"Unfortunately, we have gotten to a point of no return. It's sad, but that's what it is. Global warming is a serious problem. Climate change at this moment is a road to death."
"I push back on doomism because I don’t think it’s justified by the science, and I think it potentially leads us down a path of inaction. And there are bad actors today who are fanning the flames of climate doomism because they understand that it takes those who are most likely to be on the front lines, advocating for change, and pushes them to the sidelines, which is where polluters and petrostates want them.”
I tend to agree with Hansen. Unless we collectively wake the fuck up and drastically change our approach through things like #degrowth and a ban on new fossil extraction these little incentives at the margins like the IRA that do nothing to slow down the capitalist ecocidal machine will not be effective wrt #ClimateChange. And looking back, Mann spreading false hope and criticizing #doomerism will look quite silly.
Climate denial online is declining.
The climate doomerism is coming in full force.
What once was a denial has turned to doom.
Oh and spoiler alert: the deniers and doomers are the same people. #climatechange #doomerism
Here's one that snuck up on me. Mastodon has been as bad for my mental health as Twitter was, only in a different way. Mostly an unending stream of despair over things I have no control over. #mastodon#serenityPrayer#doomerism#climateChange#globalHeating
There seems to be a trend of people declaring on the profiles what shade of #doomerism / #optimism they feel attached to. A sign of our times I suppose.
My sense is that this more an emotional / character aspect than any purely rational argument.
But I am justifying my own (mostly) optimistic stance by stealing Pascal's timeless argument:
Even under the assumption that there is no hope, the potential benefits of thinking there is hope are so vast as to make betting on it rational.
A thought about #doomerism vs #positivism...
In society's #collapse, billions of people will die, and billions of people will survive.
The only chance we have of minimizing the death and suffering is to convince people they're likely to be among the dead. People won't take the drastic measures that are needed unless they're scared for themselves or their loved ones.
Doomerism tries to convince people they're at risk. Positivism tells them not to worry.
Which is better harm reduction praxis?
Happy new year, he said full of hope in the face of multiple bloody wars, the #ClimateCrisis, a resurgent pandemic and extreme political polarization worldwide. Trying hard not to succumb to #doomerism and depression. And, BTW… who decided that the new year should be ushered in during mid-winter instead of the start of spring? Nowruz makes much more sense to me.
This is a short 10 minute podcast from TEDTalks given by Al Roker. It talks about what individuals (you) can do to help with #ClimateChange. Don't fall to despair or #doomerism...because every fraction of a degree less of climate change helps the world. Do #electrification. Vote appropriately. Don't buy #FastFashion. Most importantly boost this post to encourage action instead of inaction.
“Despite what we may have been led to believe rarely are individuals alone capable of solving complex problems. A focus on individualism shifts the blame from those with the actual power—and responsibility—to address the issues.”
Why you shouldn’t focus your energy on recycling, your personal solar array or eating a low-carbon diet. What matters is the taking political control over our collective existence.
A bit I didn't include at the end of my #LotR / #climate analogy is that Frodo (or your average person living through #ClimateCollapse) doesn't succumb to the Morgul blade (#doomerism) but he's never the same even after bringing the Ring to Mordor.
Dude has major PTSD, has Seen Things & can't enjoy life the way he used to. He even tells Sam that he's saved the Shire, but not for him.
Things will never be the same, even after the day has been saved. But things will be. & that matters. A lot.
In climate conversations lately I feel a bit like Arwen in her first appearance in Fellowship of the Ring, telling Frodo not to give in to the spreading evil infection of the Morgul blade as she works furiously with Aragorn and Sam to make a poultice out of kingsfoil.
Trying to tell people in the midst of climate catastrophe not to give in to despair and doomerism because it will consume their soul as I get my friends and their friends to apply plants to stop the poison... #ClimateDespair
Remember that this is super shitty but there are people out there who know how to use the "magic" of the natural world to mitigate the worst effects of #doomerism enough to get you to a safe place (might be mental, might be physical), where you recover to the point where you actually decide to tackle the crisis head-on and do the hardest thing in the world.
#Doomerism is both an easy and effective way to resolve the cognitive dissonance related to how you benefit from the destruction of nature.
When you get yourself to believe there is no way to prevent a complete ecological breakdown, you effectively get a carte blanche to not change anything.
If you still get doubts, you can add mental fortification by believing in a hobbesian war of all against all, and reject all hope of cooperation between people.