Climate change and politics

[Eyeball_Kid]

We're watching Ida moving closer to New Orleans and we see the potential for storm damage-- to everyone.

We also know by now that this season, like the last one, will have a higher number of hurricanes than average.

We know that Florida is losing its war on a rising sea level and we wonder, or we should, how all of those millions of people are going to survive and where they will relocate. It's going to happen. It's simply the logic of the situation.

The severity of late summer weather in Florida and the Gulf states will increase. There's no reason by now to believe that it won't. In time, perhaps only a couple of decades from now, parts of Hurricane Country will be viewed as uninhabitable during parts of the year.

That's something to think about.

And there's no way out. Here's why.

As a planet full of homo sapiens, we are not flexible enough adjust to what is now inevitable: a permanently changed climate worldwide, with much of the change severely affecting large areas of habitable coastline. As a community of nations, our biggest barrier to adjusting our impact on the planet is... wait for it... capitalism.

Yeah. I know. I like capitalism. But capitalism cannot be instrumental in preserving a habitation. That's because, if the community of nations is to be successful in preserving a habitable climate, immense amounts of labor and manufacturing will be needed to alter our impact on the planet in a way that meats clear objectives. And that capital will not be exchanged among corporations. Why? BECAUSE THERE'S NO MONEY IN IT!

Countering climate change will take public projects of immense scope. A little here and a changing of the edge there won't cut it. Climate change is pervasive, systemic, and spherical. It has to be countered in an array of areas. But it can't be handled by a capitalistic system because seeking and competing for profits will corrupt the effort, and we cannot afford to corrupt the effort.

So what can be done? If all of these observations hold merit, and capitalism indeed IS a major obstacle against countering climate change, then how is it done?

[alwaysinasnit]

1. You have some very valid points.

[abqtommy]

2. Thanks for this good op. But you left out the effect religion plays. (and religion

and politics always go together) There are religionists around the world who welcome
anything that might bring about "the end times". Then there are other religionists who
are willing to live "in the now" and do everything they can to help preserve peace
and survivability. We ignore the "end timers" at our peril but they have a lot of
influence.

[Eyeball_Kid]

6. While we SHOULD have a survival instinct,

there will likely always be members of the species who act in the "best interests of extinction."

And right now, there are a whole hell of a lot of them. Antivaxers are approximating suicidal behavior.

[Kaleva]

3. The issue of climate change overshadows pretty much all other issues of the day.

[Eyeball_Kid]

7. Yeah. And the body politic is watching

the elephant in the room grow larger and larger.

[multigraincracker]

4. Will humans use the only tool they have, logic?

Or will humans be victims of selfishness and greed and become extinct? Adapt to this new environment or go the way of the Neanderthal?

[marie999]

5. One major problem is 3rd world countries.

They see what we have and they also want it. How do we tell them they can't have it. Are the industrialized countries of the world going to build electric generating systems in the 3rd world countries that don't depend on coal and give them electric cars so they don't continue to buy old gas cars that are all they can afford?

[abqtommy]

8. That's a good point and I agree. We need to do more than just "level up"

(reach financial equality) here in the western world, we need to spread the money
around to everyone. But that'll be as hard to put in place as getting everyone to
accept covid vaccinations and masking.