Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

hatrack

(59,442 posts)
Tue Sep 12, 2017, 07:37 AM Sep 2017

The Right Cannot, Will Not Ever Accept Climate Reality; Doing So Destroys Their Beautiful Minds

EDIT

Because if climate change is driving the kinds of catastrophes we are seeing right now — and it is — then it doesn’t just mean Trump has to apologize and admit he was wrong when he called it a Chinese hoax. It means that he also needs to junk his whole tax plan, because we’re going to need that tax money (and more) to pay for a rapid transition away from fossil fuels. And it also means he’s going to have to junk his deregulatory plan, because if we are going to change how we power our lives, we’re going to need all kinds of regulations to manage and enforce it. And, of course, this is not just about Trump — it’s about all the climate-denying Republican governors whose states are currently being pounded. All of them would have to junk an entire twisted worldview holding that the market is always right, regulation is always wrong, private is good and public is bad, and taxes that support public services are the worst of all.

Here is what we need to understand in a hurry: Climate change, especially at this late date, can only be dealt with through collective action that sharply curtails the behavior of corporations, such as Exxon Mobil and Goldman Sachs (both so lavishly represented at Trump’s cabinet meeting). Climate action demands investments in the public sphere — in new energy grids, public transit and light rail, and energy efficiency — on a scale not seen since World War II. And that can only happen by raising taxes on the wealthy and on corporations, the very people Trump is determined to shower with the most generous tax cuts, loopholes, and regulatory breaks.

In short, climate change detonates the ideological scaffolding on which contemporary conservatism rests. To admit that the climate crisis is real is to admit the end of their political and economic project. That’s why the right is in rebellion against the physical world (which is what prompted hundreds of thousands of scientists around the world to participate in the March for Science in April 2017, collectively defending a principle that really shouldn’t need defending: that knowing as much as possible about our world is a good thing). Yet there is a logical reason why science has become such a battle zone: because it is revealing again and again that pro-corporate business as usual leads to a species-threatening catastrophe.

And this isn’t only about the right — it’s also about the center. What mainstream liberals have been saying about climate change for decades is that we simply need to tweak the existing system here and there and everything will be fine. You can have Goldman Sachs capitalism plus solar panels. But at this stage, the challenge we are up against is much deeper than that.

EDIT

https://theintercept.com/2017/09/11/irma-donald-trump-tax-cuts-climate-change-republican-ideology-capitalism/

4 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
The Right Cannot, Will Not Ever Accept Climate Reality; Doing So Destroys Their Beautiful Minds (Original Post) hatrack Sep 2017 OP
Nope lapfog_1 Sep 2017 #1
I agree that geonegineering, and a whole lot of it, is the only way to prevent StevieM Sep 2017 #2
But before we decide on the solution lapfog_1 Sep 2017 #3
Agreed. That is why I allow for 20 years between the start of the process in 2021, StevieM Sep 2017 #4

lapfog_1

(29,166 posts)
1. Nope
Tue Sep 12, 2017, 09:01 AM
Sep 2017

While you are totally correct about climate change, thepubluc is just not ready to accept the medicine you offer.

More to the point is that it's too late for such remedies anyway. You will go on to outline a 20 year or 50 year reduction plan for fossil fuels. But w already have too much carbon in the atmosphere. The climate change disasters are now "baked into the cake". Even if we stop burning all coal and oil and natural gas tomorrow it is likely too late. Not to mention that in the US west, we have nearly 100 years of infrastructure built around individual transport and not mass transit

What we are going to need to do is a massive multi trillion dollar geoengineering project to regulate the earths temperature. It is theoretically possible

And we are going to need to start in the next 10 years.

And yeah, quit burning so much fossil fuel.

StevieM

(10,499 posts)
2. I agree that geonegineering, and a whole lot of it, is the only way to prevent
Wed Sep 13, 2017, 12:52 PM
Sep 2017

Last edited Thu Sep 14, 2017, 10:07 AM - Edit history (1)

a game over scenario. The biggest threat from climate change is that 2 degrees of warming releases carbon in the soil, which brings us to 3 degrees. 3 degrees causes the permafrost to melt which brings us to 4 degrees. 4 degrees of warming causes the methane hydrate to be released from sea bed floor. That brings us to 5 or 6 degrees, which is basically Armageddon.

We can start funding major geoengineering research in 2021. We can start a major trial project by 2030. We can start ramping up a large-scale geoengineering operation by 2040. And we can be fully ramped up, worldwide, by 2050. Then we can do a massive, multi-trillion dollar geoengineering endeavor for the next 30-40 years, being finished by 2080 or 2090.

lapfog_1

(29,166 posts)
3. But before we decide on the solution
Thu Sep 14, 2017, 01:41 AM
Sep 2017

Let's model the f@;k out of it first

I am really tired of treating our one and only home planet as a chemistry set test tube

StevieM

(10,499 posts)
4. Agreed. That is why I allow for 20 years between the start of the process in 2021,
Thu Sep 14, 2017, 10:09 AM
Sep 2017

when the new president takes office, and the beginning stages of implementation in 2040.

Latest Discussions»Issue Forums»Environment & Energy»The Right Cannot, Will No...