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It should be really obvious by now that trying to prevent problems that will happen AFTER most of us are dead is an exceedingly futile exercise. Most humans are

It should be really obvious by now that trying to prevent problems that will happen AFTER most of us are dead is an exceedingly futile exercise. Most humans aren't even capable of saving for retirement. How did anyone expect we were going to solve the next generation's climate problems? Humans are just not wired that way. Taking this a little further though, I'm not even sure we're up to the challenge technologically. Imagine how laughable it would have been to ask Civil War era scientists to figure out flight, or nuclear power, or rocketry, or telecommunications. That's what we're trying to do. We're trying to go to the moon in hot air balloons. We have not cracked unlimited, clean, fusion energy; we have abysmal battery technology; our high-efficiency transportation infrastructure sucks; but somehow we're going to solve the next generation's climate problem? I don't know - maybe it's overly optimistic of me, but I think the next few generations are going to solve this problem and they're going to do it in ways that will make anything we could muster look utterly unserious.

lm28469 3y ago
> but I think the next few generations are going to solve this problem and they're going to do it in ways that will make anything we could muster look utterly unserious. Yes that's exactly why I throw my trash on the streets, someone else will pick it up later, why bother ? /s
- trilbyglens 3y ago
  You do realize that half the planet still does this? And even in places that are fastidiously clean, people did this not even one generation ago?
jrajav 3y ago
It should also be really obvious that there are many ways to prevent these problems at the source. We can ramp up regulations on pollution to be much, much stricter than they are now, and give them real teeth. We can combat overseas pollution with sanctions and trade agreements. We can reject politicians who stymy these efforts, and sometimes even backpedal efforts by leaving the Paris Agreement and making a fuss. There are many avenues open to solving climate change problems that don't involve inventing global terraforming.

lm28469 3y ago

> but I think the next few generations are going to solve this problem and they're going to do it in ways that will make anything we could muster look utterly unserious. Yes that's exactly why I throw my trash on the streets, someone else will pick it up later, why bother ? /s

trilbyglens 3y ago
You do realize that half the planet still does this? And even in places that are fastidiously clean, people did this not even one generation ago?

jrajav 3y ago

It should also be really obvious that there are many ways to prevent these problems at the source. We can ramp up regulations on pollution to be much, much stricter than they are now, and give them real teeth. We can combat overseas pollution with sanctions and trade agreements. We can reject politicians who stymy these efforts, and sometimes even backpedal efforts by leaving the Paris Agreement and making a fuss. There are many avenues open to solving climate change problems that don't involve inventing global terraforming.