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Well I am genuinely fucking terrified and I panic most days internally while trying to keep my family fed.
The challenge of doing more than just subsisting is a big part of why it's hard to change the system we have.
Ah yes. If we all had a boat load of cash to just install solar panels and buy other shit to make things more green... But oh wait. We don't have that kind of cash in today's economy...
... because all that money is already allocated to the oil industry and the weapons it needs to keep going. If only there was some solution.
Also the problem isn't actually solar panels but grid storage, which itself would be significantly less of a problem if we didn't keep dumping money in to cars and car-centric infrastructure.
Most people don't realize that divesting from cars wouldn't take a massive investment but would actually be much cheaper. Parking minimums and suburbs are completely unsustainable. Building bike infrastructure is cheaper than maintaining car infrastructure, and it allows for increased density that increases property values and increases local tax revenue. Cars are massively subsidized, from direct subsidies to the auto and oil industries, to infrastructure like free parking, to all billions in Oil wars. We could literally just stop doing things that hurt us and come out ahead.
It's like we're smoking and making up excuses about how we can't afford to quit.
I live in mandatory car land. The older I get, the more I hate driving and dealing with insurance, traffic, registration, maintenance, fuel, and inspections.
Money spent generally = emissions.
It is cheaper to be greener in many cases. Pork/chicken/turkey/rice+beans are cheaper than beef. Gas sippers are cheaper than canyoneros and monster trucks. Bicycles, transit, and shoes are cheaper than cars. Reasonable housing is cheaper than a McMansion.
I know it's been stupid warm here in my part of Canada. Normal average high for this time of year is -2c (28f), tomorrow's high is supposed to be 11c (51f), and it's been way above average for the last few weeks. Normally we have a fair bit of snow by now, but it's all melted again already.
Same in the southwest US. It was WET the last two days. And normally that would mean snow this time of year. And nothing... just waterlogged cold mud
These articles that conflate a 2ºC higher daily average with the disastrous consequences of a 2ºC higher yearly average make me nervous. Most people aren't going to get the distinction when it's not being spelled out, and I question whether noting every day it goes over the average is even a useful metric to begin with compared to the yearly average.
If we keep having articles like this a few days a year I worry people are going to get numb to it when they don't see immediate consequences.
While the leading cause is industrialization, I'm sure all the bombs we set off inside our atmosphere aren't helping either.
It's essentially all down to greenhouse gases:
The biggest source by far is the burning of fossil fuels.
Ukraine is bombing Russian oil infrastructure and that would be helping. Yemen supported by Iran also bombed a Saudi refinery a few years ago.
Fear accompanies the possibility of death; calm shepherds death's certainty.
this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2023
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