this post was submitted on 11 Jun 2024
81 points (95.5% liked)
Climate - truthful information about climate, related activism and politics.
5178 readers
580 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
The biggest single polluting entity on Earth is the US military. Good luck enforcing those reparations.
I believe the intent discussed in the article is that the U.S. would choose to enter in reparations. The argument being, beyond ethics, that as climate change displaces more and more people the walled gardens of the U.S. will be be beset by humans seeking refuge as well as climate change (catastrophe, crisis, choose your version). Therefore the practical answer is to gird vulnerable nations to survive well on their own for the sheer fact that it's less work in the end. And account for potential serious action to curb their own emissions as reparations could/should be weighted for potential future emissions.
Your comment does speak to a chilling line of thought that crossed my mind as a dystopian alternative; where the U.S. would rather violently oppose change while the land dies and, those who can, fall back to closed shelters mimicking their nation's stance. I don't see how that is a preferable alternative to doing what we can to ensure fair survival for everyone. Surely engaging in war on a dying planet is more costly than providing aid with the justification of historic and future damages.
Well, yes, but it is also more costly to ignore climate change and deal with the growing number of extreme weather events, draughts, etc, then to invest money into green alternatives and work towards a climate neutral economy. Yet that is, largely, still what we are doing right now globaly.