4 ms·

Article subtitle: > Since 2007, Romania has lost between half and two-thirds of its virgin forest. The environmentalists and activists trying to protect it kee

by ephbit 5y ago

Article subtitle: > Since 2007, Romania has lost between half and two-thirds of its virgin forest. The environmentalists and activists trying to protect it keep getting killed. --- Whatever the reason for this attrition of forest, it's alarming.

technobabbler 5y ago
Everything is dying, all the time, everywhere lol. It's hard to keep up anymore... people using up resources way faster than they can be replenished, and it's only getting worse...
- ephbit 5y ago
  Yeah, we're in for a bumpy ride, that's for sure. At some point, there'll be the sufficiently direct negative feedback from nature to humanity which will slow and eventually halt the destruction ... but ... it'll probably take a while until then. I'd say 2035-2040 until we see politicians in the democratic states make decisions that are painful for citizens and effective enough to notably slow the destruction. (I have a feeling that China will get there earlier, say 2030 or so.)
  - technobabbler 5y ago
    > I'd say 2035-2040 until we see politicians in the democratic states make decisions that are painful for citizens and effective enough to notably slow the destruction. I sincerely doubt there will be any meaningful democracies left by 2040 :) People always trend towards strong leaders and authoritarianism in the face of crisis, and there will be oh so many crises...
    - user68858788 5y ago
      I don’t doubt you, but I’d like to know the history of your statement. Which democracies became authoritarian regimes, and for which crisis?
      - technobabbler 5y ago
        Mussolini, Hitler, Trump (almost), Venezuela... and of course, Russia. Additionally, much of the modern conservative movement (around the world) is centered around personality worship and anti-democratization of power structures and are trying very hard to move their democracies toward autocracy favoring a cultural or ethnic in-group. Wikipedia has a much more extensive list, along with various things that contribute to it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_backsliding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_backsliding

by ephbit 5y ago

technobabbler 5y ago

Everything is dying, all the time, everywhere lol. It's hard to keep up anymore... people using up resources way faster than they can be replenished, and it's only getting worse...

ephbit 5y ago
Yeah, we're in for a bumpy ride, that's for sure. At some point, there'll be the sufficiently direct negative feedback from nature to humanity which will slow and eventually halt the destruction ... but ... it'll probably take a while until then. I'd say 2035-2040 until we see politicians in the democratic states make decisions that are painful for citizens and effective enough to notably slow the destruction. (I have a feeling that China will get there earlier, say 2030 or so.)
- technobabbler 5y ago
  > I'd say 2035-2040 until we see politicians in the democratic states make decisions that are painful for citizens and effective enough to notably slow the destruction. I sincerely doubt there will be any meaningful democracies left by 2040 :) People always trend towards strong leaders and authoritarianism in the face of crisis, and there will be oh so many crises...
  - user68858788 5y ago
    I don’t doubt you, but I’d like to know the history of your statement. Which democracies became authoritarian regimes, and for which crisis?
    - technobabbler 5y ago
      Mussolini, Hitler, Trump (almost), Venezuela... and of course, Russia. Additionally, much of the modern conservative movement (around the world) is centered around personality worship and anti-democratization of power structures and are trying very hard to move their democracies toward autocracy favoring a cultural or ethnic in-group. Wikipedia has a much more extensive list, along with various things that contribute to it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_backsliding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_backsliding