this post was submitted on 26 Jun 2024
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Discussion of climate, how it is changing, activism around that, the politics, and the energy systems change we need in order to stabilize things.
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Are we still rapidly backsliding on climate issues? Then don't wonder why "no one knows about how much Biden is helping the issue." I, like I'd imagine most people, have little interest in hearing about his "wins," be they climate, economic, etc, if all they amount to is "I helped make a worsening problem worsen slower!" That's not news, that's just a reminder of how pathetic the better of two evils is. If he actually does something substantial enough to improve even one of the many giant problems the country/world currently faces, everyone will know about it because it will visibly change the communities that we live in, and directly affect our day-to-day lives. The time for incremental change was the 20th century; we've kicked the can down the road for so long it landed in "go big or go home" territory.
To be clear, I'm going to vote Biden in November because the alternatives are all so much worse, but damn, that's not something to celebrate.
No, the US is not "rapidly backsliding" — it seems to be moving in the right direction, if not yet quickly enough.
Every climate scientist crunching the numbers right now is freaking out behind semi-closed doors because they're worried that if the media starts running with the story that "thanks to a series of feedback loops the climate may already be fucked beyond hope of ever returning to normal, and at this point the best we can do is try to minimize the damage but even that will require completely upending the status quo," everyone will give up on climate/environmental action entirely, so the public instead is fed an alternating diet of toned-down warnings and positive news about microscopic improvements to maintain a general sense of hope.
If that's "moving in the right direction," we deserve our demise.
The point where things stop getting worse is the point where we've fully succeeded in getting off fossil fuels, ended deforestation, and phased out use of a few industrial gases and refrigerants. That's something like the end stage of action, not the messy middle where we are now. If we succeed, we'll get there in about 25 years.
Even if we fully stopped emitting net CO2 today, the climate will continue warming in 25 years. All the methane and CO2 we've already emitted will continue to warm the climate.
First, they are big wins. You can't change the world on a dime.
Second, it doesn't help when we have to start anew every sixteen years.