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Young People Are Anxious About Climate Change, Say Governments Are Failing Them

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Re: Young People Are Anxious About Climate Change, Say Governments Are Failing Them

#11

Post by junon »

changoplatanero wrote: post #3

Most smokers are unable to quit. Most fat people are unable to lose weight. I worry that most civilizations are unable to cut carbon emissions.

As much as I dislike smoking or obesity, those aren't the main causes of climate change. If we eliminated both of those entirely, today, we'd still have a crisis.

That being said, I'll absolutely agree with the sentiment that "humans will always be human". We're not going to collectively try to fix this until it's too late. That's the saddest part.

Re: Young People Are Anxious About Climate Change, Say Governments Are Failing Them

#13

Post by throwawaysea »

Young people are also exposed to immense echo chambers that operate as runaway feedback loops, which manipulate their emotions, political views, and so on. This leads to extreme perspectives that are detached from reality. These two paragraphs from the article demonstrate this:

> Positive feelings such as optimism were reported least among the respondents, researchers said. In fact, 77% said that they considered the future to be frightening, and 56% agreed with the viewpoint that humanity is doomed, according to the study.

> For many young people, those feelings of fear and worry affect their ability to function, too, results showed. More than 45% of the respondents said the way they feel about climate change adversely affects their day-to-day lives.

As a UW Professor of Atmospheric Science said (https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2019/08/is-global-warming-exi...), climate change is a problem but not an existential threat. Yet young people seem to think that humanity is doomed. That Professor faced much critique for holding such a balanced and nuanced view, and activists have tried to get him fired. Such aggressive attempts at narrative control, in institutions and social media, leads to extreme views among the young.

Re: Young People Are Anxious About Climate Change, Say Governments Are Failing Them

#15

Post by vmception »

junon wrote: post #11
changoplatanero wrote: post #3

Most smokers are unable to quit. Most fat people are unable to lose weight. I worry that most civilizations are unable to cut carbon emissions.

As much as I dislike smoking or obesity, those aren't the main causes of climate change. If we eliminated both of those entirely, today, we'd still have a crisis. That being said, I'll absolutely agree with the sentiment that "humans will always be human". We're not going to collectively try to fix this until it's too late. That's the saddest part.

So you understood the sentiment clearly but missed how those were analogies? Weird audience

Re: Young People Are Anxious About Climate Change, Say Governments Are Failing Them

#16

Post by tfehring »

throwawaysea wrote: post #13

Young people are also exposed to immense echo chambers that operate as runaway feedback loops, which manipulate their emotions, political views, and so on. This leads to extreme perspectives that are detached from reality. These two paragraphs from the article demonstrate this: > Positive feelings such as optimism were reported least among the respondents, researchers said. In fact, 77% said that they considered the…

What makes you think any of those beliefs are detached from reality?

Re: Young People Are Anxious About Climate Change, Say Governments Are Failing Them

#17

Post by MattGaiser »

junon wrote: post #11
changoplatanero wrote: post #3

Most smokers are unable to quit. Most fat people are unable to lose weight. I worry that most civilizations are unable to cut carbon emissions.

As much as I dislike smoking or obesity, those aren't the main causes of climate change. If we eliminated both of those entirely, today, we'd still have a crisis. That being said, I'll absolutely agree with the sentiment that "humans will always be human". We're not going to collectively try to fix this until it's too late. That's the saddest part.

His point is more that humans can’t easily change, even if they know the solution.

Re: Young People Are Anxious About Climate Change, Say Governments Are Failing Them

#18

Post by tibbetts »

throwawaysea wrote: post #13

Young people are also exposed to immense echo chambers that operate as runaway feedback loops, which manipulate their emotions, political views, and so on. This leads to extreme perspectives that are detached from reality. These two paragraphs from the article demonstrate this: > Positive feelings such as optimism were reported least among the respondents, researchers said. In fact, 77% said that they considered the…

Those perspectives can be said to be extreme, but I’m not seeing you make a case that they are “detached from reality.”

Re: Young People Are Anxious About Climate Change, Say Governments Are Failing Them

#19

Post by vincentpants »

650 wrote: post #2

Regardless of climate change, media outlets like NPR propagate this anxiety to young people.

NPR isn’t the source of our anxiety, it’s people that don’t listen or take this seriously that do, like you actually. If you’re not actively trying to fix this, then you are part of the problem.

Re: Young People Are Anxious About Climate Change, Say Governments Are Failing Them

#20

Post by ddoolin »

throwawaysea wrote: post #13

Young people are also exposed to immense echo chambers that operate as runaway feedback loops, which manipulate their emotions, political views, and so on. This leads to extreme perspectives that are detached from reality. These two paragraphs from the article demonstrate this: > Positive feelings such as optimism were reported least among the respondents, researchers said. In fact, 77% said that they considered the…

What makes young people more exposed to echo chambers (and why more immense?) than older adults? Younger people seem to me to be more likely to be exposed to more new people, more new ideas, and more diversity of opinions than adults.
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