Climate change & the real future

[Anonymous]

A very sobering read. Are we all just kidding ourselves? It raises pretty uncomfortable issues.

https://www.ft.com/content/b7c0310c-bf03-4f26-9d12-e6af37264931?accessToken=zwAAAXpjRXBIkdO3wDEMvwNPJtOdEuavNyZJMQ.MEUCIA8Brt3RUaDjgylFpHE1T6D8rrJ98vxzPy0Sg-xCtP7zAiEA0ztmdmsI8H7hfxT-pN8RTq6nNhUI-6nrfP1BYqaZ56w&sharetype=gift?token=1f73d540-2bb5-4133-a9b3-66892a496e83

[Anonymous]

It's not about the future. Climate chaos happening now. Severe droughts and heat in the West, stronger and more frequent hurricanes, rising sea levels, lakes drying up, altered weather patterns. It's all already happening. It's so frustrating, because it would have been relatively easy to deal with it in the 1970s and 1980s, when people already knew about it. But we didn't, mostly as a result of a concerted, intentional campaign to cast doubt, and now we have to deal with all this. We can still act, but every day we delay means more temperature rise baked in and more costly solutions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not about the future. Climate chaos happening now. Severe droughts and heat in the West, stronger and more frequent hurricanes, rising sea levels, lakes drying up, altered weather patterns. It's all already happening. It's so frustrating, because it would have been relatively easy to deal with it in the 1970s and 1980s, when people already knew about it. But we didn't, mostly as a result of a concerted, intentional campaign to cast doubt, and now we have to deal with all this. We can still act, but every day we delay means more temperature rise baked in and more costly solutions.

People are acting now. They are at the white house protesting. We should all be down there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not about the future. Climate chaos happening now. Severe droughts and heat in the West, stronger and more frequent hurricanes, rising sea levels, lakes drying up, altered weather patterns. It's all already happening. It's so frustrating, because it would have been relatively easy to deal with it in the 1970s and 1980s, when people already knew about it. But we didn't, mostly as a result of a concerted, intentional campaign to cast doubt, and now we have to deal with all this. We can still act, but every day we delay means more temperature rise baked in and more costly solutions.

People are acting now. They are at the white house protesting. We should all be down there.

They aren't acting in a meaningful way though. Even during the pandemic, carbon emissions were still above the annual decrease we need. There's no way Americans will refrain from using their airconditioning, central heating, stop flying, use public transport, etc. Hell, they wouldn't even wear masks which was a comparatively minor inconvenience. I think I actually need to sit back and think about the future in a different way. Maybe our pension funds won't even be around in 40 years. Makes me upset for my kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not about the future. Climate chaos happening now. Severe droughts and heat in the West, stronger and more frequent hurricanes, rising sea levels, lakes drying up, altered weather patterns. It's all already happening. It's so frustrating, because it would have been relatively easy to deal with it in the 1970s and 1980s, when people already knew about it. But we didn't, mostly as a result of a concerted, intentional campaign to cast doubt, and now we have to deal with all this. We can still act, but every day we delay means more temperature rise baked in and more costly solutions.

People are acting now. They are at the white house protesting. We should all be down there.

They aren't acting in a meaningful way though. Even during the pandemic, carbon emissions were still above the annual decrease we need. There's no way Americans will refrain from using their airconditioning, central heating, stop flying, use public transport, etc. Hell, they wouldn't even wear masks which was a comparatively minor inconvenience. I think I actually need to sit back and think about the future in a different way. Maybe our pension funds won't even be around in 40 years. Makes me upset for my kids.

I’m a mild prepper (bought my toilet paper in mid- February last year). I’m currently looking at property in the northern part of the country - for my kids and their kids. I think living where we currently do will be difficult/unenjoyable most of the year.

