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Stop Calling Each New Disaster “The New Normal”

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Re: Stop Calling Each New Disaster “The New Normal”

#131

Post by runarberg »

holbrad wrote: post #123
runarberg wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you suggest instead? My favorite phrase that I think captures the urgency and the desperate nature of the situation is “This is only gonna get worse, and we are all going to die” .

We shouldn't be spewing bullshit like this... It's going to get worse, but trying to spin climate change as some apocalyptic event where we all die is just silly.

I remember a time when this was phrased as an “inconvenient truth” or that “we can all do our part to make the world a better place”. Honestly I prefer the alarmist hyperbole. The truth is that a lot of us are going to die, more of us will have our lives uprooted. Keeping calm and pretending otherwise seems like a greater bullshit and I at least am not gonna take it. The world is worse, it is gonna be worse. Some rich folks and politicians are responsible. And I want them to feel bad about it.

A point of comparison. The pandemic does seem like a walk in the park next to the climate catastrophe, I don't recall people warning about alarmist speech at the onset of it.

Re: Stop Calling Each New Disaster “The New Normal”

#132

Post by [deleted] »

YawningAngel wrote: post #99
pif wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Concerning climate change, the world is going to be like this. All models are clear that global warming cannot be reversed. No "turning green" will lower average temperatures enough in our lifetime. Thus, acceptance is capital, because only acceptance of reality can lead to sensible solutions. As a side note, screaming "It's too late: hurry up!" is really an idiot way to advocate your cause, whatever your cause may b…

> As a side note, screaming "It's too late: hurry up!" is really an idiot way to advocate your cause, whatever your cause may be. Is it? It can simultaneously be true that we have been too slow to avoid very concerning outcomes, and also that the best course of action open to us is to act quickly and decisively

[deleted]

Re: Stop Calling Each New Disaster “The New Normal”

#133

Post by throwaway22032 »

TheLoafOfBread wrote: post #65
throwaway22032 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So it's Monday morning, the UK government announces that petrol and diesel cars are no longer. They make clear that this is permanent. A ton of people now have vehicles that are basically scrap metal, they've lost tens of thousands overnight. There are physically not enough EVs, or charging infrastructure, or maybe even the grid capacity in order for people to switch. By 10am, immigration lawyers' phones around the w…

By 1pm current PM and MPs would meet the destiny of King Charles I. by hand of its own voters.

God Save the King.

Re: Stop Calling Each New Disaster “The New Normal”

#134

Post by holbrad »

2023throwawayy wrote: post #46
boredumb wrote: post #3

I think all the alarmist language is doing a massive disservice to environmental concerns for the reason the author is portraying but also a much different reason where a lot of people tend to greet hysterics with absolute doubt and discern. When environmentalists decided instead of having a real public conversation and resorting to what a lot of people perceive as the people screaming on the corner about the end tim…

I agree. But we really should be eating less red meat.

Americans really should be eating more grass fed beef.

Re: Stop Calling Each New Disaster “The New Normal”

#135

Post by FormerBandmate »

Levitz wrote: post #67
perfunctory wrote: post #16

Too bad the author is not offering any alternative. It's not good enough to just say "stop doing X". It would be nice if it's followed by "Do Y instead". Maybe I missed it, but the only thing I found in the whole article that resembles a counterproposal is a single sentence in the end - "... policy flows from conversation and debate instead of force." So we are supposed to have more conversation and debate? Sounds li…

The subtext under the headline seems direct enough: >When it comes to the climate crisis, new normals convey a single, grim message: instead of acting, get used to it The idea is to stop calling things "The new normal" since that implies acceptance. Fight instead. Don't go along with the idea that the world has to be like this.

