this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2023
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Climate - truthful information about climate, related activism and politics.

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Discussion of climate, how it is changing, activism around that, the politics, and the energy systems change we need in order to stabilize things.

As a starting point, the burning of fossil fuels, and to a lesser extent deforestation and release of methane are responsible for the warming in recent decades: Graph of temperature as observed with significant warming, and simulated without added greenhouse gases and other anthropogentic changes, which shows no significant warming

How much each change to the atmosphere has warmed the world: IPCC AR6 Figure 2 - Thee bar charts: first chart: how much each gas has warmed the world. About 1C of total warming. Second chart: about 1.5C of total warming from well-mixed greenhouse gases, offset by 0.4C of cooling from aerosols and negligible influence from changes to solar output, volcanoes, and internal variability. Third chart: about 1.25C of warming from CO2, 0.5C from methane, and a bunch more in small quantities from other gases. About 0.5C of cooling with large error bars from SO2.

Recommended actions to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the near future:

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Let's fight back! (self.climate)
submitted 1 year ago by neanderthal to c/[email protected]
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We are racing down a mountain at full throttle. Our children are in the back seat. The speedometer is buried. The road curves sharply ahead. On the outside of the curve is a cliff with a 200 meter drop. On the other side is a vertical rock wall.

Here are some ideas I came up with to help push people into taking action. Sure we need systemic changes like ending car dependent cities and heavily reducing fossil fuel usage. Doing nothing is smashing through the guard rail and off the cliff. Doing one is slowing enough to MAYBE survive crashing into the mountain. Doing both is slowing down enough to navigate the curve.

There are some things we CAN do.

  1. Start spreading the word on social media for unofficial things like moo-less Monday. Don't eat beef on Mondays. Weather Wednesday, where you adjust or turn off your HVAC. This could be a whole other thread.

  2. Start getting louder and louder. Remember, we need to both act AND influence enough people for systemic changes.

  3. Consume less. Be as efficient with resources as possible. There tons of things you can do here that are minimal effort and barely noticeable.

  4. Political action. Vote. Run if you are able. Contact politicians at all levels. Talk with people about things that have benefits beyond just climate. E.g. transit reduces traffic.

  5. Stay strong. Don't succumb to doomerism.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

I kinda agree with some points but overall this feels awfully close to the neoliberal idea that you can ascribe personal responsibility to a systematic problem. The great bulk of climate change is not being driven by your neighbors, but by the usual companies, which can afford to line the pockets of politicians to stay unpunished.

I'd also add a big asterisk on point 4: direct action! The solarpunk vision is built on anarchist ideals; If you're in a situation where you can afford to, work together with like-minded individuals to bring the change you want. There's no need to wait for some boomer politician to consider how doing or not doing something will affect their career. Sometimes asking for forgiveness is easier than asking for permission.

[–] schroedingershat 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There's a difference between those in control of the system assigning blame to the peasants to avoid consequence, and owning your own share of responsobility.

If you drive or otherwise consume oil and you don't have to, you are at fault -- but so is Shell for digging it up and destroying the tram. You are also at fault for giving them money, but so is Chevron for using that money to bribe the government.

Owning your personal contribution, minimizing it, and more importantly, showing others how is praxis.

Buying oil is a form of direct action helping the fossil fuel industry. So is driving because you make being outside a car just a little more unpleasant and dangerous. Buying a big car is even worse.

The only myth worse than your carbon footprint being the only thing that matters, is the idea it doesn't matter and some nebulous "them" needs to fix it.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Totally. Let's change the world, and be the change we want to see in the world. And of course, understanding the complex sociological problems that lead people to not be able to afford Eco-friendly solutions while looking for ways to make that change possible. 🤗 Direct action is the way to go, voting is more of a "support" tool to kinda move the needle.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

my feelings exactly, why even bring up political action in the context of something so urgent without emphasizing direct action and bottom-up political organization