I was having a conversation with someone a couple weeks ago about what my issue of choice would be were I a single issue voter. I came to the conclusion that it would have to be climate change....
I was having a conversation with someone a couple weeks ago about what my issue of choice would be were I a single issue voter. I came to the conclusion that it would have to be climate change.
Every time that I see something like this in the news I get more and more worries. There is only so much more time that we have before the ways that we have harmed the planet we rely on are irreversible, if they are not already. I think it's not being seen as a larger issue because its not something that will affect people immediately, nor is it seen in the public eye as something as important as it should be. I'm truly worried about what the state of the world will be for those that are left with it even one or two generations after we die.
I can't remember where I heard it first, but something that I try to remind myself is that every generation thinks that it will be 'the last' generation -- the haunting part is that one of those...
I can't remember where I heard it first, but something that I try to remind myself is that every generation thinks that it will be 'the last' generation -- the haunting part is that one of those generations is going to be right.
The "last ice" is melting, and the immediate reaction is not alarm, but the largest shipping company in the world finding a way to cut costs. I feel like we're making the Earth less habitable for humanity every day, and the people with the power and influence do something about it aren't.
One thought I've had is that it's really only in the last 70 years, with the advent of nuclear weapons, that we've had the ability to make the Earth uninhabitable. Even then, the status quo was...
I can't remember where I heard it first, but something that I try to remind myself is that every generation thinks that it will be 'the last' generation -- the haunting part is that one of those generations is going to be right.
One thought I've had is that it's really only in the last 70 years, with the advent of nuclear weapons, that we've had the ability to make the Earth uninhabitable. Even then, the status quo was that there were not nuclear bombs in the air on their way to Moscow or D.C. All we had to do to avoid annihilation was nothing. Just not make the decision to push the big red button.
With global warming, we have the same ability to end life as we know it on Earth, but at this point pulling out of the death spiral is going to involve massive, sweeping changes at all levels of society. We need to either green up or eliminate ocean shipping, the meat industry, and the military just to start with. And we need to continue these disruptions even though there will be no immediate improvement in our situation. The history of humanity doesn't give me a lot of room for hope.
Don't forget about air travel. In the US, the average person contributes 10-20 tons of CO2 per year. If I'm a relatively green person, one domestic, round-trip flight for me (personally) to visit...
Don't forget about air travel.
In the US, the average person contributes 10-20 tons of CO2 per year. If I'm a relatively green person, one domestic, round-trip flight for me (personally) to visit family is already 1/20th of my annual carbon output. Worldwide there are something like 100-thousand flights per day.
The haunting part for me is definitely that I'm pretty sure it's the generation right after us, as in the one being born now-ish. I feel things look more dire everyday, and like you mentioned the...
...the haunting part is that one of those generations is going to be right.
The haunting part for me is definitely that I'm pretty sure it's the generation right after us, as in the one being born now-ish.
I feel things look more dire everyday, and like you mentioned the response is not alarm, but still profit.
It's affecting people now. But doomsday doesn't happen all at once, so people don't even realize that the strange weather we've been experiencing is just the beginning. We're only now feeling the...
It's affecting people now. But doomsday doesn't happen all at once, so people don't even realize that the strange weather we've been experiencing is just the beginning. We're only now feeling the effects of carbon released into the atmosphere about 40 years ago. We released a lot of carbon since the late-70's.
Not to r/gatekeeping the coming climate apocalypse, but I'm worried about the state of the world by mid-century, while we catch up to our carbon emissions of today.
Brutal heatwaves, super-storms, desertification, water shortages, mass migration. Famine. Pestilence. War.
There might not be a generation or two after we die. None living in anything like our current civilization, anyway.
On many measures it's hard to visualize, but on others it can be very noticeable. My grandpa loved hiking near glaciers, and I'd go with him whenever possible. All around western North America --...
I think it's not being seen as a larger issue because its not something that will affect people immediately [...] I'm truly worried about what the state of the world will be for those that are left with it even one or two generations after we die.
On many measures it's hard to visualize, but on others it can be very noticeable. My grandpa loved hiking near glaciers, and I'd go with him whenever possible. All around western North America -- sort of an arc originating in Seattle, spreading out to Montana and up into Alaska through Canada. He would say "my god, when I was young this whole valley was under the ice!", and I'd think "eh, what's he on about, it's still pretty big". But I can sympathize now that I'm a bit older; the degree to which glaciers have receded, or disappeared entirely, over the last 30 years is one area where climate change is immediately noticeable, if not of direct consequence. Camping with my nieces and finding that a wall of ice has retreated as far as the eye can see, within my own lifetime, is wild.
