Ok, this global warming shit is getting out of hand...

[zartagen]

So unbelievably depressing. It feels so hopeless given the solution involves politicians who can’t even agree it’s happening.

Well, it seems the current administration is changing their tack a bit: (linked out of the article neufox posted) https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...c5d_story.html

Now they're saying we're fucked no matter what, so we shouldn't even bother trying.

[SKIP IN7RO]

[neufox47]

Now that we’ve denied it is happening and blocked as much research and innovation as possible for decades, we’ve determined there is no way to stop it so we should just keep going... Never mind that we could literally cause the planet to be inhabitable in a couple centuries.

[Sirshredalot]

Well, it seems the current administration is changing their tack a bit: (linked out of the article neufox posted) https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...c5d_story.html

Now they're saying we're fucked no matter what, so we shouldn't even bother trying.

We knew that this was going to be the denialists' new bullshit eventually.

[east or bust]

Changing the situation is going to come down to a lot more than politicians, to me it's no different than everyday people quitting addictions to booze, cigs, drugs, etc... except they need to quit lifestyle means that they've been taught to consider necessities. The sad truth is there are a lot of dumb fuckin people on this planet that can't see the bigger picture, and probably just as many that can but are too selfish to change their ways to support the greater good.

eta: it's been discussed and commonly agreed upon in other threads about addiction that quitting ultimately comes down to the person doing it for themselves. how this message be can translated to climate change for people to realize idk.

[WMD]

Change is going to require major upheaval to our energy systems and even to capitalism itself. But it also will require lifestyle changes. Yes, there are a lot of dumb ass people out there, but let's face it all of us on here are part of the problem. We consume way more than we need, we drive and fly too much, and we eat too much meat.

How about change starts here. Instead of the correct number of skis you should have being n+1 ( n being the number you have now) what if we make it n-1 and make it cool to ski all conditions on one pair of skis. What if we all use our current ski clothes and packs for an extra year or two before replacing them and make it cool to wear gear until it falls apart. What if we cut out meat (except for bacon - gotta have bacon - and the occasional cheeseburger) and eat more vegetable protein and locally grown food. And why not live closer to the mountains ( who doesn't want that?) and ski your home resort more and travel less to ski.

Blasphemy on here I know. But really quite simple and stuff we could all do.
Oh yeah, vote. Replace all the bastards who won't make addressing climate change priority number one.

[Dantheman]

Hard to see how we're not completely fucked short of some Kurzweil-ian technological revolution happening.

7* F GAT increase is hard to fathom. During the Medieval Warm Period (+1.8* F) most of the US Midwest was scrub desert and almost half of Nebraska was covered by active sand dunes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandhills_(Nebraska)

[neufox47]

Cutting useage will only make a small, short term drop. What we need is to dramatically change our energy systems and incentivize saving energy where possible.

The only silver bullet I see is fusion, if we can get there in 20 years we can make all electricity with fusion and make liquid fuels as well. We can also fix carbon out of the atmosphere. The argument could be made that we could do the same or similar with the latest generation of fission power plants.

[KQ]

Nuclear.

[Dantheman]

The only silver bullet I see is fusion, if we can get there in 20 years we can make all electricity with fusion and make liquid fuels as well. We can also fix carbon out of the atmosphere. The argument could be made that we could do the same or similar with the latest generation of fission power plants.

Agreed.

[dan_pdx]

What if we all use our current ski clothes and packs for an extra year or two before replacing them and make it cool to wear gear until it falls apart.

Wait, wait, that's not cool already? No wonder I can't pull any ski bunnies.

Totally agree with your other points and I confess I could / should do a lot better than I do. If I'm so worried about global warming, how come I drive to the hill solo all the time?

As far as technology saving us, some of our more imaginative thinkers have been talking geoengineering for awhile now: https://www.wired.com/2010/03/hacktheplanet-qa/. I feel that we don't begin to have a handle on the unintended consequences of this kind of tinkering, but given our collective shortsightedness and refusal to act until a crisis is unambiguously upon us, I imagine that at some point something along these lines is in the cards.

[SKIP IN7RO]

if we can get there in 20 years

That's a BIG fucking "if".

[WMD]

Wait, wait, that's not cool already? No wonder I can't pull any ski bunnies.

Totally agree with your other points and I confess I could / should do a lot better than I do. If I'm so worried about global warming, how come I drive to the hill solo all the time?

I live 15 miles from the ski hill but drive solo a lot. I've got to change that.

