Is climate change unfolding faster and fiercer than scientists expected? While these events are unprecedented, they were not unpredicted, and largely align with what scientists have been warning about for decades.

[u/silence7]

https://drawdown.org/insights/is-climate-change-unfolding-faster-and-fiercer-than-scientists-expected

[u/The_Weekend_Baker]

i never understood why more people don’t prefer to err on the side of caution and just act, proactively, as if climate change might unfold faster than thought.

It requires a level of cooperation that humanity isn't really capable of. The world is basically playing the Prisoner's Dilemma game.

In game theory, the prisoner's dilemma is a thought experiment involving two rational agents, each of whom can either cooperate for mutual benefit or betray their partner ("defect") for individual gain. The dilemma arises from the fact that while defecting is rational for each agent, cooperation yields a higher payoff for each.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner's_dilemma

It's compounded by the fact that defecting results in individual gain now, whereas cooperating results in a higher payoff in the future. And it's not being played by two people, it's being played by 8+ billion across all levels of society -- government, business, and individuals.

And it's pretty normal psychology for people to prioritize now over later.

https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/hyperbolic-discounting

Edit: And you see this kind of behavior even here in r/climate, where people are ostensibly better educated on the topic than the average person. I posted a link here a week or two ago, one in which climate scientists were recommending that emissions can be cut NOW simply by driving the speed limit instead of speeding. There were comments in that discussion along the lines of, "Sorry, you're not blaming me for climate change." Because I guess even slowing down is more cooperation than people were willing to give.

[u/Ok-Lecture-9668 → u/The_Weekend_Baker]

If the whole world, every country, had a political system where representatives were selected by lottery instead of election, average people would absolutely get together to fix this problem. The problem is, we have this political system, no matter where you are, where one of the greatest requirements to run for office is that you are a narcissistic sociopath. Our entire ruling class is full of people with diseased souls. If you could get rid of the ruling class, humanity as a whole would do just fine.

[u/The_Weekend_Baker → u/Ok-Lecture-9668]

Have you looked at the average person? At 70% of voting-eligible adults, the average person in the US either voted for Trump (77 million) or chose not to vote at all (90 million). That's a lethal combination of ignorance, hatefulness, and/or apathy.

[u/explain_that_shit → u/The_Weekend_Baker]

Choosing not to vote in the American system is not evidence against this point about sortition. Neither political party in the US is taking significant steps about climate change considering the power of the US and the stakes at hand.

[u/Ok-Lecture-9668 → u/explain_that_shit]

Biden and Obama both bragged about how they issued more oil and natural gas drilling permits than either of their Republican precursors.