Now granted, most people are aware that glaciation is cyclical, and when thinking of "all the world's water in any state", we're not talking about a huge quantity in a single glacier -- but I found experiencing that degree of change on a very human timescale, rather than on a geologic one that's more or less abstract, to be really staggering. I might go so far as to say heartbreaking, although that's probably more accurately applied to the state of the oceans.
...which is all to say that I agree with you, but perhaps even that which doesn't affect most people's livelihoods can still become a matter of concern. I will say it's gratifying, at least, that the contrary side has gone from "it's not happening" to "it's happening, but it's fine and natural and now we can sail from Bethel to Murmansk". Once the effect is on the table, it's just a question of timescale.
Another problem with opening arctic shipping lanes is that soot from the exhaust will lower the albedo of the ice, causing more heat to be absorbed from the sun.
Another problem with opening arctic shipping lanes is that soot from the exhaust will lower the albedo of the ice, causing more heat to be absorbed from the sun.
I was having a conversation with someone a couple weeks ago about what my issue of choice would be were I a single issue voter. I came to the conclusion that it would have to be climate change.
Every time that I see something like this in the news I get more and more worries. There is only so much more time that we have before the ways that we have harmed the planet we rely on are irreversible, if they are not already. I think it's not being seen as a larger issue because its not something that will affect people immediately, nor is it seen in the public eye as something as important as it should be. I'm truly worried about what the state of the world will be for those that are left with it even one or two generations after we die.
I can't remember where I heard it first, but something that I try to remind myself is that every generation thinks that it will be 'the last' generation -- the haunting part is that one of those generations is going to be right.
The "last ice" is melting, and the immediate reaction is not alarm, but the largest shipping company in the world finding a way to cut costs. I feel like we're making the Earth less habitable for humanity every day, and the people with the power and influence do something about it aren't.
One thought I've had is that it's really only in the last 70 years, with the advent of nuclear weapons, that we've had the ability to make the Earth uninhabitable. Even then, the status quo was that there were not nuclear bombs in the air on their way to Moscow or D.C. All we had to do to avoid annihilation was nothing. Just not make the decision to push the big red button.
With global warming, we have the same ability to end life as we know it on Earth, but at this point pulling out of the death spiral is going to involve massive, sweeping changes at all levels of society. We need to either green up or eliminate ocean shipping, the meat industry, and the military just to start with. And we need to continue these disruptions even though there will be no immediate improvement in our situation. The history of humanity doesn't give me a lot of room for hope.
Don't forget about air travel.
In the US, the average person contributes 10-20 tons of CO2 per year. If I'm a relatively green person, one domestic, round-trip flight for me (personally) to visit family is already 1/20th of my annual carbon output. Worldwide there are something like 100-thousand flights per day.
The haunting part for me is definitely that I'm pretty sure it's the generation right after us, as in the one being born now-ish.
I feel things look more dire everyday, and like you mentioned the response is not alarm, but still profit.
It's affecting people now. But doomsday doesn't happen all at once, so people don't even realize that the strange weather we've been experiencing is just the beginning. We're only now feeling the effects of carbon released into the atmosphere about 40 years ago. We released a lot of carbon since the late-70's.
Not to r/gatekeeping the coming climate apocalypse, but I'm worried about the state of the world by mid-century, while we catch up to our carbon emissions of today.
Brutal heatwaves, super-storms, desertification, water shortages, mass migration. Famine. Pestilence. War.
There might not be a generation or two after we die. None living in anything like our current civilization, anyway.
On many measures it's hard to visualize, but on others it can be very noticeable. My grandpa loved hiking near glaciers, and I'd go with him whenever possible. All around western North America -- sort of an arc originating in Seattle, spreading out to Montana and up into Alaska through Canada. He would say "my god, when I was young this whole valley was under the ice!", and I'd think "eh, what's he on about, it's still pretty big". But I can sympathize now that I'm a bit older; the degree to which glaciers have receded, or disappeared entirely, over the last 30 years is one area where climate change is immediately noticeable, if not of direct consequence. Camping with my nieces and finding that a wall of ice has retreated as far as the eye can see, within my own lifetime, is wild.
Now granted, most people are aware that glaciation is cyclical, and when thinking of "all the world's water in any state", we're not talking about a huge quantity in a single glacier -- but I found experiencing that degree of change on a very human timescale, rather than on a geologic one that's more or less abstract, to be really staggering. I might go so far as to say heartbreaking, although that's probably more accurately applied to the state of the oceans.
...which is all to say that I agree with you, but perhaps even that which doesn't affect most people's livelihoods can still become a matter of concern. I will say it's gratifying, at least, that the contrary side has gone from "it's not happening" to "it's happening, but it's fine and natural and now we can sail from Bethel to Murmansk". Once the effect is on the table, it's just a question of timescale.
Another problem with opening arctic shipping lanes is that soot from the exhaust will lower the albedo of the ice, causing more heat to be absorbed from the sun.