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The last few days, my region (De westhoek in Flanders, Belgium) had serious troubles with flooding. A politician on the news complained how she took measures,

The last few days, my region (De westhoek in Flanders, Belgium) had serious troubles with flooding. A politician on the news complained how she took measures, but climate change came faster than expected. This level of idiocy creeped me out. Climate change has been known since the 1970's. Everybody with half a braincell knows the IPCC reports are underestimating things badly, even if they were correct we were going in for a rough ride, political investments are below what these reports require from us, and the small amount of money spent is badly mismanaged. I can't blame her alone personally. She's a child of her political generation. But that generation has only seen good times and is completely incapable of doing anything in a crisis. They'll keep going trough the same old motions, and feel very sorry for us when disaster inevitably strikes. Unfortunately, the average voter agrees with her. 'Eco realism' is the preferred course, and even the Belgian green parties care more about integration than climate.

junofan 3y ago
Unless they’re voting to block industrialization agendas of African nations by force or diplomacy, there’s nothing your Flanders-based politician can do.
hyperman1 3y ago
Peyton being flagged, I can't directly respond. But the expressed sentiment (There is nothing the politician can do) happens regular enough that I want to respond. Flanders is a small region, and climate change is so huge and multi facetted that no nation on its own can do it. Its the ultimate case of death by a thousand papercuts. But we are a rich region with a lot of industry and research. We should be able to develop and deploy partial solutions locally. In fact, we should be able to get richer by exporting these solutions. We're also owning Antwerp, one of the biggest ports in Europe, so we partially decide what Europe does or doesn't buy. Brussels is next to our border and a lot of us work there. Flanders has an outsized impact on the EU. We could put our thumbs on that scale if we wanted.
euroderf 3y ago
> Climate change has been known since the 1970's. And in particular, Soylent Green.
t0bia_s 3y ago
So you think that politics solve weather changes?

junofan 3y ago

Unless they’re voting to block industrialization agendas of African nations by force or diplomacy, there’s nothing your Flanders-based politician can do.

hyperman1 3y ago

Peyton being flagged, I can't directly respond. But the expressed sentiment (There is nothing the politician can do) happens regular enough that I want to respond. Flanders is a small region, and climate change is so huge and multi facetted that no nation on its own can do it. Its the ultimate case of death by a thousand papercuts. But we are a rich region with a lot of industry and research. We should be able to develop and deploy partial solutions locally. In fact, we should be able to get richer by exporting these solutions. We're also owning Antwerp, one of the biggest ports in Europe, so we partially decide what Europe does or doesn't buy. Brussels is next to our border and a lot of us work there. Flanders has an outsized impact on the EU. We could put our thumbs on that scale if we wanted.

euroderf 3y ago

> Climate change has been known since the 1970's. And in particular, Soylent Green.

t0bia_s 3y ago

So you think that politics solve weather changes?