3 ms·

As a fan of science and scientific thinking, the area of climate change and environmental care in general really depresses me. There are real impactful things

As a fan of science and scientific thinking, the area of climate change and environmental care in general really depresses me. There are real impactful things that can be done on an individual and national level, but the entire discourse is hijacked by alarmists, population-bomb doomers, and kids who haven’t even gotten to the point of understanding what they’re talking about yet. Currently it’s all theatre and politics, people who could care are detracted by the violent alarmism that’s obviously bs at the point or the political nature of this discussion. Real science has taken a back seat in this one for the last 50 years…

0xdde 3y ago
Can you clarify what you mean? Do you consider this Nature article to not be "real science"?
flakeoil 3y ago
I think what has taken a back seat is action. We could have moved to more fuel efficient cars a long time ago (smaller, lighter more aerodynamic cars than we have today). We could have invested more in solar and wind and moved away from coal and oil. We could have built more nuclear power plants. We could have pushed for more video conferencing and less flying. We could have vacations in our own country or continent instead of flying to other continents. Nothing of this would have required any new major technological advances. The issue is politicians too afraid to take unpopular decisions. Voters who did not care or did not want any slight sacrifices themselves. Countries focusing more on growth and competing with each other than co-operating.
- TinyRick 3y ago
  Unfortunately, politics (in the USA at least) are too broken to lead these types of changes. It would seem we need to first fix our political system (e.g. remove monetary incentives from politics, repeal Citizens United, etc.) before we can meaningfully tackle climate change.

3 ms·

As a fan of science and scientific thinking, the area of climate change and environmental care in general really depresses me. There are real impactful things

by chillbill 3y ago

0xdde 3y ago
Can you clarify what you mean? Do you consider this Nature article to not be "real science"?
flakeoil 3y ago
I think what has taken a back seat is action. We could have moved to more fuel efficient cars a long time ago (smaller, lighter more aerodynamic cars than we have today). We could have invested more in solar and wind and moved away from coal and oil. We could have built more nuclear power plants. We could have pushed for more video conferencing and less flying. We could have vacations in our own country or continent instead of flying to other continents. Nothing of this would have required any new major technological advances. The issue is politicians too afraid to take unpopular decisions. Voters who did not care or did not want any slight sacrifices themselves. Countries focusing more on growth and competing with each other than co-operating.
- TinyRick 3y ago
  Unfortunately, politics (in the USA at least) are too broken to lead these types of changes. It would seem we need to first fix our political system (e.g. remove monetary incentives from politics, repeal Citizens United, etc.) before we can meaningfully tackle climate change.