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Please educate me, isn't climate change a lost cause now? We know its inevitable and despite wide awareness, no one basically does anything. Individual action i

by Bhilai 6y ago

Please educate me, isn't climate change a lost cause now? We know its inevitable and despite wide awareness, no one basically does anything. Individual action is not going help and US government does not even believe that any such thing is happening and has relaxed EPA regulations on polluters and such, so is CA restricting sale of fossil fuel vehicles going to matter in the long run?

loeg 6y ago
> Please educate me, isn't climate change a lost cause now? We know its inevitable and despite wide awareness, no one basically does anything. Er, no. It is inevitable, but the degree of change absolutely continues to matter. > US government does not even believe that any such thing is happening and has relaxed EPA regulations on polluters and such, so is CA restricting sale of fossil fuel vehicles going to matter in the long run? Here's the context you might be missing: CA is a huge automobile market, and has historically set a number of requirements that automakers eventually incorporate into all cars sold into the US market. It's cheaper to build one SKU than two, as long as the CA SKU is only mildly more expensive than the non-CA would be. Additionally, auto manufacturers will have similar requirements for the EU market on a similar timeline.
bsurmanski 6y ago
Everyone is hesitant to make change because "it's going to cause too much economic impact". If someone demonstrates that it's possible to change without screwing over their economy, it's likely other states and countries will follow. Just because the USA has federal administration that doesn't want to act on climate change right now doesn't mean that it won't get a greener administration in the future. As for being a lost cause, isn't it preferable to minimize the effect, at least? would you rather the sea levels go up by 2.0 meters or 1.5 meters?
- tayo42 6y ago
  Our leaders need to be ballsy enough to make unpopular decisions to solve climate change. In the short term, things will be harder, more expensive, jobs will be lost. That's because the externalities of life have been free for our society. We need to be brought into a green world kicking and screaming.
- acchow 6y ago
  Turns out change can create new jobs.
yongjik 6y ago
The first thing to do when you find yourself in a hole is to stop digging. So, while this isn't anywhere near sufficient, this is a step in the right direction.
rsynnott 6y ago
> US government does not even believe that any such thing is happening and has relaxed EPA regulations on polluters and such, so is CA restricting sale of fossil fuel vehicles going to matter in the long run? Operative word being 'the long run'. The current US government may be replaced within the next few months with one that might be expected to take a more normal view on the problem, so what it's doing now is arguably fairly irrelevant, when you're talking about 2035. Many European countries have recently made similar moves, with the EU as a whole and China making noises about something similar (though probably on a longer timescale; 2040 or later). So this isn't just a weird California thing.

by Bhilai 6y ago

loeg 6y ago

> Please educate me, isn't climate change a lost cause now? We know its inevitable and despite wide awareness, no one basically does anything. Er, no. It is inevitable, but the degree of change absolutely continues to matter. > US government does not even believe that any such thing is happening and has relaxed EPA regulations on polluters and such, so is CA restricting sale of fossil fuel vehicles going to matter in the long run? Here's the context you might be missing: CA is a huge automobile market, and has historically set a number of requirements that automakers eventually incorporate into all cars sold into the US market. It's cheaper to build one SKU than two, as long as the CA SKU is only mildly more expensive than the non-CA would be. Additionally, auto manufacturers will have similar requirements for the EU market on a similar timeline.

bsurmanski 6y ago

Everyone is hesitant to make change because "it's going to cause too much economic impact". If someone demonstrates that it's possible to change without screwing over their economy, it's likely other states and countries will follow. Just because the USA has federal administration that doesn't want to act on climate change right now doesn't mean that it won't get a greener administration in the future. As for being a lost cause, isn't it preferable to minimize the effect, at least? would you rather the sea levels go up by 2.0 meters or 1.5 meters?

tayo42 6y ago
Our leaders need to be ballsy enough to make unpopular decisions to solve climate change. In the short term, things will be harder, more expensive, jobs will be lost. That's because the externalities of life have been free for our society. We need to be brought into a green world kicking and screaming.
acchow 6y ago
Turns out change can create new jobs.

yongjik 6y ago

The first thing to do when you find yourself in a hole is to stop digging. So, while this isn't anywhere near sufficient, this is a step in the right direction.

rsynnott 6y ago

> US government does not even believe that any such thing is happening and has relaxed EPA regulations on polluters and such, so is CA restricting sale of fossil fuel vehicles going to matter in the long run? Operative word being 'the long run'. The current US government may be replaced within the next few months with one that might be expected to take a more normal view on the problem, so what it's doing now is arguably fairly irrelevant, when you're talking about 2035. Many European countries have recently made similar moves, with the EU as a whole and China making noises about something similar (though probably on a longer timescale; 2040 or later). So this isn't just a weird California thing.