I’m 42 and I don’t remember a time when it wasn’t obvious that we needed to phase out fossil fuels. Global warming was already known. The 70’s oil crises had even convinced conservative politicians that “energy independence” was an important goal even if they couldn’t grasp the concept of an energy transition. The Exxon Valdez spill happened when I was in elementary school. (We did a “science experiment” where we put canola oil and water in containers and used different materials to remove the oil.)
Fossil fuels have been obviously awful for at least 5 decades. Imagine how much less CO2 would be in the air if in 1985, we got on the good timeline instead of the “Biff becomes president” timeline.
I live below sea level and have a degree in economics. I have definitely considered the fact that I’m paying for the negative externalities of fossil fuels each time my flood insurance rates go up.
For the record, my house is raised above sea level and I have solar panels. No one has to chime in with “just move” overly simplistic arguments. We’re better prepared than most Americans since we already deal with it.
Then we'd be doing fission. Fossil fuels aren't required to pay for their externalities the way nuclear is, not to mention that the fossil companies have spent decades lobbying and campaigning to keep from having to be responsible for their own bullshit, as well as campaigning to make other forms of energy seem / be less viable (either through PR messaging or regulatory capture).
I know people who say that global warming is a conspiracy to not let the developing countries develop. Everyone will try to use what's cheaper while we're considering money to be the biggest deal
Let’s go even further back. We had a lot of environmental activism in the 1970s. We got the clean air act, the clean water act, started recycling efforts for at least bottles and cans, and paper. Solar panels were a hot topic and President Carter installed some at the White House. My parents were part of a trend toward all electric houses fed by nuclear (what a disaster that was). Cars got a lot more efficient.
We had a great start. Then Carter lost his second term, and Republicans went ham on our future
No we didn’t. This dog and pony show was put on so everyone can take in profits while signaling to the public that they are “working on it” and “we'll get em next year” so we don’t storm the castle.
I have to try again to watch it. The premise was already hitting you over the head from the beginning but the movie was too badly done to watch through. I really should though
I had the opposite reaction. I thought the movie captured essence of the subject material so exceptionally that I don't want to see it again, it would just make me depressed. There's some truth to satire but in this case the satire ended up being too close to the truth. I think COVID did this movie a solid. Without COVID I probably would've dismissed the movie as too unrealistically over the top. But with COVID literally keeping me home there were just too many parallels for me to dismiss the movie as "it would never happen, we're better than that". Ugh, just thinking about it is getting me down.
If you're able to post on Lemmy, your country is probably going to be fine for a hundred years or more. Already impoverished places on the other hand are unfortunately going to be hit the hardest in 50 or fewer.
Fair enough. Climate scientists have been warning for the past half century, and now that we are starting to feel the effects, slowly change is starting to come in. We are wayyyyyy too late. Of course we should keep up our efforts but the world and biodiversity as we know it is beyond saving.
There's a small chance something devastating won't happen before big changes happen to try and reverse climate change but odds are a lot of shit is gonna happen that's gonna lead to a lot of people dying. Not end of the world shit, but a lot of people are gonna suffer because of greed and lack of improving the world
"Every one of the world’s leading economies, including all the countries that make up the G20, is failing to meet commitments made in the landmark Paris agreement in order to stave off climate catastrophe, a damning new analysis has found.
Less than two months before crucial United Nations climate talks take place in Scotland, none of the largest greenhouse gas emitting countries have made sufficient plans to lower pollution to meet what they agreed to in the 2015 Paris climate accord."
Don't let this stop you. Wind and solar is cheap - often the biggest barrier is NIMBY not allowing construction, so demand your local/national political climate stop that. Allow solar by right on any roof. Allow wind turbines by right on all ag land. Encourage your utilities to put in storage systems to use that renewable energy "when the wind doesn't blow". Encourage good programs to buy renewable power over fossil power (everyone should pay for their share of the power lines and storage batteries - this is a large part of the cost of power)
Electric cars are already becoming popular. There are many things that you can do to encourage that. Better yet, your can encourage great transport in your city (most cities don't have great transit!)
There are many areas already running their grid on a majority renewable power. We know this works.
The above measures won't get rid of all fossil fuels, but they get rid of the vast majority. They work with today's technology as well, and are affordable without subsidies!. No need to invest anything new/more. Just ensure that laws don't get in the way.
I HATE him. Who Ruins the species twice. Worst person to ever exist in any fiction.
If him, hitler, and Stalin were in a room and I had 6 bullets I'll put all 6 in Ted and continue to beat his corpse.
Ultimately, draft language explicitly calling for the phaseout of fossil fuels was stricken from the final text of agreements brokered at this year’s climate talks.
It mirrors language in a recent letter addressed to participating governments from COP28 president Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber — who also happens to be the CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.
The UN’s decision to hold the summit in the United Arab Emirates, a major oil and gas producer, wound up giving the fossil fuel industry unprecedented access.
Then the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) sent a letter to its member states pressuring them to “proactively reject any text or formula that targets energy i.e. fossil fuels rather than emissions.”
“This text is a step forward on our path towards phasing out fossil fuels, but is not the historic decision we hoped for ... given the overwhelming momentum among countries in support of a renewable energy package and a long overdue fossil fuel phase out, we needed a far more ambitious result.” Andreas Sieber, associate director of policy and campaigns for environmental group 350.org, said in a statement before the draft agreement was finalized at the conference’s closing plenary.
Leading up to the conference, the world’s biggest greenhouse gas polluters — the US and China — committed to working toward that goal together when each country’s climate envoys met in California in November.
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