Government won’t get us to where we need to be but, ironically, I think big business may.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A very sobering read. Are we all just kidding ourselves? It raises pretty uncomfortable issues.

https://www.ft.com/content/b7c0310c-bf03-4f26-9d12-e6af37264931?accessToken=zwAAAXpjRXBIkdO3wDEMvwNPJtOdEuavNyZJMQ.MEUCIA8Brt3RUaDjgylFpHE1T6D8rrJ98vxzPy0Sg-xCtP7zAiEA0ztmdmsI8H7hfxT-pN8RTq6nNhUI-6nrfP1BYqaZ56w&sharetype=gift?token=1f73d540-2bb5-4133-a9b3-66892a496e83

We’ll just spend trillions on solar/nuclear powered carbon sequestration. Basically remake oil and stick it in the ground.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not about the future. Climate chaos happening now. Severe droughts and heat in the West, stronger and more frequent hurricanes, rising sea levels, lakes drying up, altered weather patterns. It's all already happening. It's so frustrating, because it would have been relatively easy to deal with it in the 1970s and 1980s, when people already knew about it. But we didn't, mostly as a result of a concerted, intentional campaign to cast doubt, and now we have to deal with all this. We can still act, but every day we delay means more temperature rise baked in and more costly solutions.

People are acting now. They are at the white house protesting. We should all be down there.

They aren't acting in a meaningful way though. Even during the pandemic, carbon emissions were still above the annual decrease we need. There's no way Americans will refrain from using their airconditioning, central heating, stop flying, use public transport, etc. Hell, they wouldn't even wear masks which was a comparatively minor inconvenience. I think I actually need to sit back and think about the future in a different way. Maybe our pension funds won't even be around in 40 years. Makes me upset for my kids.

I’m a mild prepper (bought my toilet paper in mid- February last year). I’m currently looking at property in the northern part of the country - for my kids and their kids. I think living where we currently do will be difficult/unenjoyable most of the year.

Government won’t get us to where we need to be but, ironically, I think big business may.

Hard to predict chaos. I mean Seattle is unbearable right now. Climate change isn’t just raising thermostat, we might see more severe polar conditions in higher climates.

[Anonymous]

People won't even have fewer kids. We had one. Of course none would be preferable, but I still get to be a mom to one (or two kids). There is zero reason to have 3+ kids.



"For example, recycling as much as possible would only save 0.2 tonnes of CO2 per year.

But having one child fewer would save 58.6 tonnes of future carbon emissions – ranking it number one of nine climate impact actions in the survey. Only 11% of people correctly identified this as being among the most effective actions."

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/05/climate-change-behaviour-impact-survey/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not about the future. Climate chaos happening now. Severe droughts and heat in the West, stronger and more frequent hurricanes, rising sea levels, lakes drying up, altered weather patterns. It's all already happening. It's so frustrating, because it would have been relatively easy to deal with it in the 1970s and 1980s, when people already knew about it. But we didn't, mostly as a result of a concerted, intentional campaign to cast doubt, and now we have to deal with all this. We can still act, but every day we delay means more temperature rise baked in and more costly solutions.

People are acting now. They are at the white house protesting. We should all be down there.

They aren't acting in a meaningful way though. Even during the pandemic, carbon emissions were still above the annual decrease we need. There's no way Americans will refrain from using their airconditioning, central heating, stop flying, use public transport, etc. Hell, they wouldn't even wear masks which was a comparatively minor inconvenience. I think I actually need to sit back and think about the future in a different way. Maybe our pension funds won't even be around in 40 years. Makes me upset for my kids.

I’m a mild prepper (bought my toilet paper in mid- February last year). I’m currently looking at property in the northern part of the country - for my kids and their kids. I think living where we currently do will be difficult/unenjoyable most of the year.

Government won’t get us to where we need to be but, ironically, I think big business may.

Op here. I have no confidence in big business getting us there on its own - too motivated by short term profits and share prices. But heavy regulation by government and big business could do it. The problem is government is similar to big business - motivated by short election cycles and short term accountability to vested interests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A very sobering read. Are we all just kidding ourselves? It raises pretty uncomfortable issues.

https://www.ft.com/content/b7c0310c-bf03-4f26-9d12-e6af37264931?accessToken=zwAAAXpjRXBIkdO3wDEMvwNPJtOdEuavNyZJMQ.MEUCIA8Brt3RUaDjgylFpHE1T6D8rrJ98vxzPy0Sg-xCtP7zAiEA0ztmdmsI8H7hfxT-pN8RTq6nNhUI-6nrfP1BYqaZ56w&sharetype=gift?token=1f73d540-2bb5-4133-a9b3-66892a496e83

