6 ms·

Germany as a society tends to be prone to obsessions. The current one is climate. There is no other discussion in the media and politics. Nothing else important

by ulfw 3y ago

Germany as a society tends to be prone to obsessions. The current one is climate. There is no other discussion in the media and politics. Nothing else important to focus on. Kids are glueing themselves onto streets because their obsessions aren't satisfied strongly enough. The brainwashing is real. Unfortunately obsessions lead to lack of wider thinking or logic.

cubefox 3y ago
The irony is that our obsession with disabling nuclear power works contrary to any climate obsession. When the two are played out against each other, the anti-nuclear ambitions win. Disabling nuclear power is apparently more important than disabling coal power plants. And than dealing with soaring energy costs and a potential blackout.
kitkat_new 3y ago
you really have a strange framing here, given climate change is a real threat. And fighting it isn't something that only Germany is tasked with. btw. it's not kids, but grown ups of all ages that are gluing themselves onto streets; in various countries
- pxmpxm 3y ago
  > climate change is a real threat. I'm rather sure that not being able to afford energy - heat in the winer - is a the real existential threat to a kid in continental Europe. Worrying about sea level going up 10cm in his/her lifetime is a rich person hobby.
  - danielheath 3y ago
    > Worrying about sea level going up 10cm in his/her lifetime is a rich person hobby. Worrying about the future past next year is definitely a rich person hobby, if you define "rich" as "not imminently starving". Sea level rise is the least of the trouble. Look at fisheries decline (yield per inflation-adjusted-dollar spent has been recorded for a long time now - in spite of new tech it's been dropping for over a century), temperature-driven crop failures, increased frequency of severe storms damaging infrastructure.
  - scythe 3y ago
    Sea level is projected to rise 30 centimeters over the next 30 years. The rate is gradually accelerating, so the coming century will see more than a meter. But the primary near-term risks from climate change are heat damaging crops, (wet) heat killing humans, declining soil moisture in some regions, and increased risk of flooding along some rivers. Over two centuries, coastal cities may be inundated, but that is a long time.
  - bumby 3y ago
    Both are real risks, but humans are biased to be disproportionately sensitive to near term risks and tend to underestimate long term risks. In addition, poor people tend to be disproportionately affected.
  - rcxdude 3y ago
    It's those above the poverty line but only just that should be worrying most: the rich will likely be mostly fine, it's everyone else who is going to suffer much more from it.
  - mgfist 3y ago
    About 200 Germans died in the floods last year - far more than those who died from the cold. And climate change increased both the likeliness and the intensity of the rains. So no, this isn't something rich people will face in 50 years. It's something everyone faces today.
rjzzleep 3y ago
I actually think you've put your finger on the actual problem. Sometimes these obsessions lead to success, because obsession and persistence can be the same. But let's take the last year, sanctions policies that lead them to trade direct resource imports from Russia to having the same imports but paying premium through brokers like Morocco, India and Chinese LNG(all coming from Russia). Let's remember what the BASF CEO said before it escalated.[1] A lot of people in Germany were begging the government to postpone the shutdown of the remaining power plants until they have replacements, but the ideological Greens just charged ahead replacing Nuclear with Coal to achieve their ideological goal of removing nuclear. They have also been at the forefront of pushing legislation at an EU level to block nuclear in various forms.[2][3] I've seen these obsessions in various other parts of society. I've had people stand behind me waiting telling me they could not pass anywhere but where I am even though they could just take a turn around me. I've personally experienced and heard from multiple people at the CCC that their Math teachers would punish them for achieving a result with a different technique than what the teacher taught them. [1] https://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/unternehmen/basf-chef-warnt-vor-gas-embargo-schaeden-fuer-deutsche-volkswirtschaft-17925528.html https://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/unternehmen/basf-chef... [2] https://www.brusselsreport.eu/2022/01/04/germany-needs-to-stop-imposing-its-failed-energy-policies-on-the-rest-of-the-eu/ https://www.brusselsreport.eu/2022/01/04/germany-needs-to-st... [3] https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/germany-pushes-nuclear-energy-eu-sanctions-next-package-2023-04-17/ https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/germany-pushes-nucle...

