I guess we won’t really know unless we go full (fossil-powered) steam ahead to see if the consequences will really be as bad as the naysayers and doom mongers are warning. We wouldn’t want to make any moderate changes right now, just in case; the mild inconvenience of having to use buses and look at those dreadful trees would be too much to bear (bare?). Can you imagine what they’ll say at the club if one turned up without the latest gadget just because the old version didn’t become pointlessly obsolete?
And that’s basically the problem, nobody wants to give up anything today to address a potential problem at some indefinite point in the future. However, if the problem is going to be as bad as all the experts suggest it will be, then by the time it becomes obvious that something needs doing it might be beyond our ability to do anything.
nobody wants to give up anything today to address a potential problem at some indefinite point in the future
Thing is, whenever the topic of “giving up something” pops up in regards to climate issues, it’s near universally shit like “don’t use plastic straws” and “eat less meat”. It’s never “ban private jets”, it’s never “better public transport infrastructure”. Of course people aren’t willing to give up whatever measley comforts they can scrounge, when there are individuals more rich than entire cities or even states!
I think that’s just a result of sustained and intentional capitalist propaganda. The idea is that nothing can fundamentally changed, but you can do these little token gestures to make yourself feel better. This is why liberalism is so key to capitalist ideology, it’s all about individual action without any systemic thinking.
This could be one of those unforeseen tipping points we’ve been warned about.
If only we’d have been warned about the destructive anarchy of capitalism or the transformation of quantity into quality circa 150 years ago.
Look, nobody could’ve possibly predicted that an economic system based on constant growth would end up destroying our biosphere. /s
I guess we won’t really know unless we go full (fossil-powered) steam ahead to see if the consequences will really be as bad as the naysayers and doom mongers are warning. We wouldn’t want to make any moderate changes right now, just in case; the mild inconvenience of having to use buses and look at those dreadful trees would be too much to bear (bare?). Can you imagine what they’ll say at the club if one turned up without the latest gadget just because the old version didn’t become pointlessly obsolete?
And that’s basically the problem, nobody wants to give up anything today to address a potential problem at some indefinite point in the future. However, if the problem is going to be as bad as all the experts suggest it will be, then by the time it becomes obvious that something needs doing it might be beyond our ability to do anything.
Thing is, whenever the topic of “giving up something” pops up in regards to climate issues, it’s near universally shit like “don’t use plastic straws” and “eat less meat”. It’s never “ban private jets”, it’s never “better public transport infrastructure”. Of course people aren’t willing to give up whatever measley comforts they can scrounge, when there are individuals more rich than entire cities or even states!
I think that’s just a result of sustained and intentional capitalist propaganda. The idea is that nothing can fundamentally changed, but you can do these little token gestures to make yourself feel better. This is why liberalism is so key to capitalist ideology, it’s all about individual action without any systemic thinking.