things can nudge it back come the next election. I don't see anybody taking climate change seriously who isn't already. It's just too effective as a political strategy.