I hit the paywall when I clicked on this. OP, what are the primary take-aways, or "uncomfortable issues"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not about the future. Climate chaos happening now. Severe droughts and heat in the West, stronger and more frequent hurricanes, rising sea levels, lakes drying up, altered weather patterns. It's all already happening. It's so frustrating, because it would have been relatively easy to deal with it in the 1970s and 1980s, when people already knew about it. But we didn't, mostly as a result of a concerted, intentional campaign to cast doubt, and now we have to deal with all this. We can still act, but every day we delay means more temperature rise baked in and more costly solutions.

+1

[Anonymous]

I have had fireflies in my backyard for a month. They used to come out in August. The thunderstorms have been in the DMV since April. They used to be a late summer thing.

Just take a peak in the beauty forum to see why we are where we are. Mass online shopping, fast fashion, Amazon selling us junk that breaks and fills up the landfills. We are all contributing and waiting on the govt to do something, but we don't do enough to start at home. In the 90s we were tricked into recycling but it is a major major scam.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not about the future. Climate chaos happening now. Severe droughts and heat in the West, stronger and more frequent hurricanes, rising sea levels, lakes drying up, altered weather patterns. It's all already happening. It's so frustrating, because it would have been relatively easy to deal with it in the 1970s and 1980s, when people already knew about it. But we didn't, mostly as a result of a concerted, intentional campaign to cast doubt, and now we have to deal with all this. We can still act, but every day we delay means more temperature rise baked in and more costly solutions.

People are acting now. They are at the white house protesting. We should all be down there.

They aren't acting in a meaningful way though. Even during the pandemic, carbon emissions were still above the annual decrease we need. There's no way Americans will refrain from using their airconditioning, central heating, stop flying, use public transport, etc. Hell, they wouldn't even wear masks which was a comparatively minor inconvenience. I think I actually need to sit back and think about the future in a different way. Maybe our pension funds won't even be around in 40 years. Makes me upset for my kids.

I’m a mild prepper (bought my toilet paper in mid- February last year). I’m currently looking at property in the northern part of the country - for my kids and their kids. I think living where we currently do will be difficult/unenjoyable most of the year.

Government won’t get us to where we need to be but, ironically, I think big business may.

It’s largely big business’s fault that we are where we are, but without the government forcing them to act, they will go full Buy N’ Large from Wall-E. Our entire system is predicated on growth, doing things cheaper, always mining more, selling more, throwing more away. It’s ridiculous.

Our agriculture and landscaping systems are the same way. We need to embrace permaculture, backyard growing (“victory gardens”), regenerative agriculture, smaller farms (which are going to have to have some sort of government backup so that when there are crop failures people don’t lose everything, again), eating less meat that is raised better. It isn’t just that the climate is changing, it’s that we’re destroying the soil, the food webs, everything.

There is SO MUCH we could be doing. Slowing down on the road (since the national speed limit was raised from 55 mph, we use an additional 3 billion gallons of gas a year), flying less, buying less…it’s just not a cultural movement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People won't even have fewer kids. We had one. Of course none would be preferable, but I still get to be a mom to one (or two kids). There is zero reason to have 3+ kids.



"For example, recycling as much as possible would only save 0.2 tonnes of CO2 per year.

But having one child fewer would save 58.6 tonnes of future carbon emissions – ranking it number one of nine climate impact actions in the survey. Only 11% of people correctly identified this as being among the most effective actions."

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/05/climate-change-behaviour-impact-survey/

The birth rate has plummeted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have had fireflies in my backyard for a month. They used to come out in August. The thunderstorms have been in the DMV since April. They used to be a late summer thing.

Just take a peak in the beauty forum to see why we are where we are. Mass online shopping, fast fashion, Amazon selling us junk that breaks and fills up the landfills. We are all contributing and waiting on the govt to do something, but we don't do enough to start at home. In the 90s we were tricked into recycling but it is a major major scam.

We are the Wall-E people!