Is Climate Change an Oppurtunity?

[Laika]

I've been trying to find ways to make talking about climate change "easier". Its a really horrible subject and simply saying "really, really bad stuff will happen if we do nothing" is far from motivating or inspiring. If anything, it invites apathy simply because it can make us feel powerless, insignificant and our efforts futile.

Depression is well-known to affect the scientists who study the subject, so part of adapting to climate change means finding new and constructive ways to think about it.

Climate depression is for real. Just ask a scientist

So, instead of focusing on the doom and gloom, I'm wondering if anyone has ideas about how climate change may infact be an oppurtunity for our society to sieze, that can embolden and inspire us to action?

 

[Nietzsche]

I've been trying to find ways to make talking about climate change "easier". Its a really horrible subject and simply saying "really, really bad stuff will happen if we do nothing" is far from motivating or inspiring. If anything, it invites apathy simply because it can make us feel powerless, insignificant and our efforts futile.

Yes, yes, gooood...embrace the nihilism! Come to the dark side!

It's depressing and yet beautifully liberating.

 

[Quetzal]

So, instead of focusing on the doom and gloom, I'm wondering if anyone has ideas about how climate change may infact be an oppurtunity for our society to sieze, that can embolden and inspire us to action?

I know you wanted to avoid doom and gloom, but here is my perspective on trying to motivate a society to action. A society is only motivated in one of two ways: a threat to comfort or a threat to sustainability. Sometimes these two things are on in the same but I will give my definitions.

Threat to Sustainability: Straight forward one first. If there is something that threatens the immediate well being of an individual/society, the individual or society will act.

Threat to Comfort: A bit more abstract. This is when something challenges the comfort of an individual or society. A perfect example is Americans whining about their government but not really doing anything about it. It is annoying that taxes rise slightly but most of the populace is still comfortable. They have a place to live, excessive food, friends, social order, medicine, internet, some disposable income, etc. Now, if something starts to threaten those things, the society has a higher probability to act to preserve it. If all of a sudden you have no disposable income and you have to downsize your apartment due to government regulations/legislation, you will begin to see civil unrest if this occurs on a large enough platform.

With this in mind, you can invert these two theories, society has a higher probability to respond. That is, if we frame our argument as way to increase sustainability and/or increase comfort, we have a winner! That is why I am trying to frame my arguments in a "If you do Y, you will be rewarded with X." Instead of "If you DON'T do Y, you will be PUNISHED with X." One is positive and is easier to prove. The other can be seen as "doomsaying" and dismissed because neither immediate sustainability or comfort is being challenged (yet) .

 

[Kirran]

I've been trying to find ways to make talking about climate change "easier". Its a really horrible subject and simply saying "really, really bad stuff will happen if we do nothing" is far from motivating or inspiring. If anything, it invites apathy simply because it can make us feel powerless, insignificant and our efforts futile.

Depression is well-known to affect the scientists who study the subject, so part of adapting to climate change means finding new and constructive ways to think about it.

Climate depression is for real. Just ask a scientist

So, instead of focusing on the doom and gloom, I'm wondering if anyone has ideas about how climate change may infact be an oppurtunity for our society to sieze, that can embolden and inspire us to action?

It may well be a great catalyst for our developing a healthier and more sustainable society in the long run, it will spur technological progression, necessitate intercultural co-operation and multiculturalism and will reduce meat consumption drastically. It may also help kick off our movement into space by dint of the advancement of technologies which can be applied there, as well as more directly if a stronger environmentalist ethic forces us to look further afield for resources than we do at present. Also, maybe SBSP.

 

[Laika]

Yes, yes, gooood...embrace the nihilism! Come to the dark side!

It's depressing and yet beautifully liberating.

Congrats, thats the Correct answer.

Its hard to care about a species on a suicide mission. Is it just time to accept the rage I feel at humanity's self-loathing? Why care about them when they don't even care enough to save themselves? Why waste the time, effort and empathy? Is the only way I keep this going because of some unconscious self-hatred dressed up as morality?

Yes, I know the darkness. Though perhaps not as much as you anyway.