by ulfw 3y ago

cubefox 3y ago

The irony is that our obsession with disabling nuclear power works contrary to any climate obsession. When the two are played out against each other, the anti-nuclear ambitions win. Disabling nuclear power is apparently more important than disabling coal power plants. And than dealing with soaring energy costs and a potential blackout.

kitkat_new 3y ago

you really have a strange framing here, given climate change is a real threat. And fighting it isn't something that only Germany is tasked with. btw. it's not kids, but grown ups of all ages that are gluing themselves onto streets; in various countries

pxmpxm 3y ago
> climate change is a real threat. I'm rather sure that not being able to afford energy - heat in the winer - is a the real existential threat to a kid in continental Europe. Worrying about sea level going up 10cm in his/her lifetime is a rich person hobby.
- danielheath 3y ago
  > Worrying about sea level going up 10cm in his/her lifetime is a rich person hobby. Worrying about the future past next year is definitely a rich person hobby, if you define "rich" as "not imminently starving". Sea level rise is the least of the trouble. Look at fisheries decline (yield per inflation-adjusted-dollar spent has been recorded for a long time now - in spite of new tech it's been dropping for over a century), temperature-driven crop failures, increased frequency of severe storms damaging infrastructure.
- scythe 3y ago
  Sea level is projected to rise 30 centimeters over the next 30 years. The rate is gradually accelerating, so the coming century will see more than a meter. But the primary near-term risks from climate change are heat damaging crops, (wet) heat killing humans, declining soil moisture in some regions, and increased risk of flooding along some rivers. Over two centuries, coastal cities may be inundated, but that is a long time.
- bumby 3y ago
  Both are real risks, but humans are biased to be disproportionately sensitive to near term risks and tend to underestimate long term risks. In addition, poor people tend to be disproportionately affected.
- rcxdude 3y ago
  It's those above the poverty line but only just that should be worrying most: the rich will likely be mostly fine, it's everyone else who is going to suffer much more from it.
- mgfist 3y ago
  About 200 Germans died in the floods last year - far more than those who died from the cold. And climate change increased both the likeliness and the intensity of the rains. So no, this isn't something rich people will face in 50 years. It's something everyone faces today.

rjzzleep 3y ago

I actually think you've put your finger on the actual problem. Sometimes these obsessions lead to success, because obsession and persistence can be the same. But let's take the last year, sanctions policies that lead them to trade direct resource imports from Russia to having the same imports but paying premium through brokers like Morocco, India and Chinese LNG(all coming from Russia). Let's remember what the BASF CEO said before it escalated.[1] A lot of people in Germany were begging the government to postpone the shutdown of the remaining power plants until they have replacements, but the ideological Greens just charged ahead replacing Nuclear with Coal to achieve their ideological goal of removing nuclear. They have also been at the forefront of pushing legislation at an EU level to block nuclear in various forms.[2][3] I've seen these obsessions in various other parts of society. I've had people stand behind me waiting telling me they could not pass anywhere but where I am even though they could just take a turn around me. I've personally experienced and heard from multiple people at the CCC that their Math teachers would punish them for achieving a result with a different technique than what the teacher taught them. [1] https://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/unternehmen/basf-chef-warnt-vor-gas-embargo-schaeden-fuer-deutsche-volkswirtschaft-17925528.html https://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/unternehmen/basf-chef... [2] https://www.brusselsreport.eu/2022/01/04/germany-needs-to-stop-imposing-its-failed-energy-policies-on-the-rest-of-the-eu/ https://www.brusselsreport.eu/2022/01/04/germany-needs-to-st... [3] https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/germany-pushes-nuclear-energy-eu-sanctions-next-package-2023-04-17/ https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/germany-pushes-nucle...