This essay by Jag Bhalla, on "The Dark Origins of Optimism and its Current Cheerful Evils", is one of the best pieces I've ever read on this. Maybe the best (also many links). Enjoy.
"As Voltaire knew, optimism is often an elite-serving demon in disguise"
#ClimateDiary Anyone else struggling to see any prospects for turning things around? I will keep on trying to do what I can. Of course. But 2024 is challenging.
Last year did a post about how I wasn’t motivated by hope but by #DesperateDetermination. I now realise i got that wrong. Hope isn’t just fluffy “things will be alright”. Hope is some flicker of belief that you and others can change things; I did, actually, have “hope”. Less now, but will keep going.
#ClimateDiary There is no question that #COP28 will be the most important yet. The #GlobalStocktake will be the “biggest accountability moment in history”, and on its basis leaders will need to make crucial key decisions about fiscal and policy commitments. With less than two months to go, we need to all be as well informed as possible and put pressure on leaders as much as we can. I thought I would start a 🧵that I will keep going in the run up 1/n
10/n #ClimateDiary I've been feeling so despondent about the state of the world and the prospects for #COP28 that I found myself unable to continue this series, or in fact write much at all here. @kathhayhoe: a few months back we had an exchange about #Hope, when I argued that I wasn't driven by hope as much as #DesperateDetermination. But I now recognise just how debilitating true hopelessness is, and that it is indeed a problem. I don't think I've ever had such a low. BUT: