Photos reveal melted lampposts, power line poles split in half and charred homes in the Texas Panhandle as the state battles its second-largest wildfire in state history.
I don’t want to be a doomer, but I do kind of feel like climate change is going to get worse and worse and we will pay a terrible price.
I’m not one of those “civilization will end” types, but I think there will be a lot more refugees and a lot more war. If the Himalayan ice caps melt, a lot of Asia is very fucked.
There’s a pretty big difference between “it’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better”, and “it’s already over, we’re all fucked”.
The original comment presents things poorly: we are past several “points of no return”, but saying the point of no return implies there’s nothing to be done.
Additionally the last point is… pretty much entirely wrong. We have absolutely made significant and noticeable progress against climate change. It’s not enough yet, but it’s absolutely not nothing.
I understand that. I’m just suggesting that doomers might not be 100% wrong because I think a lot of bad stuff is going to happen, so we shouldn’t just dismiss dire predictions entirely.
I just don’t think this will be the end of our species or even human civilization everywhere. But in some places? Quite possibly.
Yeah I agree, I just don’t call “stuff’s gonna be bad” doomerism (it’s pretty clear at this point). I call “this is the end and there’s nothing we can do” doomerism.
I’m not specifically saying that suddenly the planet is going to swallow up humanity as a whole. But, as you said — climate refugees — plus an uncertain food and water supply, and disastrous weather are going to cause humanity to fight amongst themselves. We will end up destroying ourselves to “survive.”
That is not something you can predict with any certainty. That may happen and it may not. We can’t know at this point. But there will definitely be a price paid for our continued fossil fuel use.
What I know about humanity is that we spent the vast amount of our history as small bands of nomadic hunter-gatherers, so any prediction you make is based on a very tiny fraction of our history.
I don’t want to be a doomer, but I do kind of feel like climate change is going to get worse and worse and we will pay a terrible price.
I’m not one of those “civilization will end” types, but I think there will be a lot more refugees and a lot more war. If the Himalayan ice caps melt, a lot of Asia is very fucked.
There’s a pretty big difference between “it’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better”, and “it’s already over, we’re all fucked”.
The original comment presents things poorly: we are past several “points of no return”, but saying the point of no return implies there’s nothing to be done.
Additionally the last point is… pretty much entirely wrong. We have absolutely made significant and noticeable progress against climate change. It’s not enough yet, but it’s absolutely not nothing.
I understand that. I’m just suggesting that doomers might not be 100% wrong because I think a lot of bad stuff is going to happen, so we shouldn’t just dismiss dire predictions entirely.
I just don’t think this will be the end of our species or even human civilization everywhere. But in some places? Quite possibly.
Yeah I agree, I just don’t call “stuff’s gonna be bad” doomerism (it’s pretty clear at this point). I call “this is the end and there’s nothing we can do” doomerism.
Ok, fair enough.
I’m not specifically saying that suddenly the planet is going to swallow up humanity as a whole. But, as you said — climate refugees — plus an uncertain food and water supply, and disastrous weather are going to cause humanity to fight amongst themselves. We will end up destroying ourselves to “survive.”
I think there will be plenty of places where life will go on without everyone having to till the soil. But there will be a lot more death and pain.
The death and pain will come from the people in bad areas attacking those in the good ones.
That is not something you can predict with any certainty. That may happen and it may not. We can’t know at this point. But there will definitely be a price paid for our continued fossil fuel use.
Based on what you know of humanity and its history, where would you place your bet?
I do not pretend to know the future.
I’m not asking you be clairvoyant. I’m asking you to make an educated guess on the outcome of humanity based on what you know about humanity.
You can refuse, but just say you’re refusing.
What I know about humanity is that we spent the vast amount of our history as small bands of nomadic hunter-gatherers, so any prediction you make is based on a very tiny fraction of our history.
If everyone’s living in refugee and migrant camps, how is that not a collapse of civilization?
Well, for one thing, the vast majority of civilization does not depend on the Himalayas for water. But many people do.
Climate change and global warming are not localized to the Himalayas.
Okay? I still never said everyone would live in refugee and migrant camps…
Moat people in the first world will be fine at the small cost of thousands of dead poor people. But then again never mind the poor people.