The election cycle, at least in a small part a function of a human’s expected life span btw, is way too short for governments to be incentivized to do anything about it.
It’s going to be a wild ride for our grandchildren.
It’s going to be a wild ride for our grandchildren.
I'd be curious about the actual stats, but I have the feeling it's a widely shared point of view, even in educated circles.
The alternative option which is consuming less in order to pollute less is pretty unpopular.
If you frame the problem like that, does it actually surprise you that no one will act on it? One has to either freeze or feel guilty of some kind of moral failing about the heat one consumes?
You might say: No, no, the problem is not consumption, it's the superfluous part of the consumption, the overconsumption that's the problem. Okay, but, then, who exactly stands in judgment of which part of the consumption is the overconsumption? The same moralising types who bemoan the melting of the glaciers?
Reminds me a bit of pre-enlightenment Europe and its juxtaposition of power and catholic moralising guilttripping. What's needed is a humanistic way forward, a way wherein man gets to fundamentally be the hero of the story.
If you come to me and say: Here is a way to reconfigure the economy through technological, economic, and political change, to make it so that one can feel good about consumption again, then I will go to hell and back to make that change happen. If you just tell me "consume less", then don't expect me to do anything.
Just don't spend too much time in hell, we need you to act here :-)
We’ve been using technology to solve our problems for thousands of years. If that streak stops now, we’re royally fucked.
Very seriously, without hyperbole, without exaggeration, we are looking at twice that by the end of the century.
Forget 2º. Think 4º in the lifetime of children alive today.
Next century, we are looking at 6-7º C or more. Possibly as soon as early 22nd century, maybe sooner. We are currently heading for 10ºC increase.
https://medium.com/@samyoureyes/the-busy-workers-handbook-to...
I can't tell you in ºF. I am 57 years old and they stopped teaching that in schools before I was in primary schools where I have lived all my life (Europe and Africa).
It's a different sort of "climate denial"[1].
OK, my faith that we're totally fucked is also based on guesstimate, just in the opposite direction (it can be viewed as a denial of the idea that there's something we can do to rescue this extravagantly luxurious modern life).
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jun/20/...
Actively doing enough against climate change will have very real and likely significant quality of life change now. And if lot of people don't think their quality of life is high enough now, why would they want it to go lower. And sadly rich are always insulated either way.
Think Japanese stagflation but for centuries. Reiwa era 200.
This makes about as much sense to me as the idea that only the very richest people have access to computers, telecommunications, and software.
Or Xi of Mainland China...
I think it's a good thing: if the people continue to elect them, then obviously the people want those politicians to continue representing them for that long. Why should they be deprived of that? Objecting to this seems like objecting to democracy.
If this produces bad results long-term, that's the fault of the voters. Democratic systems are only as good as the voters who choose its leaders. When the voters are idiots, you get bad leaders. If the people don't like their 1000-year-old senator, they should vote for someone else. As we've seen in the USA, people don't have much trouble voting for a new President when they're mad at the current one for whatever reason (and the US also switched many seats in Congress in that same election).
>Or Xi of Mainland China...
Unfortunately, that's a possibility too, but by the same token, if Deng Xiaoping had been immortal, he could have stayed in that position and Xi might never have gained power and things in China (and worldwide in things related to China) would be a lot better right now.
Basically, your objection is one I usually see raised when the idea of immortality or radical life-extension comes up, but I honestly don't see how it'd be that much different either way.
(Sorry, sarcasm... I've had immense battles with deniers...)