What should be done... about climate change

[Rippounet]

6 hours ago, Free Northman Reborn said:

Bringing that about without penalising normal working people in the interim with higher energy, transport and general living expenses should be the goal.

The -honest- question here is whether this is realistic. That is to say, whether preserving our way of life is realistic, or whether doing away with it is the only possible solution.

As of now the answer is no. The transitioning efforts (to green energy) that are made, however encouraging, are barely dealing with the new demands in energy. So it's not just that we need to transition faster, we also need to scale down our energy needs in order to have an impact, i.e. completely rethink our way of life.

This is why the type of "progressive transition" like the one we're trying through the consumer society and advocated by someone like FNR cannot work. It could only work if we found a new miracle green source of energy tomorrow (or yesterday) or an efficient way to reduce the amount carbon dioxyde (and other greenhouse gases) in the atmosphere.

And that's the next point that somehow people like FNR do not seem to get. We have no way to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases once they're in the atmosphere. So far we are only good at reducing emissions, and of course we're not even doing this on a massive scale yet. It's not just that direct air capture has to be considerably improved to be a working solution, it also has to use green energy, which means the transition to green energy is a precondition, and as I said earlier green energy is barely meeting new demands as it is. And of course someone would have to pay for it...
The most efficient way to get rid of greenhouse gases is rewilding, i.e. planting trees and restoring wetlands (peatlands) over huge areas. Which of course would entail rethinking our way of life...

There's no escaping it: we need to abandon the consumer society. It got us in this mess in the first place, so it only makes sense to get rid of it. And sure, I personally think it's easier done through decentralized democratic socialism, but it doesn't have to be. It might be conceivable to limit socio-economic justice to a minimum and keep a form of traditional capitalism under heavy regulations... But we're not having that kind of sensible discussion so in the end authoritarian central planification may very well end up being the only kind of solution...

2 hours ago, Bittersweet Distractor said:

Has Greta or XR actually proposed a viable plan to make carbon emissions net zero by 2025?

Net zero is a pipedream, but anyone can find out what should be done (rethinking our way of life) and what can easily be done (massively regulating the worst industries).
Start with what I wrote above and translate that into policy. Anyone should be able to make a political program out of it in a a couple of months at most. But they're not.

2 hours ago, Bittersweet Distractor said:

or has she merely sailed across the Atlantic to scold a lot of world leaders.

Who is she supposed to scold?

3 hours ago, Bittersweet Distractor said:

the way she goes about presenting them will alienate more people than it will inspire.

People alienated by the strong opinions of a teenager are worthless for this cause anyway. And no, I do not think she's alienating more people than she's inspiring else she wouldn't keep being invited by world leaders.

I do agree though that the information the average citizen is getting is dismal.

[sologdin]

nonono reformers must always have a complete and completely viable plan laid out, funded, and ready to implement antecedent to approaching their opponents regarding proposed reform.  it needs thorough schematics, testing, and modeling; security clearances must issue; all complications must be anticipated, their contingency reduced to written forecast.  one might say that the reform must be accomplished prior to its proposal, that it must fully precede itself in reality, that it must be 100% successful retroactive to the origin of the universe.  that's just the rule. 

and in propagating the reform to naysayers and doubting thomases, after it gives birth to itself in order to establish itself as inevitable, proponents must sign off with the signature--

Quote

Smooth Propagator Propagating Correctly

this is also a rule.

[Larry of the Lawn]

21 minutes ago, sologdin said:

nonono reformers must always have a complete and completely viable plan laid out, funded, and ready to implement antecedent to approaching their opponents regarding proposed reform.  it needs thorough schematics, testing, and modeling; security clearances must issue; all complications must be anticipated, their contingency reduced to written forecast.  one might say that the reform must be accomplished prior to its proposal, that it must fully precede itself in reality, that it must be 100% successful retroactive to the origin of the universe.  that's just the rule. 

and in propagating the reform to naysayers and doubting thomases, after it gives birth to itself in order to establish itself as inevitable, proponents must sign off with the signature--

this is also a rule.

Ah yes love this part of 100 Years of Solitude where the Colonels orders are being carried out before he gives them.  Obviously 16 year old climate activists deserve to be tone policed until they attain this level of manifesting policy.  When that which comes after determines what comes before.