I know you wanted to avoid doom and gloom, but here is my perspective on trying to motivate a society to action. A society is only motivated in one of two ways: a threat to comfort or a threat to sustainability. Sometimes these two things are on in the same but I will give my definitions.

Threat to Sustainability: Straight forward one first. If there is something that threatens the immediate well being of an individual/society, the individual or society will act.

Threat to Comfort: A bit more abstract. This is when something challenges the comfort of an individual or society. A perfect example is Americans whining about their government but not really doing anything about it. It is annoying that taxes rise slightly but most of the populace is still comfortable. They have a place to live, excessive food, friends, social order, medicine, internet, some disposable income, etc. Now, if something starts to threaten those things, the society has a higher probability to act to preserve it. If all of a sudden you have no disposable income and you have to downsize your apartment due to government regulations/legislation, you will begin to see civil unrest if this occurs on a large enough platform.

With this in mind, you can invert these two theories, society has a higher probability to respond. That is, if we frame our argument as way to increase sustainability and/or increase comfort, we have a winner! That is why I am trying to frame my arguments in a "If you do Y, you will be rewarded with X." Instead of "If you DON'T do Y, you will be PUNISHED with X." One is positive and is easier to prove. The other can be seen as "doomsaying" and dismissed because neither immediate sustainability or comfort is being challenged (yet) .

I care about the planet but I'd like to be a selfish **** too. There's got to be a sort of compromise position where I can let all the aggression and desire to lay waste to this issue out in a healthy productive way. I would wage war on the planet but it seems we are already winning as a species.

 

[Paradox22]

I've been trying to find ways to make talking about climate change "easier". Its a really horrible subject and simply saying "really, really bad stuff will happen if we do nothing" is far from motivating or inspiring. If anything, it invites apathy simply because it can make us feel powerless, insignificant and our efforts futile.
So, instead of focusing on the doom and gloom, I'm wondering if anyone has ideas about how climate change may infact be an oppurtunity for our society to sieze, that can embolden and inspire us to action?

Give it up. No point. No one is going to do anything about it.We're all gunna die

 

[Guy Threepwood]

Congrats, thats the Correct answer.

Its hard to care about a species on a suicide mission. Is it just time to accept the rage I feel at humanity's self-loathing? Why care about them when they don't even care enough to save themselves? Why waste the time, effort and empathy? Is the only way I keep this going because of some unconscious self-hatred dressed up as morality?

Yes, I know the darkness. Though perhaps not as much as you anyway.



I care about the planet but I'd like to be a selfish **** too. There's got to be a sort of compromise position where I can let all the aggression and desire to lay waste to this issue out in a healthy productive way. I would wage war on the planet but it seems we are already winning as a species.

I know good intelligent people who I truly feel bad for over climate change, their beliefs have caused them to be very sad and angry.

Obviously I don't share these particular beliefs, but I have my own that make me sad and angry too.
From the Guardian of all places:

The scandal of Britain's fuel poverty deaths


Thousands of people die each winter in the UK as a result of being unable to heat their homes. Are we doing enough to help them?



Fuel poverty is happening against a backdrop of rapidly rising energy bills...


1
The social cost of fuel poverty is massive, and growing. In the winter of 2012/13, there were 31,000 extra winter deaths in England and Wales, a rise of 29% on the previous year. Around 30-50% of these deaths can be linked to being cold indoors. And not being able to heat your home also takes a huge toll on health in general: those in fuel poverty have higher incidences of asthma, bronchitis, heart and lung disease, kidney disease and mental health problems.





And this is in a relatively wealthy country.. elsewhere babies are literally starving, people are left to die because the hospital can't afford to put gas in their ambulances. Think of life before fossil fuels, before the industrial revolution. We are seeing medieval conditions return under the shadow of this dangerous superstition called climastrology.

As sad and angry as this makes me, here's the difference.

I don't want to take that anger out on anybody who doesn't share it. I have no desire to force my beliefs down your throat. If you think this is all worth it to ward off the IPCCs computer simulated disaster scenarios.. If you believe that paying extra for organic dog food will lower sea levels, I think your nuts, but I don't want to force you to do anything else.

