3 ms·

Finally, and most importantly, I hope my case might put a little crack into the wall of “selfishness, greed, and apathy”, which, in the words of climate lawyer

Finally, and most importantly, I hope my case might put a little crack into the wall of “selfishness, greed, and apathy”, which, in the words of climate lawyer Gus Speth, is the main hindrance to stopping runaway climate change. Many people will think that it is madness to give up their dream job to avoid taking one flight. But in the current era of climate breakdown, it is, in my opinion, insane to continue with “business as usual”, when science tells us that we are either dangerously close to or past the point of collapse for major ecosystems. I applaud him. I hope he has a new job in hand by the time he gets home to Germany.

tuatoru 3y ago
Indeed. It's nice to hear of a person with actual values in this day. It's not a value unless it costs you something in some possible situation. That's why it is called a value: holding to it comes with costs. For approximately everybody, "caring about the future climate" is mere virtue signaling and ingroup positioning.
- boredemployee 3y ago
  I don't want to diminish the value of what he did, but things are so different in first-world countries. Here where I live, if I do that, I'll simply be unemployed for a long time. I, like others, also have personal values. I hate having to use algorithms to influence people to buy more in a world already worn out by excessive consumption. But, at the end of the month, I have bills to pay and a child to feed.
  - tuatoru 3y ago
    That is right and proper. This is one of the many ways in which first-worlders who claim to care about the climate refute themselves, that they do not press for coutries like yours to be developed as quickly as possible, leap-frogging over fossil fuels.
rewmie 3y ago
> I applaud him. I hope he has a new job in hand by the time he gets home to Germany. The guy states openly in the article that he does not refuse to fly, and he only refuses when he feels that there are alternativas to taking a flight. Frankly, I think it's all specious reasoning and the whole article reads as blatant virtue signaling. I'm sure that if anyone looks briefly under the virtue signaling veil they find all sorts of mundane non-virtuous causes for being fired.
- dctoedt 3y ago
  > the whole article reads as blatant virtue signaling I've never quite understood why, in some circles, setting a good example is derided as "virtue signaling." (In TFA, the guy is doing neither: He's being the village scold, which is a very different thing.)

tuatoru 3y ago

Indeed. It's nice to hear of a person with actual values in this day. It's not a value unless it costs you something in some possible situation. That's why it is called a value: holding to it comes with costs. For approximately everybody, "caring about the future climate" is mere virtue signaling and ingroup positioning.

boredemployee 3y ago
I don't want to diminish the value of what he did, but things are so different in first-world countries. Here where I live, if I do that, I'll simply be unemployed for a long time. I, like others, also have personal values. I hate having to use algorithms to influence people to buy more in a world already worn out by excessive consumption. But, at the end of the month, I have bills to pay and a child to feed.
- tuatoru 3y ago
  That is right and proper. This is one of the many ways in which first-worlders who claim to care about the climate refute themselves, that they do not press for coutries like yours to be developed as quickly as possible, leap-frogging over fossil fuels.

rewmie 3y ago

> I applaud him. I hope he has a new job in hand by the time he gets home to Germany. The guy states openly in the article that he does not refuse to fly, and he only refuses when he feels that there are alternativas to taking a flight. Frankly, I think it's all specious reasoning and the whole article reads as blatant virtue signaling. I'm sure that if anyone looks briefly under the virtue signaling veil they find all sorts of mundane non-virtuous causes for being fired.

dctoedt 3y ago
> the whole article reads as blatant virtue signaling I've never quite understood why, in some circles, setting a good example is derided as "virtue signaling." (In TFA, the guy is doing neither: He's being the village scold, which is a very different thing.)