I agree there has been a tremendous failure of leadership and that the people benefiting from the status quo are incapable of changing course, but let's get them away from that wheel.
I don't know how you can say that. I know exactly where jet fuel comes from and knew my flight to Britain was going to melt something like 2 m^2 of arctic ice.
Don't get me wrong, I try to avoid travelling and reduce my footprint where I can, but like they say, there is no ethical consumption under capitalism. Consuming less is great, but the problem is that this economy is structured in a way that will kill us, not that we need to consume things to live.
Big change has to come from the bottom up. If the electorate doesn’t ask for changes to be made, politicians aren’t going to make them. Now that climate is a political left/right issue, it’s even less likely for meaningful change to happen. The right seems to have forgotten how much of our existing environmental protections were put in place by Republican administrations (especially Nikon’s).
I doubt many of us will give that up voluntarily. Most people don’t want to walk away from Omelas.
If there is a physical signal strong enough to orient the capable majority of 8 billion people with a common vector field in regard to the climate situation, I haven’t seen it yet.
We're on the cusp of something major. There's no guarantee it will get here in time to save us. But it's a real possibility.
Is like saying civilization-scale delegation is a failure, like saying mankind is a failure
> Quiet quitting
Maybe, but also maybe they’re all just like me, maybe my nihilism and apathy is raging against the machine despite my desire
If you're able to help to any degree, for any reason, then you've done your part. It'd probably be healthier if it were hopeful and motivated by wanting to build a better world, but if it's nihilism and rage, then that's okay. If all you can do is work less or consume less, or just not to stand in the way, then that's okay; that's enough.
Democracy is not optimal for decision making (far from it), but at least it does allow the activists to have boots on the ground. Under other forms of government, activists tend to go more like IEDs on the ground.
Still, considering the worst-case scenarios, if we're going to go authoritarian (a big IF!), I'd rather get there instead of being decimated by global warming rather than after.
To be clear I do not advocate authoritarianism and would like to see direct democracy (or more direct, at the very least). I don't believe authoritarianism is compatible with surviving climate change, and even if I did I didn't think it would exacerbate climate change, I wouldn't advocate for it because I believe horizontal structures make better decisions & create more just societies then heirarchical ones.
but also
> I am not a fan of democracy
> Capitalism is not an eternal fact of nature
In our lifetime, when capitalism is the weaker fundamental force driving man’s priorities, I’ll come and give you all of my money.
What? Democrats just passed the Inflation Reduction Act, while Republicans are the lead villains in the world when it comes to aggravating the problem.
https://earthjustice.org/blog/2022-august/inflation-reductio...