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These are not the same groups. The people who think we can go to Mars also think we can live in hot places on Earth and can decarbonize without returning to the
by api 3y ago
These are not the same groups. The people who think we can go to Mars also think we can live in hot places on Earth and can decarbonize without returning to the Iron Age.
Doomers and anti-modernists are pessimists all around.
Personally I think the doomer thing (and political fantasies like significant degrowth) is as bad as climate denial in that it keeps us from even trying to solve the problem. Instead we throw up our hands and wait to die or waste energy promoting fantasies.
If we only do the latter we should prepare for 4 degrees or more. You are not going to sell the world on becoming poorer. It’s a fantasy of the naive and privileged.
- orwin 3y agoAt least doomers stop taking the plane, stop eating as much meat and only buy the strict minimum. Doing their part. Which is infinitely more than what I do tbh.
- api 3y agoSome might but it’s honestly a drop in the bucket. There are over a billion more people in the developing world who want a middle class life, and we have no right to sit here in our privilege and tell them they can’t have it. Even if we do their response will be “fuck you.” What we can do is develop decarbonized energy and transport tech and hope we have it ready for them in time. Remember that this is a global problem. The US and Europe may have gotten this ball rolling but at this point you could turn both of these off and Asia would still take us way up past 500ppm. At this point we aren’t going to avoid some dangerous climate change unless someone invents Mr. Fusion next year, but we could probably still avert the really catastrophic outcomes if we can at least flatten the emission curve over the next decade or two. The crazy projections are based on total business as usual.