Europe's fires are just the start • Hacker News Board

Re: Europe's fires are just the start

#11

Post by andsoitis » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 2:28 PM UTC

toasty228 wrote: post #2

As Macron said in 2023: "Who could have predicted the climate crisis?" The people in charge a either clinically retarded or willingly ignoring the problem, either way we're fucked, the point of no return is behind us now, this is the new normal, and it'll only get worse

> As Macron said in 2023: "Who could have predicted the climate crisis?" The people in charge a either clinically retarded or willingly ignoring the problem,

The "people in charge" as well as the "climate experts" are generally aligned on the climate crisis, but everyone has been surprised by unexpected acceleration and the very sudden swings.

Put differently, you can predict and act, according to the trend, but the sudden and unpredictable timing of these swings is a separate, and more difficult issue to navigate.

For instance, can anyone predict specifically what will happen "next" and "where" and prepare to mitigate the impact?

Re: Europe's fires are just the start

#12

Post by palata » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 2:28 PM UTC

toasty228 wrote: post #2

As Macron said in 2023: "Who could have predicted the climate crisis?" The people in charge a either clinically retarded or willingly ignoring the problem, either way we're fucked, the point of no return is behind us now, this is the new normal, and it'll only get worse

Agreed that the people in charge do nothing and don't understand the problem.

However, the people in charge (e.g. in France) are elected by the people, and therefore represent it. Do you think that the far-right will care more about the climate crisis? The French people is likely to elect them next year.

It's too easy to vote for people who don't give a shit about the climate crisis, and then blame them.

> either way we're fucked, the point of no return is behind us now

The faster and the harder we react, the more we save. Fires are a good example: because many trees are burning now (therefore they are already dead) and many trees will burn (because the fire won't magically stop), it's worth fighting to preserve as much as we can. Saying "we won't get those dead trees back, so we may as well let the rest of the forest burn" is counter-productive.

We need to act now. And not by electing morons and then blaming them for being morons.

Re: Europe's fires are just the start

#13

Post by nancyminusone » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 2:30 PM UTC

toasty228 wrote: post #2

As Macron said in 2023: "Who could have predicted the climate crisis?" The people in charge a either clinically retarded or willingly ignoring the problem, either way we're fucked, the point of no return is behind us now, this is the new normal, and it'll only get worse

In some ways I wonder if these timescales are "beyond comprehension" for most people. You can tell people the temperature will go up in 20 years, but you can't make them feel what it will be like. In the same way you can tell a 10 year old what it's like to be age 35 but they don't get it, and I've heard what it's like to be age 80 but I don't really know and won't for some time.

Re: Europe's fires are just the start

#14

Post by andsoitis » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 2:30 PM UTC

palata wrote: post #12

toasty228 wrote: post #2

As Macron said in 2023: "Who could have predicted the climate crisis?" The people in charge a either clinically retarded or willingly ignoring the problem, either way we're fucked, the point of no return is behind us now, this is the new normal, and it'll only get worse

Agreed that the people in charge do nothing and don't understand the problem. However, the people in charge (e.g. in France) are elected by the people, and therefore represent it. Do you think that the far-right will care more about the climate crisis? The French people is likely to elect them next year. It's too easy to vote for people who don't give a shit about the climate crisis, and then blame them. > either way…

> We need to act now.

What does this look like, precisely, in practice?

Re: Europe's fires are just the start

#15

Post by toasty228 » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 2:31 PM UTC

palata wrote: post #12

toasty228 wrote: post #2

As Macron said in 2023: "Who could have predicted the climate crisis?" The people in charge a either clinically retarded or willingly ignoring the problem, either way we're fucked, the point of no return is behind us now, this is the new normal, and it'll only get worse

Agreed that the people in charge do nothing and don't understand the problem. However, the people in charge (e.g. in France) are elected by the people, and therefore represent it. Do you think that the far-right will care more about the climate crisis? The French people is likely to elect them next year. It's too easy to vote for people who don't give a shit about the climate crisis, and then blame them. > either way…

> Do you think that the far-right will care more about the climate crisis?