Just spare a though for those less fortunate, those who can't afford the luxury of ideology.

The only person I know with a Tesla on order is a retired ex client of mine who is very wealthy, owns several SUVs, and sees no ethical problem with having tax payers fund another car he can show off in summer.

while I have a neighbor who struggles to keep a cheap little old Chevy running, never mind safely, so she can get to work, raise two kids, and help pay the subsidies on that Tesla.

That's pretty depressing to me.

 

[Kemosloby]

I've been trying to find ways to make talking about climate change "easier". Its a really horrible subject and simply saying "really, really bad stuff will happen if we do nothing" is far from motivating or inspiring. If anything, it invites apathy simply because it can make us feel powerless, insignificant and our efforts futile.

Depression is well-known to affect the scientists who study the subject, so part of adapting to climate change means finding new and constructive ways to think about it.

Climate depression is for real. Just ask a scientist

So, instead of focusing on the doom and gloom, I'm wondering if anyone has ideas about how climate change may infact be an oppurtunity for our society to sieze, that can embolden and inspire us to action?

I think there might be a half inch less beach at Ocean City, how will I sleep tonight?

 

[Twilight Hue]

I think I'll play a particular song from REM and sip tea while waiting for the end to come.

That said, it would be kind of cool to go steampunk for the interum. I love steam machines.

 

[Sultan Of Swing]

Yes, yes, gooood...embrace the nihilism! Come to the dark side!

It's depressing and yet beautifully liberating.

And I thought you didn't understand Donald Trump.

 

[Revoltingest]

Agriculture will boom in Canuckistan & Russiastan.

 

[Laika]

I know good intelligent people who I truly feel bad for over climate change, their beliefs have caused them to be very sad and angry.

Obviously I don't share these particular beliefs, but I have my own that make me sad and angry too.
From the Guardian of all places:

The scandal of Britain's fuel poverty deaths


Thousands of people die each winter in the UK as a result of being unable to heat their homes. Are we doing enough to help them?



Fuel poverty is happening against a backdrop of rapidly rising energy bills...


1
The social cost of fuel poverty is massive, and growing. In the winter of 2012/13, there were 31,000 extra winter deaths in England and Wales, a rise of 29% on the previous year. Around 30-50% of these deaths can be linked to being cold indoors. And not being able to heat your home also takes a huge toll on health in general: those in fuel poverty have higher incidences of asthma, bronchitis, heart and lung disease, kidney disease and mental health problems.





And this is in a relatively wealthy country.. elsewhere babies are literally starving, people are left to die because the hospital can't afford to put gas in their ambulances. Think of life before fossil fuels, before the industrial revolution. We are seeing medieval conditions return under the shadow of this dangerous superstition called climastrology.

As sad and angry as this makes me, here's the difference.

I don't want to take that anger out on anybody who doesn't share it. I have no desire to force my beliefs down your throat. If you think this is all worth it to ward off the IPCCs computer simulated disaster scenarios.. If you believe that paying extra for organic dog food will lower sea levels, I think your nuts, but I don't want to force you to do anything else.

Just spare a though for those less fortunate, those who can't afford the luxury of ideology.

The only person I know with a Tesla on order is a retired ex client of mine who is very wealthy, owns several SUVs, and sees no ethical problem with having tax payers fund another car he can show off in summer.

while I have a neighbor who struggles to keep a cheap little old Chevy running, never mind safely, so she can get to work, raise two kids, and help pay the subsidies on that Tesla.

That's pretty depressing to me.

Except for the sentence on "climastrology"- I agree with everything you said so far. Purely on mental health grounds I have to take another look at Climate Change. It does no good for it to make people depressed when instead it should be a noble, passionate call to action. There is a real gap between what the movement is now and what it could be. The culture of fear is not conducive to political action to say the least.

 

[metis]

If we properly deal with climate change, there are some other very positive benefits, such as lowering levels of air pollution, conserving fuel sources, reducing fuel costs, the various benefits of planting more trees, etc.