The brutal logic of climate change

[redqueen]

http://www.grist.org/climate-change/2011-12-05-the-brutal-logic-of-climate-change

The consensus in American politics today is that there's nothing to be gained from talking about climate change. It's divisive, the electorate has more pressing concerns, and very little can be accomplished anyway. In response to this evolving consensus, lots of folks in the climate hawk coalition (broadly speaking) have counseled a new approach that backgrounds climate change and refocuses the discussion on innovation, energy security, and economic competitiveness.

This cannot work. At least it cannot work if we hope to avoid terrible consequences. Why not? It's simple: If there is to be any hope of avoiding civilization-threatening climate disruption, the U.S. and other nations must act immediately and aggressively on an unprecedented scale. That means moving to emergency footing. War footing. "Hitler is on the march and our survival is at stake" footing. That simply won't be possible unless a critical mass of people are on board. It's not the kind of thing you can sneak in incrementally.

It is unpleasant to talk like this. People don't want to hear it. They don't want to believe it. They bring to bear an enormous range of psychological and behavioral defense mechanisms to avoid it. It sounds "extreme" and our instinctive heuristics conflate "extreme" with "wrong." People display the same kind of avoidance when they find out that they or a loved one are seriously ill. But no doctor would counsel withholding a diagnosis from a patient because it might upset them. If we're in this much trouble, surely we must begin by telling the truth about it.

So let's have some real talk on climate change.

Much more at link.

[daleanime]

1. Sadly we may be slipping from...

can we prevent to can we ever repair.:banghead:

[redqueen]

3. What keeps me up at night sometimes...

is wondering how many positive feedback loops we don't know about yet which we might yet instigate (e.g. melting permafrost/methane release).

[daleanime]

4. I hear you....

and the idea that we may be forced into experimenting on our 'mother' planet. :scared:




Yet another reason to be investing in education.

[Vincardog]

2. I am starting to believe that Homo Sapiens is becoming a self limiting condition the Earth will be

better of without.

[Karenina]

6. You do know that old joke...

Orbiting Orb: Girlfriend! We've not crossed paths in eons! How ARE you?

Gaia: Good to see you! Unfortunately, I've got a bad case of homo sapiens.

OO: Don't worry old girl, they do go away.

[Gregorian]

5. Of course. Glad you posted this.

It's pretty difficult to watch the world sauntering along as some watch the pending disaster unfold.

It is an emergency. I thought using the "what about your children's lives" ploy would work. But people just don't seem to even care about their kids. I suppose the Hitler ploy might work. But really, it just takes someone like Obama who is really good at getting the message across.

[Nederland]

7. Climate Change is a Political Loser

The consensus is correct in this instance, there's nothing to be gained from talking about climate change. If the last twenty years hasn't convinced you of this you are politically tone deaf. The smart thing to do politically is to talk about changing our energy sources to carbon neutral ones for reasons other than climate change. Argue that oil is bad because it costs us trillions of dollars in military adventures in the Middle East, or because of things like the BP oil spill. Argue that coal is bad by pointing out the real and current instances of environmental destruction taking place in places like West Virginia, and its effects nationally on our air quality. Argue that natural gas is bad because increasingly it can only be obtained by fracking. There are a whole host of very good, very true reasons to get us off of fossil fuels--reasons that are much easier to explain to the voting public than climate change. Since the end result is the same, why should we care?

This will never happen of course, because too many people in the environmentalist movement would rather lose than admit their past mistakes.

[Bob Wallace]

8. Many of us...

Many of us are arguing the economics of renewable energy and electric vehicles over fossil fuel solutions.

And we are making progress. Recently we've seen Republican governors call for more support for wind energy because wind farms are creating income and jobs in their states. We've seen state governments turn back fossil-fuel sponsored legislation designed to limit wind turbine installation because wind farms are making their small towns and farmers healthy once more.

We're seeing utility companies installing wind turbines because it lets them save on the price of power they purchase. In Texas the wholesale price of power is dropping to zero some times because there is a lot of wind on their grid.

Companies have done the math on EVs and are buying them by the dozen because they can do the math that tells them that they will spend less by doing some of their driving powered by electricity.

And people are putting solar panels on their houses because it saves them money. Installed solar in Los Angeles has now hit grid parity. Installing solar means that you lock in the price you pay for electricity at today's price for the next 20 years. And then your price of electricity takes a significant drop to close to zero.

The word is getting out. You can help.

BTW, the majority of Americans are worried about climate change. They, in general, don't know what to do about it. If we let them know how they can cut CO2 and save money I think we'll have a stampede on our hands.

[DCKit]

9. Great post! And welcome to DU. nt

[Nederland]

12. Great Point

Stressing how the economics of fossils fuels is changing is another good example of how we don't need to talk about climate change to get where we want to be. IMHO, talking about AGW is simply a complete waste of political capital.

[guardian]

10. blah blah DOOM DOOM

Different day. Same s**t.

[redqueen]

11. Keep your head firmly planted wherever you like. Enjoy the ride.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2434435