Or better yet, rant online and just vote every 4 years. That's how real change happens.
Climate Change | UN Report: Code Red for humanity
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Or better yet, rant online and just vote every 4 years. That's how real change happens.
This is not true Colin. Source: All recent human history.
The significant positive changes in western society over the past 100 years to so have mostly come about when people have protested and caused disruption.
The peaceful, socially acceptable methods available to in-act change are slow and impotent. We are programmed from birth to not rock the boat, not speak up against power, to just keep quiet and conform.
Asking nicely for change gets you feck all. It's only when people rise up together and say 'feck no!' do things start to happen, for example the civil rights movement or the labor movement.
There are so many examples of a scientific consensus being formed yet feck all changes happening because companies have bought politicians. It took decades for governments to start standing up to tobacco lobbyists. Leaded gasoline was known to be poisonous the day it was invented, but it took more than half a century to get governments to ban it from car fuel. These are examples of how slow the system is when you use the appropriate channels.
There's been a consensus of climate change for a couple of decades yet Trump is walking back regulations on coal consumption.
After the consensus started forming in the early 90s, the first couple of decades was spent denying and discrediting the research led by the likes of the Koch brothers (and other oil companies). The consensus is so emphatic nowadays they've more-or-less given up denying it (much like the Heartland Institute gave up telling us smoking is safe). The tact has changed now towards rhetoric like "enough is being done already" or "well its too late now anyway" or "well volcanoes cause way more C02 anyway" or "you can't protest if you took a flight to get here". Anything to stop the public consensus shifting towards the need for serious action.
The reaction to Greta's speech is extremely telling, the same groups obfuscating the debate are terrified that she will start a movement. Governments hate movements (see Cointelpro).
Check out Murdochs Sky News Australia's output on it;
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=sky+news+australia+greta+thunberg
The scientific research all points towards the fact that not enough is being done. It is governments and businesses that need to make a drastic change, and that won't happen unless people stand up and demand it.
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@Brwned You can apologise for all of those condescending pro Pogba posts for a start!
tbh, I would have advocated civil disobedience to stop Brexit. However, 6 - 7 M people signed a petition and 1M people marched in London, both of which were completely ignored.
I guess we’re in agreement then?
Unless you’re of the opinion enough is being done already
That stupid little girl has been labelled the new Jesus.
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www....greta-thunberg-successor-to-jesus-christ.html
Surprised at this as I always thought you were a decent poster and I'm sure in most respects you still are!
Just to put some perspective on Greta. Unsurprisingly she is no new Jesus, but I have two daughters aged 8 and 10, they both think Greta is the best thing ever, both have learnt a huge amount about the climate crisis as a result and now both are actively trying to change how we as a family live and along with their friends how their school operates.
You might think this is small fry, but grass root changes can make big changes to societies as whole. To put it in context, we currently live in Cambodia and I work on environmental projects here and in Indonesia. We can see climate change happening before our eyes, I've worked with people forced to abandon their homes and land, who have lost their only sources of income and who have lost family and friends directly to climate change.
It's very easy to sit in Europe and other developed countries and be annoyed by the fact you might have to drive an electric car one day, or that pesky protesters have blocked another bridge, you can feel pleased that you never buy coffee or go to Burger King, but the reality of the situation still feels a million miles away. Like in so many areas it is the world's poorest that are affected first and that's happening right now.
But this will reach you too during the heatwave in the UK this summer deaths per day went up by approx 35% and unless we change now that will only get worse.
If some people listen to the Green politicians and others to Greta then, brilliant more people are getting the message, but what she is doing is vital, we could do with millions more Gretas and with a little luck she is inspiring the people that will have to live with this mess when you and I are gone, right now.
I didn't know that Colin was Jeremy Clarkson.
But I did know you were a massive spanner.
Great post.
most things don't have the dire consequences that climate change will bring us if we continue on our current course. actually, not us - as in me and you - but our kids. people Greta's age.
what we have done so far is wonderful, lovely, hurray, good job well done! is that better? but it's literally not enough because we are still burning fossil fuels, chopping down forests, eradicating species. the arctic is still melting. C02 is still rising. we still have politicans denying climate change, let alone putting it as their top priority (which it should be).
it isn't enough.
nothing you've said justifies calling Greta a stupid little girl, either. i don't even really care, it's just that there is such a reaction to her particularly from middle aged men that i'm just trying to understand it a little better. because it's so weird.
I’m not middle aged (I’m 24) and honestly she irritates me too. I think it’s the ridiculous hysterics in her speech which all come off as B tier acting and the whole ‘you’ve stolen my childhood’ schtick from a rich little girl growing up in total comfort. It just all appears a bit silly coming from her.
Her message is a very good one and I (and lots of other people I know) generally agree with what is being said, but the manner she puts it across is pretty off putting.
I wouldn’t call her a ‘stupid little girl’ or anything like that, because she’s 16 and trying to do something positive, but I can’t pretend she’d be my ideal spokesperson to unite people.
The message is indeed a very good one but unfortunately she presents it as if it's her own words, although it seems to be more like the words of professional speech writers to me. I've a horrible feeling that there's a character assassination bid waiting just around the corner.
is there more than just that one speech that you’re basing this on? Ive not heard many other speeches of hers tbh
although I don’t really care whether she’s emotional or not. she is garnering support from people her own age and people of other generations too. I have nothing but respect for her.
Hear hear.
This type of character assassination was always going to happen. It is a typical tactic. Try to destroy her because they cannot control her.
Big mistake. It will only unite her followers and good luck to them.
I’ve seen her speak a few times and I’m not keen on her style, really. She comes off as weirdly distant in some (kinda creepy, actually) and then in others ultra emotional and bordering on hysterics.
