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The subtext under the headline seems direct enough: >When it comes to the climate crisis, new normals convey a single, grim message: instead of acting, get use

• pif 3y ago
  Concerning climate change, the world is going to be like this. All models are clear that global warming cannot be reversed. No "turning green" will lower average temperatures enough in our lifetime. Thus, acceptance is capital, because only acceptance of reality can lead to sensible solutions. As a side note, screaming "It's too late: hurry up!" is really an idiot way to advocate your cause, whatever your cause may be.
  • letsawaytoday 3y ago
    [flagged]
  • andyjohnson0 3y ago
    > All models are clear that global warming cannot be reversed. No "turning green" will lower average temperatures enough in our lifetime. Thats factually correct, but also kind of a strawman. The objective at this point is not to reverse climate change, but to stop it getting much, much worse.
    • infamouscow 3y ago
      Without the cooperation of BRICS these efforts are moot. Not to further spiral this discussion into politics, but the current administration is pushing BRICS away rather than pulling closer. Ostensibly climate change continues to be used as a political bargaining chip on the world stage because of a fundamental refusal by Western elites to relinquish their hegemony.
  • ravenstine 3y ago
    That's metaphorically like stepping on the gas and the brakes at the same time. If we really believe we need the masses to reach a level of acceptance in order to reach sensible conclusions, perhaps that whole step could be bypassed by doing away with the frequent alarmism and "i fucking love science" attitude in the first place.
  • YawningAngel 3y ago
    > As a side note, screaming "It's too late: hurry up!" is really an idiot way to advocate your cause, whatever your cause may be. Is it? It can simultaneously be true that we have been too slow to avoid very concerning outcomes, and also that the best course of action open to us is to act quickly and decisively
    • deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
  • 542354234235 3y ago
    >As a side note, screaming "It's too late: hurry up!" is really an idiot way to advocate your cause, whatever your cause may be. “It is too late to save your foot. It has been damaged beyond saving by your inaction. But with aggressive action on your part, you could save some of your legs and delay the loss of your other foot. It's too late: hurry up!”
  • JohnFen 3y ago
    What's done may be done, but we could perhaps keep it from being even worse.
• zokier 3y ago
  Problem is that afaik things are not going get better; climate change is going to hit us bad. The fight is now mostly just trying to manage how bad it is going to be, especially in 2100s and further.
• FormerBandmate 3y ago
  The way you fight is by buying a Tesla and switching your power to clean energy providers. Climate change activists never seem to talk about either of those things tho, it’s always amorphous nonsense like “dismantling capitalism”
  • JohnFen 3y ago
    > Climate change activists never seem to talk about either of those things tho They don't? You're listening to a different crowd than I am.
  • jfengel 3y ago
    Buying a Tesla isn't even close to enough. Climate change activists say amorphous nonsense like "dismantling capitalism" because the changes needed are much, much further reaching than simply buying a different thing. Transportation is only about 25% of CO2, and cars are only a fraction of that. Even if there were zero CO2 produced in a Tesla's lifecycle (and it's more than that), it wouldn't be anywhere near enough. You'd also need to turn off all the fossil fuel power plants -- which isn't going to happen without government intervention. That's not enough, either. Food and concrete are also massive producers of CO2. Again, corporations aren't going to voluntarily stop raising cows or making concrete. Laws are required -- the kinds of laws that make people scream "socialism". Nor can it end there. To reach net-zero, we're going to have to balance out the inevitable remaining human-produced CO2. Some of that will be carbon capture -- not something corporations do unless forced. Some will be reserving large swathes of fertile land for trees -- probably owned by the government, i.e. socialism. That's probably still not enough. Try this on for size: we eliminate a lot of bullshit jobs that require commuting, energy, and other sources of carbon. Maybe a universal basic income that drives up the cost of workers, and a lot of workers just drop the hell out. Maybe then we reorganize the economy to stop maximizing "employment" as a fundamental goal, and we stop optimizing for total Gross Domestic Product. That is what "dismantling capitalism" means. Maybe it's not necessary to go that far. It sure as hell would have been less likely if we'd done something about it 40 years ago. Instead, we dicked around for decades, while believing that capitalism would solve it. Capitalism mostly responded by denying that the problem existed. The activists may not really understand what they say when they toss around the catch phrases. But I assure you that the people who coined those catch phrases do know what they mean, and you can engage with that if you don't like engaging with the rank-and-file who are rightfully enraged that nothing is being done, even if they themselves don't fully understand the magnitude or direction of what's required.