this post was submitted on 21 Oct 2024
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Acknowledging reality is not the same thing as defeatism or "not doing anything." I'd argue that putting your head in the sand and ignoring news/information you don't like is more damaging and closely related to the majority of the world's efforts over the past 50+ years.
Thinking everything is fine leads to apathy. Thinking there's nothing we can do leads to apathy. The correct thought is that it's bad, but we can fix it.
The correct thought... Wow, you solved the climate.
Sorry for being sarcastic. This take has been proven wrong for... forever? Humankind will not fix anything - we will do too little too late and suffer through the consequences as we always did.
I'm not saying it's not worth a try. I'm saying it won't work because not everyone is trying. By far not everyone.
Not everyone is as clever as you. Most people need hope in order to get motivated to take action. Being able to try your hardest without any hope based motivation is the sign of an iron will. It's very rare. You should tell all the less exceptional people to have hope, because that's how you get them to do things.
Those less exceptional people can fuck off. I have watched them mindlessly destroying our ecosphere for over 40 years now, and they are unstoppable in doing so (at least unstoppable by other humans; nature and physics will bite their ass, that's for sure).
The reason why I don't believe anything relevant will change: I've seen it. I'm a lifelong ecological activist (started in my early teens in the wake of Club of Rome; I'm nearing 60 now). Did a lot of activist stuff, always voted or volunteered for the green(er) parties, lead a local committee promoting preservation of nature and wildlife, tried to introduce carsharing in my community in the early 90s (boy, were they unready for that), live and promote a frugal lifestyle, no flights, no car, small flat, go around on my bike and on public transport, keep meat consumption low, wear out my stuff, etc.
And yes, there were changes in public, too. The people knew and know everything about those problems, the talk is all over the media, they get it crammed in their faces, ecology is a huge part of education and it even became a part of the lifestyle.
So I had hope, and I believed in solutions and in a change. And you know what? It all kept getting worse, and worse: It all KEEPS getting worse. Humans are not thinking ahead, they consume mindlessly. They are idiots, and when they will realise that we did too little too late then it really will be too late. It already is too late for most of humankind. (It's in the physics of the problem, closed system etc.)
And you know what? I'm fine with that. They want it, they get it.
Sorry for drowning you in my rant. I'm bitter about the kids. We could have had it all and given them a nice working world, and instead we opted for the SUV and the cheap flights to be more important.
Those less exceptional people can fuck off. They can so fuck off.
Try thinking on longer timescales. Even if you're resigned to the fact things aren't going to get better in your lifetime, it might bring you some comfort to know that possibilities remain for a brighter future. Even if all of civilization collapses and humanity is reduced to a few survivors struggling in a few isolated regions, that can grow into something beautiful. Acknowledging that also means acknowledging that what you do in the present might contribute to the survival of a group of people, a way of life, a wealth of knowledge, or anything that is important to you.
If you're convinced they're so inferior, then how does letting them die make more sense than manipulating them into doing what you want? You know what they should be doing. They should be saving the world. If you're better than them, then be a leader. Tell them what they need to hear to do the right thing. Genocide is much less fun than domination.
Yep.
One could also show the same meme template with stats where every bad development is even accelerating, spikes in co2-rise, record new numbers of consumption and pollution, the Amazon and other carbon sinks getting razed at growing speeds, a lot of carbon sinks turning into carbon emitters, nations voting for extremists who don't care for ecology, glaciers and sea ice melting, all sorts of storms getting stronger and more destructive, the speed with which we are approaching or already have reached tipping points globally and locally...
Yeah, but let's soothe ourselves with... cosmetics? I'm not denying that there's some positive changes but that's like trying to extinguish a house burning to the ground and engulfed in flames with one bucket of water.
My take is: People want to have a better world without changing their lifestyle - simply leave everything as it is and make it in some magical way non destructive and non polluting. EVs are a shining example of that - still ridiculous use of resources, but somehow they are "better".
If you think that way you are part of the problem and part of its denial.
That is a good point about not wanting anything to change. We can not continue to live how we've lived if this will be solved. Reductions in population should help reduce demand and land use (enforced with law, of course), but some things people enjoy will have to go. You don't need to eat foods grown thousands of miles away or to eat beef every day. You may have to endure temperature discomfort, lose personal transportation options, etc. Even these things are small, government (especially militaries) and business will need to be held to account and have their emissions massively reduced.