Discussion of climate, how it is changing, activism around that, the politics, and the energy systems change we need in order to stabilize things.
As a starting point, the burning of fossil fuels, and to a lesser extent deforestation and release of methane are responsible for the warming in recent decades:
How much each change to the atmosphere has warmed the world:
Recommended actions to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the near future:
Anti-science, inactivism, and unsupported conspiracy theories are not ok here.
If there is a moderate to high likelihood that the average citizen can't afford rent and have a voice in government (ie. protesting 2 days a week, because their vote doesn't effect policy) they live in neither a free society, nor a democracy.
One of the reasons children have been able to lead the protests is because they have a safety net.
If there is a moderate to high likelihood that the average citizen can’t afford rent and have a voice in government (ie. protesting 2 days a week, because their vote doesn’t effect policy) they live in neither a free society, nor a democracy.
In other words a free society, needs enough people to have high enough income, to have a good bit of free time and enough wealth or a strong safety so they do not have to rely on a job. Which is why homeownership is a good thing, coops and other forms of small scale ownership of capital is needed and social safety nets help the entire society. The further away those safety nets are from the government the better, as it is easy to withdraw otherwise, which is why real world "communism" was not democratic.
One of the reasons children have been able to lead the protests is because they have a safety net.
Unfortunatly that is also the reason they can not transform society, as the safety net of children is fragile. It only takes the parents to disagree with them.
It's not that the kids won't save us, it's because they can't. We are all headed for an ecological hellscape as our new reality. We need to stop squabbling about it and start preparing. We are past the poibt of avoidance
Everyone is an environmentalist until we ask them to pay for it.
Capitalism's toddlerification of it's "successful" participants literally creates these meaningless dialogues. Our imbecilic hierarchies don't just extend to the economical, they affect these types of social norms heavily too. There will always be a cheap way to elicit prejudice over disadvantageous and unprofitable ideas especially if the voices are from "undesirable" individuals and groups, which depending on your brainwashing target can be literally anything. We have to be able to teach already brainwashed individuals critical thinking.
We have to be able to teach already brainwashed individuals critical thinking.
Which sadly has proven impossible.
If anything, we need to figure out a way to move without trying to convince people who will never be convinced. Which is of course a really difficult problem, and riddled with risks of falling into authoritarianism.
Thunberg is not a child any more. The adults literally waited her out.