Aotearoa / New Zealand

Yeah, right inbetween the first two lockdowns, we did a trip out to the West Coast, and was pretty dissapointed in the Glacier unfortunately.

Though the Skydiving was incredible :)

I live close to a few glaciers that we always went as kids. It's pretty damn shocking to go there now.

30 or so years ago we were told in school that global warming is going so slow that you can't even tell in a lifetime. So... About that

On my more optimistic days I see a future where plentiful, cheap energy (ie fusion) can drive technology that will halt, perhaps even reverse the damage we've done. And perhaps that's even compatible with capitalism, as there are potential profits to be made.

More often though I see a difficult, painful future for the human species, with massive famines, human displacement and wars over the resources that remain. I hope I'm wrong.

Until the hoped for breakthrough technology arrives perhaps it makes sense to preseve a livable biosphere by minimizing our impact to sustainable levels? Alas I am sure that doesn't mean keep doing what we're doing.

It's a good question. My guess is that money will be driven to things that mitigate the effects of climate change (better cooling and insulation for houses, mass hydroponic buildings for crops, meat alternatives that can be grown in a factory), and poorer countries will see mass famine. Richer countries will start to send aid but it will be too little too late.

The other day there was that post about CFCs and how the whole world acted together to ban them and now the ozone layer is healing, and there was conversation about how the world acted swiftly and there was no leader-level denial. But I think a big difference here is that there was a single, known cause, and it had known alternatives that didn't involve anyone making big changes. Climate change is caused by a number of factors that interact with each other in ways it's hard for a layperson to understand ("why is it extra cold, I thought there was supposed to be global warming"), and there's no clear path to leading the same lifestyle without climate change.

I have near-zero faith that change will happen fast enough to mitigate the effects.

This article supoorts that

https://www.jonathonporritt.com/mainstream-climate-science-the-new-denialism/

Reality is too scary to acknowledge. Root cause is capitalism and exploitation in burning fuels, dumping sludge and toxic chemicals into the ocean(which we depend on for the majority of new oxygen)

https://www.jonathonporritt.com/mainstream-climate-science-the-new-denialism/

From what I understand is that the warming isn't linear but exponential and we are already at the point of no return well ahead of predictions.

The world we are leaving for the next generations is going to be a hot drought ridden wasteland because companies and governments for decades have been polluting and destroying the environment in the endless quest for money with basically no repercussions.

Companies have been allowed to dump toxic waste into the ground then walk away from it leaving the tax payers to fund the cleanup.

This is happening because of greed.