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Attenborough gives stark warning on climate change to UN [video]

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Re: Attenborough gives stark warning on climate change to UN [video]

#11
post #7

This comment on reddit has me in a very gloomy mood for the last 24 hours https://old.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/lqqfgv/freshwate...

We were supposed to have an ice-free artic year around by now, but here we are. Not sure I’d put much weight on the worst case scenarios. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/sep/17/arctic-c...

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/russian-tanker-cuts-a-previousl...

I don't understand what is it about climate science that everyone seems to think they're qualified enough to have strong opinions on. I don't see random people commenting on the intricacies of CPU design, battery design, petrochemical processes or any other high-tech endeavor, but with climate everybody's a f*cking expert.

Re: Attenborough gives stark warning on climate change to UN [video]

#12

I think about this every hour, if not several times an hour. The cognitive dissonance between saving for retirement, expecting a stable government, and this are huge. I don't understand how every parent isn't filled with sheer, abject terror at their child's death from starvation, thirst, disease, or violence.

Walking around in pure terror is one option, but is probably more media inspired than reality based.

You could also be optimistic in the face of the future. We are here because of a long line of good fortune and optimism, despite war, disease, famine. The human race has really faced some incredible odds. And technology while an accelerant for destruction could also be our liberator. Solve energy problems, get us off this planet, etc..

I think instilling that optimism in your kids is most important.

Re: Attenborough gives stark warning on climate change to UN [video]

#13

I think about this every hour, if not several times an hour. The cognitive dissonance between saving for retirement, expecting a stable government, and this are huge. I don't understand how every parent isn't filled with sheer, abject terror at their child's death from starvation, thirst, disease, or violence.

I've basically come to terms with the fact that we're probably the last generation (or definitely one of the last) that is enjoying a level of comfort bordering on luxury. I enjoy it while it lasts. My biggest "trick" is not having children, so I don't have to worry about their future. The problems we're facing, barring some revolutionary technological breakthroughs, are basically unsolvable (because humans are terrible at planetary-level coordination) so worrying about them is just not worth it.

Re: Attenborough gives stark warning on climate change to UN [video]

#14

I think about this every hour, if not several times an hour. The cognitive dissonance between saving for retirement, expecting a stable government, and this are huge. I don't understand how every parent isn't filled with sheer, abject terror at their child's death from starvation, thirst, disease, or violence.

> I don't understand how every parent isn't filled with sheer, abject terror at their child's death from starvation, thirst, disease, or violence.

I also find it hard to believe that the default stance (even from non-religious people) seems to be that having kids is normal.

It is amazing how even as a male, "oh you'll change your mind, everyone wants to have kids some time!" is brought up.

It is absolutely baffling.

Re: Attenborough gives stark warning on climate change to UN [video]

#15
post #6

I think about this every hour, if not several times an hour. The cognitive dissonance between saving for retirement, expecting a stable government, and this are huge. I don't understand how every parent isn't filled with sheer, abject terror at their child's death from starvation, thirst, disease, or violence.

You could get killed walking your doggie. Or get cancer. Or have a stroke. Tomorrow. Worrying about your post-apocalyptic world that might happen doesn’t consume many of my brain cycles. I’d much rather worry about things that are likely to happen in the short term. Edit: no, my child’s death from thirst, famine, violence or disease is not a forgone conclusion.

Oh, that's not a "might", it's pretty much a foregone conclusion. Not tomorrow, not in 5 years or even in the next decade. But not so long term, it's going to be hard to continue catering a modern day lifestyle to billions. [1]

[1] https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcosc.2020.6154...

Not so long term would be beyond 2050. 2100 sounds like far into the future... until you realize that kids born today have fair chance being alive at 79 or 80 to see the turn of the next century. [2]

We are not even talking about any children you might have of your own. This is literally everyone who gets born today. Nephews, nieces, cousins, kids of friends and acquaintances,... So, this isn't even an thought exercise in the abstract.

The insidious part of climate change are the delayed effects. Consider it like throwing a thick blanket over your body. It takes a bit of time before enough of your heat gets trapped to make you sweat. Most people will throw off that blanket once they get uncomfortable. When it comes to climate, throwing off the blanket on short notice isn't an option. So, while you - and many others - feel that humanity at large has the luxury of time to afford consider anything but climate change, generations to come will experience the very uncomfortable effects of a blanket they won't be able to shake off. That's just "present bias" in action.

Now, I don't worry constantly about the future. That's counter productive.

