Discussion of climate, how it is changing, activism around that, the politics, and the energy systems change we need in order to stabilize things.
As a starting point, the burning of fossil fuels, and to a lesser extent deforestation and release of methane are responsible for the warming in recent decades:
How much each change to the atmosphere has warmed the world:
Recommended actions to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the near future:
Anti-science, inactivism, and unsupported conspiracy theories are not ok here.
Im pretty sure the clock has already passed the turning point. Going to take years of reversing course to undo the damage.
It could. But it could always get worse.
It's like if the fire brigade said "fuck this house is lost. Let's pack up and go home boys" when in fact the whole fucking city could burn down.
It's not a "did we solve climate change yes or no" it's a "how bad is it going to get".
There is a very big scale here.
That's no surprise. It was always going to be a multi-decade process to decarbonize the world economy. What's important is that it looks to be finally starting, which is why Kamala Harris spent a lot of time talking about what the Inflation Reduction act.
That clock is running several decades slow
IMO it's already too late. Too many idiots don't believe in even basic science, too many corporations don't give a shit and would happily trade a million years off of the life of the planet if it meant a hundred bucks in the CEOs pocket today. We're doomed and I primarily blame boomers.
Too late for what? Because we're not doomed, or anything like it, if we actually act. And Kamala Harris provided the tiebreaking vote to pass the Inflation Reduction Act, which is a major piece of decarbonization legislation:
To be fair it's not too late as long as humanity is still around. It's gonna hit harder and harder the longer we wait to act. It's starting to move and in the right direction, albeit too slowly. But being a doomer and not acting will only make it worse. It's gonna be hell the next decades but we still have a chance.
Lol, what can we actually do in this situation? I mean, for real, what can we do? I doubt pressing our representatives will help, and everything one could do on its own (like stop using cars, going vegan, etc) has little to no effect.
We can't stop factories from working, can't force the creation of a decent public transportation system so people can stop relying on cars, and we can't close all coal-based powerplants and replace them with solar/eolic powerplants. All of these could help a lot against climate change, but one would need to rely on the government, or use violent methods; either of them I personally consider unfeasible.
If there is something we can do, we'll absolutely do it, but I don't see much to do aside being a doomer.
People are actually using non-violent methods to prevent pipelines from being built, dockworkers are refusing to transport certain goods, sailboats are blocking ports. It’s just not talked about a lot for some reason. They’re often met with violent resistance and dirty tactics, but if we all were a little more willing to sacrifice like those people do, we’d likely be able to force at least some concessions.
As you said, at your level it would be raising awareness, make efforts to reduce you footprint as much as you feel comfortable doing, you can also get involved in organizations that can work at a local level (lobbying for more bikes and public transportation in your city for instance) or donate to green lobbies.
On a higher level, the most you can do as a person would be to vote for people with sensible ecological and social programs, you can also get in touch with your representatives when possible.
This is a big case of the snowflake not feeling responsible for the avalanche. As an individual you will not make any significant change but if everyone feels the same and organizes and move as one, it does make a difference.
It definitely feels hopeless, and I'm also extremely pessimistic about the future but hopelessness leads to helplessness, and giving up will only destroy every possible positive outcome.
They can’t pass any legislation, so the new strategy is to try to tout the supposed economic and environmental benefits of biden admins policies. Which is cool, except, it won’t work for a variety of reasons. You can’t go around saying, “Look how good the economy is” while half of everyone is fucking living on the edge of homelessness and suffering. You can’t claim to be doing good for the environment while approving more O&G leases on federal land than even fucking TRUMP, or while forcing pipelines through indigenous lands. You can’t claim to be supporting human rights while expanding the concentration camps at the border.
If they want to win, they need to do something that materially effects the majority of people. The majority of what they’ve done has done nothing noticeable for the majority of the country, and going around claiming it is the best thing since sliced bread is not only not true, but will degrade trust heavily and likely result in a Republican victory.
They passed legislation last year, using Kamala Harris as the tiebreaking vote in the Senate.
It's making a difference for a lot of people already, in the form of jobs and support for household decarbonization.
I know they passed that. That’s what I’m referring to, that isn’t having a material effect on the vast majority of Americans. Poor Americans (which is the majority) don’t have the money to afford electric cars or solar panels, they can’t even afford to eat 3 meals a day going by the most recent data.
What material benefits have the lower classes of the country received from the IRA? I’d be interested in seeing, because as someone who interacts with the working class on a daily basis, I have yet to even meet one blue collar worker who knows anything about the IRA before I tell them.
Good policy is known by all because it uplifts all. There was no one after the passage of the NLRA that said, “what is that?” Because the policy was crafted by and for the working class, addressing the issues they had directly.
Almost nobody outside the activist sphere has heard of the Inflation Reduction Act. It's not about poor vs rich or white-collar vs blue-collar. It's about there having been no real sustained effort to tell the public about it until the past couple weeks.
What material effects should I have had personally on my life by now, that I just haven’t been told about?
Depends on whether you're doing something like shopping for a used car (tax credit for buying used EVs) or looking for a job (a ton of new factories are going up)
Pretty similar to how the NLRA doesn't directly impact you most days, but changes the overall economic environment.
It did directly effect people when it was passed though, is my point. No one went to work the day after the NLRA was passed without having it directly effect both their work and their lives.
Most people aren’t shopping for a used car, especially not a used EV, they’re trying to survive in one of the worst periods of US economics in the last 40 years for the lower classes. EV credits are just middle class and up giveaways. The E-Bike program in my city has had more of a material effect on the lives of the lower classes than ALL of the EV credits put together.
My point is, people are material beings, and their perceptions are colored by their material reality. When someone is going around touting how good their policy is while the majority of the country is struggling just to make ends meet, and will never have a chance to benefit from things like EV credits, its not going to win any supporters that weren’t already on your side, and in fact risks alienating those on the fence.
Feels apt