The way you fight is by buying a Tesla and switching your power to clean energy providers. Climate change activists never seem to talk about either of those things tho, it’s always amorphous nonsense like “dismantling capitalism”

Re: Stop Calling Each New Disaster “The New Normal”

#136

Post by infamouscow »

andyjohnson0 wrote: post #92
pif wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Concerning climate change, the world is going to be like this. All models are clear that global warming cannot be reversed. No "turning green" will lower average temperatures enough in our lifetime. Thus, acceptance is capital, because only acceptance of reality can lead to sensible solutions. As a side note, screaming "It's too late: hurry up!" is really an idiot way to advocate your cause, whatever your cause may b…

> All models are clear that global warming cannot be reversed. No "turning green" will lower average temperatures enough in our lifetime. Thats factually correct, but also kind of a strawman. The objective at this point is not to reverse climate change, but to stop it getting much, much worse.

Without the cooperation of BRICS these efforts are moot. Not to further spiral this discussion into politics, but the current administration is pushing BRICS away rather than pulling closer.

Ostensibly climate change continues to be used as a political bargaining chip on the world stage because of a fundamental refusal by Western elites to relinquish their hegemony.

Re: Stop Calling Each New Disaster “The New Normal”

#137

Post by [deleted] »

boredumb wrote: post #3

I think all the alarmist language is doing a massive disservice to environmental concerns for the reason the author is portraying but also a much different reason where a lot of people tend to greet hysterics with absolute doubt and discern. When environmentalists decided instead of having a real public conversation and resorting to what a lot of people perceive as the people screaming on the corner about the end tim…

[deleted]

Re: Stop Calling Each New Disaster “The New Normal”

#138

Post by FormerBandmate »

jbu wrote: post #20
boredumb wrote: post #3

I think all the alarmist language is doing a massive disservice to environmental concerns for the reason the author is portraying but also a much different reason where a lot of people tend to greet hysterics with absolute doubt and discern. When environmentalists decided instead of having a real public conversation and resorting to what a lot of people perceive as the people screaming on the corner about the end tim…

News people don't like is often dismissed as 'hysterics', 'alarmism', etc, which is a well known cognitive bias. Nearly all people trying to improve the future do so sensibly, following established processes and norms and trying to be nice, but you haven't heard of these people because that's not how change is made in the face of established power that doesn't want the change. Most of that good work gets sunk. Change…

What change are activists actually making? The only significant change I’ve seen in this field is from green tech

Re: Stop Calling Each New Disaster “The New Normal”

#139

Post by ianai »

version_five wrote: post #117
CalRobert wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

EV's are a half-assed patch and meant to be a drop-in replacement for ICE's until we can do something better, but sadly they've mostly been an excuse for even bigger, faster, heavier, more dangerous vehicles. I just want to ride my bike and take the train for most of my daily needs, maybe using an hourly car hire for the other trips.

> I just want to ride my bike and take the train for most of my daily needs, maybe using an hourly car hire for the other trips. If that's what you want, cool, you almost certainly can find a life situation where it's possible. It's people who want to forcibly make everyone live that way that are the problem.

Yeah to re-make public spaces across the cities and towns in that image would require probably a 10s to 100s of trillions in infrastructure spending. Enough to make my personal dream of an aqueduct in to the southwest from the Pacific and associated desalination projects (and mineral separation) a pittance.

Re: Stop Calling Each New Disaster “The New Normal”

#140

Post by mistermann »

JimtheCoder wrote: post #43
perfunctory wrote: post #16

Too bad the author is not offering any alternative. It's not good enough to just say "stop doing X". It would be nice if it's followed by "Do Y instead". Maybe I missed it, but the only thing I found in the whole article that resembles a counterproposal is a single sentence in the end - "... policy flows from conversation and debate instead of force." So we are supposed to have more conversation and debate? Sounds li…

"So we are supposed to have more conversation and debate? Sounds like exactly what we've been doing for the last 30,40,50 years." It has sounded more like competing monologues than anything else to me...

Good point....it's like, does anyone actually think something useful is going to come out of threads like this other than enjoyment?
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