this post was submitted on 17 Oct 2023
430 points (98.2% liked)
Climate - truthful information about climate, related activism and politics.
5055 readers
618 users here now
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.
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this honestly feels like oil industry astroturfing, what does this comment accomplish other than make people complacent and give up? How does this in any way further the fight against fossil fuels?
Totally up voting this. Personally I watch my plastic consumption, l was vegan for 4 years and refused to travel by anything other than bicycle in one of the most bicycle unfriendly cities in the world for 8 years before I gave up the ghost and fell into despair when it came fo the climate.
My take on it is doing something about the environment these days is more like having props for the afterlife, where you can say, "Hey, I tried." But make no mistake about it, this is the end, but choosing to do something about the environment is choosing to go out fighting, and I'm all for that.
At the same time, I'm not gonna blame people for giving up either. It's hard not to when you know it's now and inevitable. And I refuse to throw shade at people who have fallen into despair and don't provide helpful rhetoric. Sometimes people just need to express their despair publicly. It doesn't help the cause, and therefore it doesn't help SOME people who want to keep up the good fight. But I'm done looking for solutions, I just want to grieve.
To be clear though, I don't shill for big oil. They couldn't pay me enough to endorse a mass murder to the point of extinction.
Be careful you don't end up doing it by accident. When climate change denial stopped being effective, they switched to "Oops, looks like it was real all along but we've fucked it now anyway so go buy a truck".
I am definitely not outright encouraging people to go out and hedonistically purchase products. I do however, think that has been people's logical reactions to the grim realities and the existential crises that the presentation of seemingly insurmountable hurdles of the climate crisis.
There are some hopeful glimmers, I'll admit. But an expression of despair isn't always needed to have one of two responses. Most of the time I hear either "We cant do anything to solve it, so let's not talk about it." Or "That's not helpful rhetoric, so let's not talk about it and only talk about poasible solutions."
Personally I find both of these responses to be a form of depression stigma. I get that if the worst effects of climate change are capable of being addressed if we take action now, then there isn't time to ”wallow in depression," but if you're like me and truly believe that the hand has already been dealt and the game is over, then the point is moot, and climate despair is a logical and possibly even healthy response.
Again, not advocating making the problem worse, just lamenting humanity having apparently lost a battle against it's own myopic view of their place in the universe.