Personal change is not going to solve this issue or even make much of a dent in it, but our growth and consumption societies are what is driving all of this.
Edit to add: But we need to change attitudes that over consumption is good, and that we can live any way we want and still avoid the worst effects of climate change.

We need to change the definition of success from growth to happiness. In a society where we have way more than we need to survive and be comfortable, continued economic growth comes at the expense of our environment.

From George Monbiot in the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...t-oil-industry
"It doesn’t matter how many good things we do: preventing climate breakdown means ceasing to do bad things. Given that economic growth, in nations that are already rich enough to meet the needs of all, requires an increase in pointless consumption, it is hard to see how it can ever be decoupled from the assault on the living planet."

How do we solve this issue? Talk about it! Quit worrying about uncomfortable conversations. We need to have them.

"So what do we do? We talk. As the climate writer Joe Romm argued in ThinkProgress this year, a crucial factor in the remarkable shift in attitudes towards LGBT people was the determination of activists to break the silence. They overcame social embarrassment to broach issues that other people found uncomfortable. We need, Romm argues, to do the same for climate breakdown. A recent survey suggests that 65% of Americans rarely or never discuss it with friends or family, while only one in five hear people they know mention the subject at least once a month. Like the media, we subconsciously invest great psychological effort into not discussing an issue that threatens almost every aspect of our lives.

"Let’s be embarrassing. Let’s break the silence, however uncomfortable it makes us and others feel. Let’s talk about the great unmentionables: not just climate breakdown, but also growth and consumerism. Let’s create the political space in which well-intentioned parties can act. Let us talk a better world into being."

[neufox47]

That's a BIG fucking "if".

Agreed; a huge, gigantic, take with a dump truck of salt, if. Which is why we should be building fission power plants and solar and wind turbines in the interim.

[The SnowShow]

But Alaska Air went to metal straws! We’re saved!

[KQ]

But Alaska Air went to metal straws! We’re saved!

I was about to complain about people needing straws and that that they were a modern contraption but evidently they date back to 3,000 B.C.E. so I guess people have always been helpless when it comes to drinking. Amazing humans have survived at all.

[liv2ski]

Until the younger people get the old fucks (ya, people my age and older) out of politics and the decision making process, the World is fucked.
When JFK was elected, he made getting a man to the moon in less than 10 years a National priority. The same needs to be done with Fusion and Green Energy sources. Until this is a priority, we are just counting off our days here.

[WMD]

Until we stop saying it is someone else's fault the world is fucked. We have to change it - there isn't time to wait for the young people to save us from ourselves.

All we have to do is nothing (keep doing what we are doing), and climate change will drastically change the world in devastating ways.

Why not do something?

[iceman]

Monkeys don't plan well. We're pretty good at reacting, though, so after the shit has hit the fan we'll figure something out and pull it out of the fire in the nick of time. It's how we roll.

[SumJongGuy]

Nuclear.

Nuclear Winter.. problem solved and then some. Too bad that solution also kills all the crops then the livestock, then those few of us "lucky" enough to have survived the initial devastation.

[WMD]

Monkeys don't plan well. We're pretty good at reacting, though, so after the shit has hit the fan we'll figure something out and pull it out of the fire in the nick of time. It's how we roll.

So yeah, let's not do anything and then see what's left to try to save after the shit hits the fan. Good idea!

All of us are copping out by saying someone else will figure it out, it's too late to try, we'll figure it out after it's fucked, or whatever other excuse we have to not do anything.

How about we stop saying all that and start demanding action. Now. Today.

[SumJongGuy]

How about we stop saying all that and start demanding action. Now. Today.

As individuals we can reduce our own carbon footprint and vote with our wallets against non green energy products. As for demanding action, I believe that's called VOTING for candidates who aren't schills for big energy.

As for the carbon footprint.. Pretty sure lift served skiing and air and car travel for leisure purposes adds quite a bit to our carbon footprint. Why not push for for solar powered lifts and other earth friendly leisure infrastructure changes?

[Sirshredalot]

Nuclear Winter.. problem solved and then some. Too bad that solution also kills all the crops then the livestock, then those few of us "lucky" enough to have survived the initial devastation.

Dr., how many men and women will we keep alive in the bunker?

[muted]

So yeah, let's not do anything and then see what's left to try to save after the shit hits the fan. Good idea!

All of us are copping out by saying someone else will figure it out, it's too late to try, we'll figure it out after it's fucked, or whatever other excuse we have to not do anything.

How about we stop saying all that and start demanding action. Now. Today.

[kokomas]

WMD I completely agree with your points. Would love to talk IRL about market based solutions sometime, pm incoming

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