The environmental scientist, whose book Not the End of the World offers a data-based analysis of the climate crisis, on being informed and engaged without succumbing to despair
It’s past the point where average people can change anything. Literally the only action a normal person can take is not having children. And that only helps us decades in the future, when it may already be too late to matter.
To avoid worst case scenario we need the rich and corporations to do something big.
They refuse to.
So now we need politicians worldwide to force them, and that doesn’t look likely either.
So I feel like my lottery analogy is a good fit.
America for example, Biden is bragging about the economy, but most of the gains are in trade goods shipped from half the globe away and increased fossil fuels drilling.
But our only other option is trump. So no matter who wins, were not going to have a chance of taking real action as a country for at least five more years. During which the problem gets worst and we’d have to take even more action even faster to stop it.
Pretending everything will be fine hasn’t worked so far, why would it now?
At this point, I assume that we need to either grab pitchforks or just accept that we’re doomed. It is historically and materially unjustifiable to think that voting once every 4 years for people who, no matter what they say about environmentalism, will continue to support capitalism and the military industrial complex at the cost of the of the planet will somehow save us. The system is set up to perpetuate itself. It will not allow for it to be peacefully dismantled.
That said I’m pretty pessimistic about that actually succeeding, what with all the military power, surveillance tech, etc. So unless shit starts changing fast, I’m just gonna go with we’re doomed.
Everything those big corporations do ultimately ends being consumed by we consumers. We can’t carry on driving SUVs to buy bottled water in Starbucks and saying it’s corporations that need to act for the environment. Yes, structural solutions will always be best, but it’s not an either-or situation and we can’t cop out of taking actions ourselves by acting as though it is.
I didn’t say that. But please do list some of the things big corporations do that don’t end up being consumed by consumers. The only area that comes immediately to mind that doesn’t end up with consumers is the military - and even that’s arguable
It’s past the point where average people can change anything. Literally the only action a normal person can take is not having children. And that only helps us decades in the future, when it may already be too late to matter.
To avoid worst case scenario we need the rich and corporations to do something big.
They refuse to.
So now we need politicians worldwide to force them, and that doesn’t look likely either.
So I feel like my lottery analogy is a good fit.
America for example, Biden is bragging about the economy, but most of the gains are in trade goods shipped from half the globe away and increased fossil fuels drilling.
But our only other option is trump. So no matter who wins, were not going to have a chance of taking real action as a country for at least five more years. During which the problem gets worst and we’d have to take even more action even faster to stop it.
Pretending everything will be fine hasn’t worked so far, why would it now?
At this point, I assume that we need to either grab pitchforks or just accept that we’re doomed. It is historically and materially unjustifiable to think that voting once every 4 years for people who, no matter what they say about environmentalism, will continue to support capitalism and the military industrial complex at the cost of the of the planet will somehow save us. The system is set up to perpetuate itself. It will not allow for it to be peacefully dismantled.
That said I’m pretty pessimistic about that actually succeeding, what with all the military power, surveillance tech, etc. So unless shit starts changing fast, I’m just gonna go with we’re doomed.
Everything those big corporations do ultimately ends being consumed by we consumers. We can’t carry on driving SUVs to buy bottled water in Starbucks and saying it’s corporations that need to act for the environment. Yes, structural solutions will always be best, but it’s not an either-or situation and we can’t cop out of taking actions ourselves by acting as though it is.
It sounds like you aren’t aware of what the largest contributors are…
Which makes sense, large corporations have spent a lot of money telling people they can do enough so corporations dont need to be forced to act.
I didn’t say that. But please do list some of the things big corporations do that don’t end up being consumed by consumers. The only area that comes immediately to mind that doesn’t end up with consumers is the military - and even that’s arguable