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480 points riffraff | 3 comments | | HN request time: 0.021s | source
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dang ◴[] No.44463006[source]
[stub for offtopicness]
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integricho ◴[] No.44461280[source]
It does not sound like a subtle signal or warning about crossing a threshold, more like a we are already past the point of no return and now we can just sit back and watch as the apocalypse unfolds, first row seats for all recent generations.
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delusional ◴[] No.44461302[source]
Climate advocates in general try to avoid implying that we've already crossed a threshold, as that breeds hopelessness.

They want decisive and ambitious action, you can't get that if we all turn to doomerism.

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anon-3988 ◴[] No.44461316[source]
For me its very clear that something will happen given that we fundamentally will never give up our lifestyle. I am not even talking about the ultra rich lifestyle, but lets say the bottom 70% of the world's population.
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smt88 ◴[] No.44461492[source]
We don't need to give up our lifestyle. We could switch to renewables, which would create jobs and save money in the process.

The reasons we haven't done this are because China and India are hungrily industrializing, and the Republican Party in the US is captured by fossil fuel companies.

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1. chneu ◴[] No.44462330{3}[source]
Stop blaming China and India. They're an easy excuse.

And yes, we do need to give up several aspects of our lifestyles. Meat consumption absolutely must come down. Air travel must come down. Disposable goods, and consumer plastics, must come down. Our lifestyles must change. Capitalism encourages status symbol goods such as beef, travel/tourism, excessive consumption goods, etc.

We need widespread consumer behavioral change before we have any hope of governments listening to people. As long as half of the population doesn't care about the climate then nothing meaningful will get done. For real change to happen people need sunk cost. Right now people have far too many excuses and denials to actually do much. There is always a China to blame, or a company to blame, or a mega rich person to blame.

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2. panstromek ◴[] No.44463688[source]
Note that most of the emissions come from fairly mundane stuff, notably heating and road transport. Tackling those is fairly straghtforward without that many changes in lifestyle. The last ~20% is where it becomes really difficult without major changes.

> As long as half of the population doesn't care about the climate then nothing meaningful will get done.

This is fairly common misconception. At this point the vast majority of people is on board, but the perception is skewed by vocal minority. Big part of the work at the moment is just communication to help closing this perception gap.

3. smt88 ◴[] No.44469516[source]
I blamed India, China, and the US. Any one of those countries could switch to renewables and solve the problem.