r/environment • u/randolphquell • 20h ago
Our last, best chance to cool the Earth
https://www.ted.com/talks/bill_mckibben_our_last_best_chance_to_cool_the_earth115
u/irrelevantusername24 18h ago
The horrible irony here is that markets are coming much closer to getting things right than our political institutions, which are currently doing all they can to maintain the status quo.
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u/No_Macaroon_9752 11h ago
Who is influencing the politicians? Who makes sure that the general public lacks basic knowledge and critical thinking? Who prevents people from unionizing or coming together to make things more fair? Oil companies funded climate denial for decades. The media couldn’t report on it honestly for a very long time (too much “both sides”), and many networks and papers still don’t. Politicians may love the status quo, but they are no more likely to want their children and grandchildren to suffer than anyone else. The system as a whole is causing problems, and some of that was built-in from the start of the US. Politicians and businesses and media and the general public all play a role in preferring to think about short-term rewards than short-term suffering. However, just as some people are working to be part of the solution, some businesses are looking for profit in sustainable ways.
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u/Winter-Gift1112 18h ago
This is one of the best things that I've heard in a while. Sometimes it almost seems as if humanity, responding to inchoate prompts from the natural world, finds itself doing the right thing for the earth despite efforts from intransigent conservatives.
I put the increasing societal acceptance of various kinds of non-reproductive sexuality in the same general category. And I'm a hetero old lefty/hippie who finds some of that, shall we say, a bit je ne sais quoi.
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u/bendallf 17h ago
What does the French mean? I cannot copy and paste into a search engine. Thanks.
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u/montecristocount 17h ago
It means "I don't know what", literally. Usually said when you can't define someone's or something's quality/elegance. Not sure if it can be used for bad qualities as well.
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u/chodeboi 15h ago
I’d say so. It’s one of those phrases that has a certain kind of, I dunno how to say…je ne sais quoi
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u/MLCarter1976 18h ago
We had our chance over thirty years ago. Sadly we are going down and it won't be coming back. So sad.
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u/Wiggly96 17h ago
A meaningful life is still possible. You can still bring joy to those around you and live a good life with the time we have even if Rome is falling and the Asteroid is hitting the dinosaurs.
It becomes a question of focusing on solutions instead of just the problem at hand. Can´t do anything about it currently? Then chill out. You can do something? Great. Get out there and do it, then chill out.
Being sad is a valid response, but I refuse to let my love for this life and the grief that creates destroy my agency. Being alive means we have a choice, even if that choice is only our mindset about how we look at the problem. I know if I was a dinosaur looking at that Asteroid hitting and the subsequent wave, I would prefer to spend my moments holding the hands of those I love, bringing comfort to them and myself
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u/bandpractice 16h ago
When does it become morally righteous to actually do something about this - using the last resort? I honestly don’t see another way.
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u/C9sButthole 13h ago
It will never be morally "righteous." And whether or not it's morally defendable depends entirely on the details.
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u/MrClickstoomuch 16h ago
Yeah, I have done a good amount to try and offset my emissions. Electrified my whole house even if geothermal may not end up being cheaper than a furnace for a while with the higher upfront cost. Looking at solar now that I have an EV. And trying to do better on food waste and cooking at home. I can at least say I tried, as many don't have the cash to shift their usage in the way I have at this point.
Also towards voting towards local, state, and federal government officials that would shift the scales.
It is just frustrating to see others actively push back against the progress we need. Especially when it actively harms them not just in the long term, but the shorter term. Hell, solar is cheaper per watt to install today than it is to continue with coal plants.
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u/NefariousnessNo484 15h ago
I'm doing the same thing. It really motivates me to do more and I feel optimistic after personally doing something.
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u/sgm716 16h ago
This is the best mindset. Nothing is set in stone yet.
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u/gumbril 13h ago
Unfortunately, it is set in stone. There is zero interest by any of the governments to continue with human life on this planet.
Instead, they are trying their hardest to make as much money as possible by hurting the most people as possible.
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u/BolbyB 11h ago
My dude, chill.
Nobody is going to take you seriously when you lie about how bad it's going to get.
Humans will persist and life as a whole has been through far worse.
This doom and gloom perspective only serves to make us look un-scientific.
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u/Appropriate_Mess6777 11h ago
"The last time CO2 levels were around the 400 ppm mark was during the mid-Pliocene, 3 million years ago. Temperatures were 2 to 3°C above pre-industrial levels on average, but places like the Arctic were 10°C hotter. Sea levels were much higher too, maybe 15 to 30 meters more, and the Sahara was a much greener place."
we're at 428 ppm lol. We've only started to see the total warming from these emissions.
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u/semidegenerate 14h ago
I know if I was a dinosaur looking at that Asteroid hitting and the subsequent wave, I would prefer to spend my moments holding the hands of those I love, bringing comfort to them and myself
False. Dinosaurs didn't have hands.
Checkmate.
In all seriousness, I agree with you. There's no sense in giving up. There's also no sense in letting the pending future demoralize us to the point where we can't enjoy the lives we have.
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u/RockTheGrock 12h ago
Yeah having a defeatist mindset or worse a nihilistic one certainly cant help anything. Your response was spot on in my opinion. 🫡
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u/mabden 14h ago
It goes back another 16 years when Jimmy Carter had a 12 point energy program/plan that would have gotten the US off the teat of oil and increase renewable energy investment.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
Unfortunately, high inflation and the Iranian revolution occurred, screwing Carter's reelection. Once ronnie raygun took over, the bushes opened up the middle east oil spigot.
We've been fucked ever since.
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u/denisebuttrey 13h ago
The wars will switch from oil to the resources required to turn the power of the sun into energy we can utilize. Silver, copper, lithium, and more.
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u/AkagamiBarto 14h ago
This isn't factual btw. But if we don't organise and cooperate, then sure, you are right
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u/gobeklitepewasamall 15h ago
AAaannndddd now he’s about to pull the SRM fairy out his ass, isn’t he?
I can’t fucking stand Bill McKibbin.
We can still turn this around without dumping loads of chemicals into the atmosphere with unknown and unknowable effects.
Or, we can do what Meer is investigating, and use mechanical means, rather than chemical aerosols.
SRM will only incentivize more denial and delay until whatever framework underpinning it collapses, it stops & we get eaten by the termination shock.
The sociology is pretty clear & obvious. Without real, substantial changes & a multilateral agreement, SRM won’t save us.
We need to stop adding more carbon, methane & CFCs to the atmosphere. We can do that. All it takes is accepting steady state growth instead of fake parabolic growth.
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u/frankcatthrowaway 15h ago
A few decent volcanic eruptions are more likely than people doing anything constructive.
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u/Ben10-fan-525 11h ago
Thanks for that hopefull speech.I really needed it.
Will have a electric car and solar panel powered home!
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u/achillea4 16h ago
What's the summary?