What I do worry about is how little action is taken even today to change that future. Sure, there are a tons of great ideas and technological advances. But electric cars or ships dregging micro-plastics out of the oceans aren't going to change this.

What really grinds my gears is that this was already known some 60 years ago. This was already an debated issue at the White House in the 1960's... and over the course of those 60 years the affirmative actions that needed to be taken to avert this, have been muddled in compromises, bureaucracy and lobbying. That's not even hyperbole. [2]

[2] https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/08/01/magazine/clim...

As time marches on, the window of opportunities to avert the worst case scenarios and projections shrink rapidly. If hard to accept policy choices keep being debated and pushed into the future, the future simply becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

That window of opportunities has already partly closed up. Climate change is unavoidable. And any future policy choices will shift towards mitigating the increasingly dire effects, rather then avoiding climate change wholesale.

As an individual, the single most powerful thing you could do is to vote for and support policy makers who do take this issue serious enough today.

Re: Attenborough gives stark warning on climate change to UN [video]

#16
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We were supposed to have an ice-free artic year around by now, but here we are. Not sure I’d put much weight on the worst case scenarios. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/sep/17/arctic-c...

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/russian-tanker-cuts-a-previousl... I don't understand what is it about climate science that everyone seems to think they're qualified enough to have strong opinions on. I don't see random people commenting on the intricacies of CPU design, battery design, petrochemical processes or any other high-tech endeavor, but with climate everybody's a f*cking expert.

Your link is about a new route through ice. Not relevant to an ice free arctic.

Re: Attenborough gives stark warning on climate change to UN [video]

#17

I think about this every hour, if not several times an hour. The cognitive dissonance between saving for retirement, expecting a stable government, and this are huge. I don't understand how every parent isn't filled with sheer, abject terror at their child's death from starvation, thirst, disease, or violence.

I think it's only in the last 200 years or so that people could actually live comfortably with periods of not worrying about the things you mention.

How many famines, wars and water shortages happened since the dawn of man? How many people worried about those things vs how many people were born?

Not discounting the severity of the issue, just outlining how lucky people have been in the last few centuries.

Re: Attenborough gives stark warning on climate change to UN [video]

#18
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could get killed walking your doggie. Or get cancer. Or have a stroke. Tomorrow. Worrying about your post-apocalyptic world that might happen doesn’t consume many of my brain cycles. I’d much rather worry about things that are likely to happen in the short term. Edit: no, my child’s death from thirst, famine, violence or disease is not a forgone conclusion.

Oh, that's not a "might", it's pretty much a foregone conclusion. Not tomorrow, not in 5 years or even in the next decade. But not so long term, it's going to be hard to continue catering a modern day lifestyle to billions. [1] [1] https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcosc.2020.6154... Not so long term would be beyond 2050. 2100 sounds like far into the future... until you realize that kids born today have f…

How many times have we survived a "the world is going to end in 12 years" trope spouted by climate apocalypse preachers? It really is a religion. The whole meme mocking voting and paying more taxes to change nature is such an accurate depiction.

Climate change is unavoidable (because nature)... but so is human ingenuity. We're constantly discovering new facts and approaches, and this is the major factor doomsayers never bring up in these discussions.

Re: Attenborough gives stark warning on climate change to UN [video]

#19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, that's not a "might", it's pretty much a foregone conclusion. Not tomorrow, not in 5 years or even in the next decade. But not so long term, it's going to be hard to continue catering a modern day lifestyle to billions. [1] [1] https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcosc.2020.6154... Not so long term would be beyond 2050. 2100 sounds like far into the future... until you realize that kids born today have f…

How many times have we survived a "the world is going to end in 12 years" trope spouted by climate apocalypse preachers? It really is a religion. The whole meme mocking voting and paying more taxes to change nature is such an accurate depiction. Climate change is unavoidable (because nature)... but so is human ingenuity. We're constantly discovering new facts and approaches, and this is the major factor doomsayers ne…

And here we have one person that confuses media with scientific papers

Re: Attenborough gives stark warning on climate change to UN [video]

#20
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/russian-tanker-cuts-a-previousl... I don't understand what is it about climate science that everyone seems to think they're qualified enough to have strong opinions on. I don't see random people commenting on the intricacies of CPU design, battery design, petrochemical processes or any other high-tech endeavor, but with climate everybody's a f*cking expert.

Your link is about a new route through ice. Not relevant to an ice free arctic.

And your article is about ice free summers. But I think you didn't even read the article you linked
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