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OK, I'm the president of a huge country. 50% of its population tells me it wants me to leave fossil fuel. I write down my plan in a COP26 agreement. That plan i

by wiz21c 5y ago

OK, I'm the president of a huge country. 50% of its population tells me it wants me to leave fossil fuel. I write down my plan in a COP26 agreement. That plan is everything but leaving the fossil fuel. I sleep well at night because I absolutely don't represent my citizen's choice (cynical scenario) OR I know something they don't know which allows me to sleep well... (hopeful scenario)

ahelwer 5y ago
Not very mysterious. The reason you were elected was due to an intensely-expensive PR and media campaign. This requires a lot of money. A potential source of this money is a small group of people who financially benefit from the country's use of fossil fuels, and who are wealthy enough to never be affected by climate change. So you either comport your policies with their desires or your opponents do, and get elected instead.
- pyrale 5y ago
  > A potential source of this money is a small group of people who financially benefit from the country's use of fossil fuels, and who are wealthy enough to never be affected by climate change. They are not wealthy enough to never be affected by climate change, no one is. What I believe is happening is that these people are high on power. They may realize that their course is self-destructive, but they don't know how to avert it, and asking them to abandon their power is antithetical to who they are.
  - ahelwer 5y ago
    If you can live anywhere in the world at negligible cost to yourself with little change to your standard of living then you will not be affected by climate change. The earth will not be uninhabitable; just large swathes of it. The rich will never be affected by climate change. They are not in the same boat.
    - CuriousSkeptic 5y ago
      Somehow I suspect large swatches of the earth becoming uninhabitable could have an impact on the global economy.
    - pyrale 5y ago
      Here is the thing: anywhere in the world is going to be effected, and the astonishing lifestyle some people are used to depends on a functioning society providing goods and services. History is filled with dynasties of rulers going out in a messy way. We are headed to a time of unprecedented change, and we should expect that, for the only time in history, these changes will cause no threat to wealthy people?
im3w1l 5y ago
Biden is 78 years old, Putin is 69. Xi Jinping is 68. Ram Nath Kovind is 76.
- belltaco 5y ago
  > Ram Nath Kovind is 76 The president in a parliamentary democracy like India is a decorative head like the Queen of UK without much agency. Modi is the Prime Minister who is the real head of state.

by wiz21c 5y ago

ahelwer 5y ago

Not very mysterious. The reason you were elected was due to an intensely-expensive PR and media campaign. This requires a lot of money. A potential source of this money is a small group of people who financially benefit from the country's use of fossil fuels, and who are wealthy enough to never be affected by climate change. So you either comport your policies with their desires or your opponents do, and get elected instead.

pyrale 5y ago
> A potential source of this money is a small group of people who financially benefit from the country's use of fossil fuels, and who are wealthy enough to never be affected by climate change. They are not wealthy enough to never be affected by climate change, no one is. What I believe is happening is that these people are high on power. They may realize that their course is self-destructive, but they don't know how to avert it, and asking them to abandon their power is antithetical to who they are.
- ahelwer 5y ago
  If you can live anywhere in the world at negligible cost to yourself with little change to your standard of living then you will not be affected by climate change. The earth will not be uninhabitable; just large swathes of it. The rich will never be affected by climate change. They are not in the same boat.
  - CuriousSkeptic 5y ago
    Somehow I suspect large swatches of the earth becoming uninhabitable could have an impact on the global economy.
  - pyrale 5y ago
    Here is the thing: anywhere in the world is going to be effected, and the astonishing lifestyle some people are used to depends on a functioning society providing goods and services. History is filled with dynasties of rulers going out in a messy way. We are headed to a time of unprecedented change, and we should expect that, for the only time in history, these changes will cause no threat to wealthy people?

im3w1l 5y ago

Biden is 78 years old, Putin is 69. Xi Jinping is 68. Ram Nath Kovind is 76.

belltaco 5y ago
> Ram Nath Kovind is 76 The president in a parliamentary democracy like India is a decorative head like the Queen of UK without much agency. Modi is the Prime Minister who is the real head of state.