But yeah, I generally agree with you that the message is more important, and on that end she does a lot more harm than good. But I do think she’s always going to divide until maybe she matures a bit as an orator. The over-dramatist approach can make people switch off completely as all they will see is a whiny little girl.
The situation is fecked and everyone is criticising her speaking style?!
You are 24... so probably too old. My son's 12, he's very environmentally conscious and concerned about his future, and this girl speaks loudly to him, as a member of the generation which is going to be most affected. Other kids don't see her awkwardness and lack of polish, they see someone their age speaking up for them when nobody else is. More power to her.
We are doomed. It's too late to stop what's going to come our way. All of these targets we're trying to meet for 2025 or whatever needed to be met in 1995.
Bless everyone who's making an effort but it's all too human (i.e. people getting behind the movement when it's too late). We'll have a slightly less shit post-apocalyptic future.
Bless everyone who's making an effort but it's all too human (i.e. people getting behind the movement when it's too late). We'll have a slightly less shit post-apocalyptic future.
I‘m just saying I’m not surprised that a lot of people haven’t warmed to her is all. Personally I couldn’t care less who puts the message across because it’s the correct one, but can I see why some people don’t really like her? Sure. She’s hysterical and it’s hard to take her ‘ruined my childhood’ shit remotely seriously.
I know people younger than people who found her to be a bit cringe, especially the preachy childhood bit when she herself has lived a very privileged upbringing. The idea she’s united ALL the youth is incorrect, I’ve found she’s divisive amongst all age groups as a speaker. A lot of people I’ve spoken to found her UN speech especially to be basically B tier acting with all the hysterics and sharp intakes of breath.
Again though, I don’t want to focus too much on her because it really doesn’t matter, but I just dislike the whole any criticism of Greta = hatred/propaganda angle. You can not take to her delivery while still saying she’s fundamentally doing the right thing.
The climate is fecked, we’re on the point of no return and on the caf and elsewhere sadly, we’re discussing whether a 16 year old Swedish girl with Aspergers spoke well when she addressed the UN.
sure the planet is dying but she was a bit cringe
it's beyond ridiculous
anyone paying the remotest attention to the delivery of her speech has already been fooled by the anti climate change agenda. well done.
#subscribetopewdiepie
Correction. The planet is certainly not dying. It has been here for 4.5bn years and will be for billions more.
It is the human race that will die out because we are making it uninhabitable for ourselves.
If it could, the planet would probably heave a massive sigh of relief when we are gone.
Very well put.
It is much the same with Brexit. In the UK everything is dominated by Brexit.
And yet, on a scale of 1 to 100, the former is about 1 while climate change is about 100 in importance.
Thanks
Yup, although multicellular life probably "only" has hundreds of millions of years left on Earth, and any kind of life has maybe a billion and a half.
What is really interesting is the massive hurdles that single cell had to make to become multi cellular life, and then to evolve to humans.
And we, the so called intelligent life form are busily trashing all of that in a few hundreds of years.
How proud we should be...
Society as a whole will break down in the near future(5-10 years) with climate refugees, food scarcity, unstable weather etc. Northern european countries will do fine if/when they close their boarders, while the people living in the southern part of Europe will act as a "wall" for people trying to get into Europe while Spain turns into a dessert and dependent on aid. Russia will certainly close their boarders. And where will the 100s of millions of Indians go when they are unable to sustain their massive population due to lack of water? Surely the Indus water dispute will escelate and China will back Pakistan and then WW3 will begin (The current conflict in Kashmir will be the match that lights the fire).
Sorry for being less than optimistic but things going to get bad.
And that is precisely why we should all be supporting ER. Especially those with children and or grandchildren.
I saw the world's most self opionated man Piers Morgan this morning laying into a lady supporting ER by continually shouting at her asking if she had a tv. And he thought he was sooo clever.
What a dick.
I don't think Spain will be a dessert in the next 5-10 years, but maybe if Alaska gets a lot warmer it will be Baked Alaska.
Think it is too late for that now. Been for a few years.
Best you can do now is ensuring that you live in a country that can be self sustainable quickly --> New Z(like the rich people in the world do), Southern part of Chile (difficult with the boarder and proximity to some other countries), Canada (mass imigration from USA soon), Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland.
People eat sand don't they?
Society breaking down in 5-10 years? Really?
We need to build a massive moat around the UK and Ireland asap.
As far as I understand it, she has autism and looking "distant" is a characteristic of some people with autism so that may explain why she looks distant. Its a spectrum disorder, so its a bit like having a cloud of lots of different traits and people put their hand in the cloud and pick any number of those traits - so everyone with autism is different.
Yeah, I’m aware. Which is one of the reasons why I think some people are put off by her and why I doubt her ability to be some great unifying force, as fantastic as that would be.
She’s certainly doing a lot of good in terms of raising awareness and public interest though, so good on her.
Not all over the world but for larger parts of it yes. If Europe closes it boarders to Middle East, Afrika and certain parts of Asia we can be self sufficient (increasing the efficency in agriculture in parts of eastern Europe and Ukraine in particular will do this). If we try to help as many climate refugees as possible and open the boarders then we would not have enough space, food etc to keep everyone that will come satisfied leading to sivil unrest etc. Timeframe is dependent on what parts of the world one looks at, the policy regarding climate refugees the EU/UN will take and what happens with the government in major countries.
Disgusting
and also,who says that europe will not be the climate refugees? has a you would be the first begging
No one even less you, know how the climate change will affect each area. Is not global warming, is climate change and some areas will fry while others will froze while mostly all coastal areas (most of the population) will be under water
I don’t know how you close borders across a continental landmass to millions of migrants. And if sea levels rise, flooding coastal European cities, maybe the migration won’t be all one way.