The world’s most famous climate scientist just outlined an alarming scenario for our planet’s future

[The2ndWheel]

42. Short term beats long term

Not because we're stupid, but because that's how we're built. You can make plans to eat a big expensive meal out at a restaurant at the end of the month, but if you don't eat between the beginning and end of the month, you probably won't make it to that big dinner.

Keeping more people alive, be it through better hygiene, or the Green Revolution, or whatever, is great in the moment. Eventually, all those people will need jobs, and homes, and this, and that, which will all require more resources to be used, which will require more mining and building, etc, etc.

We're not stupid, we're just a form of life. Right now matters more than 10 years down the line. Civilization has given us a way to think about the future as a thing, but the infrastructure of civilization requires massive amounts of energy today. Cut that off, and you're not thinking about 10 years from now.