Laurens
New Member
I don't know whether 2016 is just a weird blip that has got me all paranoid and pessimistic, but I feel like things are getting to the make or break point for civilisation.
This year saw the world passing the 400ppm CO[sub]2[/sub] level permanently. Meaning essentially that governments across the world need to step in to ensure that pretty much all the remaining fossil fuels remain in the ground to meet the targets of the Paris agreement on Climate Change. Yet 14 trillion dollars is being lined up for fossil fuel extraction over the next 20 years (see previous link).
Governments do not seem willing to intervene to prevent corporations from digging up the fossil fuels that will ultimately destroy our planet. People do not seem that bothered about forcing their governments to take action. Not in any meaningful way at least. I think the point at which people will demand change will be the point at which the effects of climate change are in full swing. At the moment its only affecting the third world, so us comfortable Westerners aren't that bothered. By the time we are it will probably be too late.
In my opinion this impotence of politics (or maybe lack of consequences for politicians ignoring the agreements they sign), lack of a real mass movement demanding change now, combined with the fossil fuel industry's intent on continuing to do harm to our planet unabated is going to end civilisation. I feel like at the moment we are gazing in the mirror faking a smile and going about our day as normal, but the cracks are there and by the time things start falling apart it will be too late to get help.
Has 2016 just got to me, or are we existentially buggered?
This year saw the world passing the 400ppm CO[sub]2[/sub] level permanently. Meaning essentially that governments across the world need to step in to ensure that pretty much all the remaining fossil fuels remain in the ground to meet the targets of the Paris agreement on Climate Change. Yet 14 trillion dollars is being lined up for fossil fuel extraction over the next 20 years (see previous link).
Governments do not seem willing to intervene to prevent corporations from digging up the fossil fuels that will ultimately destroy our planet. People do not seem that bothered about forcing their governments to take action. Not in any meaningful way at least. I think the point at which people will demand change will be the point at which the effects of climate change are in full swing. At the moment its only affecting the third world, so us comfortable Westerners aren't that bothered. By the time we are it will probably be too late.
In my opinion this impotence of politics (or maybe lack of consequences for politicians ignoring the agreements they sign), lack of a real mass movement demanding change now, combined with the fossil fuel industry's intent on continuing to do harm to our planet unabated is going to end civilisation. I feel like at the moment we are gazing in the mirror faking a smile and going about our day as normal, but the cracks are there and by the time things start falling apart it will be too late to get help.
Has 2016 just got to me, or are we existentially buggered?