Far right, far left, far center, it's all the same: money, power, money, power, stay in the EU, free market, money, power.

Re: Europe's fires are just the start

#16

Post by throwaway894345 » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 2:31 PM UTC

cbmuser wrote: post #9

toasty228 wrote: post #2

As Macron said in 2023: "Who could have predicted the climate crisis?" The people in charge a either clinically retarded or willingly ignoring the problem, either way we're fucked, the point of no return is behind us now, this is the new normal, and it'll only get worse

[flagged]

Who is opposing nuclear power? Or are you trying to imply that advocating for renewables is “opposing nuclear power”?

Re: Europe's fires are just the start

#17

Post by pengaru » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 2:31 PM UTC

toasty228 wrote: post #2

As Macron said in 2023: "Who could have predicted the climate crisis?" The people in charge a either clinically retarded or willingly ignoring the problem, either way we're fucked, the point of no return is behind us now, this is the new normal, and it'll only get worse

Politicians are selling to their audiences, there's no more truth in their words than any other sales/marketing scheme.

Of course we're fucked.

Re: Europe's fires are just the start

#18

Post by ifwinterco » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 2:32 PM UTC

nancyminusone wrote: post #13

toasty228 wrote: post #2

As Macron said in 2023: "Who could have predicted the climate crisis?" The people in charge a either clinically retarded or willingly ignoring the problem, either way we're fucked, the point of no return is behind us now, this is the new normal, and it'll only get worse

In some ways I wonder if these timescales are "beyond comprehension" for most people. You can tell people the temperature will go up in 20 years, but you can't make them feel what it will be like. In the same way you can tell a 10 year old what it's like to be age 35 but they don't get it, and I've heard what it's like to be age 80 but I don't really know and won't for some time.

Arguably it's rational (though selfish) to think like this.

Life is short, there's no point freezing and living off leaves for the next few decades when you'll be old in the blink of an eye anyway

Re: Europe's fires are just the start

#19

Post by OKRainbowKid » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 2:32 PM UTC

cbmuser wrote: post #7

palata wrote: post #4

There is no "new normal", we are in a slope. As long as we emit CO2, the climate will get worse. Year after year. With effects like fires accelerating it, or the loss of the Amazon (it's pretty much lost already, isn't it?) that will just result in more CO2 being released. We don't have to adapt to the situation as it is now , because it is pretty much the best scenario. We have to adapt to the fact that it will get…

As long as major countries like Germany are keeping their ban on nuclear power, climate change cannot be that urgent.

This gets repeated again and again, but wouldn't the money required to build/maintain nuclear plants be much better invested in building out renewables and battery storage? They already produce power much cheaper, and cost efficiency keeps increasing. Meanwhile power from nuclear plants are very expensive, comparatively. So why should we invest in nuclear energy? I have the impression a lot of the debate about nuclear energy and Germany's decision to fade it out is now driven more by emotion/ignorance than reason.

Re: Europe's fires are just the start

#20

Post by palata » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 2:34 PM UTC

andsoitis wrote: post #11

toasty228 wrote: post #2

As Macron said in 2023: "Who could have predicted the climate crisis?" The people in charge a either clinically retarded or willingly ignoring the problem, either way we're fucked, the point of no return is behind us now, this is the new normal, and it'll only get worse

> As Macron said in 2023: "Who could have predicted the climate crisis?" The people in charge a either clinically retarded or willingly ignoring the problem, The "people in charge" as well as the "climate experts" are generally aligned on the climate crisis, but everyone has been surprised by unexpected acceleration and the very sudden swings. Put differently, you can predict and act, according to the trend, but the…

This is completely wrong. The climate experts are not surprised by this at all. We've known about it for decades. We just didn't give a shit because it was not impacting us directly.

Now it's starting to impact us directly, but we still don't really give a shit. In a few weeks it will be business as usual.

It will get worse every year, and we will be more and more willing to do something as it gets worse. But we will have fewer and fewer resources to do it, and less stuff to save (once a forest disappears, you as a human won't see it come back in your lifetime).