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The Corroboree
gtarman

Every one stop what you're doing and watch this!!

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I wish I shared that faith. My views are probably more aligned with those of Clive Hamilton of Charles Sturt University: http://theconversation.com/ipcc-report-will-make-no-difference-in-culture-of-denial-18588

I'm going to try my damndest to get the message across and to push for the change necessary, as are a lot of people, and I'm going to use every means I can to do that. But in the end it may very well be in vain...I couldn't really live with myself if I didn't try though.

Sometimes I wish I had a time machine so I could take people and actually show them what's going to happen. I often feel like screaming and grabbing them and shaking them until they snap out of their stupour and wake up to reality. It cuts me so deep that people can be so blind and irrational, and that it's most likely going to be the downfall of us all.

I mean, it takes some pretty special mental gymnastics to convince yourself that climate change is a hoax not worth doing anything about when the evidence for it is so overwhelming and the consequences so absolutely, unequivocally serious. This is a real and salient threat to the very survival of our species, and when I hear people refute it for petty and trivial reasons like "but electricity prices will go up", or "but the economy might be worse off, we can't risk that" I just feel like throttling them. Wake, the fuck, up.

:BANGHEAD2:

...I've needed to get that out of my system for a while. Sorry if it offended anybody, but at the same time, you have to admit that I have a point. Well actually, you probably won't admit that, which is kind of my point anyway.

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Yeah you have a very good point. The dilemma that humanity must face is that deep down we know our way of life is killing the planet.

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well said - I catch myself doing exactly this on forums such as this.

however I still have some faith that sufficiently articulate and concise presentation of scientific facts will eventually motivate our civilization to take appropriate action on climate change. as william blake said:

Truth can never be told so as to be understood, and not be believed.

edit: but maybe it is not enough for people to see the reality of climate change via scientific evidence, when we don't seem willing to sacrifice our own standard of living for the future of our planet. the real problem could be that we lack empathy for the future generations that will inhabit this planet.

optimistic...................personally i feel it will take a serious shock..................massive loss of life in North America or Western Europe (sorry but as you know the rest of us don't count).............from a major weather event............that's undeniably due to CC.................mean whle China's is considering spraying water mist off its tall building's to combat smog.............. :BANGHEAD2:

I don't think we need to lose our standard of living..............just need to modify........and re engineer our systems.....and thinking............

Edited by Dreamwalker

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Actually I just don't think we (governments, societies, communities) are that good at planning.

The problem is primarily that our economic system is based around reaction, not action. We see a product, we buy it. A resource runs out, the price goes up. There is very little planning involved. The people who seem to do well are those who plan ahead - e.g. mortgage. Unfortunately that's based on a weird economic premise that the value of something consistently rises and that resources are unlikely to run out. But still, the better planners tend to do well, even if they get unlucky.

There's hardly any planning whatsoever in our society, with power supplies, it doesn't matter what the future is likely or may bring, the only decision made is "how much money can we make from it now". With rail, it's not about how useful and cool it would be, it's about whether it will make money. With coal mines, it's about the money. Everything, it's about profit.

It really is an insane way of doing business. Trying to plan ahead in such a system is nigh on impossible. Therefore, when an outside context problem* develops, no-one does anything, because there's actually no way of dealing with it.

*I'm not quite sure it's an OCP, but you get my drift. I'd say it's an OCP so far as economic liberalism goes.

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I'm going to try my damndest to get the message across and to push for the change necessary, as are a lot of people, and I'm going to use every means I can to do that. But in the end it may very well be in vain...I couldn't really live with myself if I didn't try though.

Sometimes I wish I had a time machine so I could take people and actually show them what's going to happen. I often feel like screaming and grabbing them and shaking them until they snap out of their stupour and wake up to reality. It cuts me so deep that people can be so blind and irrational, and that it's most likely going to be the downfall of us all.

 

I had this conversation 2 days ago with my adoptive mother, she lives with the belief of ignorance is bliss- nothing we can do about it- as she just spruked about her visit to the last high level tennis tournament in Brisbane.

She believes you can die from stress, I believe you can die from ignorance, so I said to her what is worse - dying from ignorance or dying from stress, because you care? She could not answer me but I answered myself.

I would rather die from stress in the knowledge that any future children may look back at me and know I cared and did all I could humanly do to make change for the better. (Respectable)

Dying in ignorance is disgusting and these people will never be thought of again.

If every human could please read "The Ringing Cedars" Series, buy extra copies for friends and politicians. We still have a chance, so step up humanity or gtarman and I will :slap: .until you do.

We are not Helpless and this is not hopeless!

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We're behaving like any other animal population with an abundance of food and shelter. We will collapse just like any other animal population once we've exhausted our supply. It won't be the first time for civilisation to do so and it won't be the last.

I'm not trying to be a defeatist and i'm not promoting the head in the sand method of dealing with things... I just don't think we will break out of the pattern that rules over ALL LIFE.

edit: every civilisation has thought they they were the exception to the rule, after all who else in history has had more technology than us, or known more than us? It may have happened to every other civilization and animal population.... but we're different right?

Edited by Distracted
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^ actually in some ways I think we are different...our circumstances are certainly unprecedented at least. The resource-based mechanism of collapse may be the same, but as humans in the 21st century we have a level of insight and awareness and capability to affect change that no other species or human civilization has ever had or could lay claim to...I'm not saying we're the exception to any rule if such a rule exists, but I am saying that we certainly have the credentials to be the exception, on paper at least...if anybody ever had a shot, it would be us.

How it plays out remains to be seen...and to be honest I think your pessimism in regards to our collective fate is actually quite well-founded based on the way things are going at the moment. But I also think we're in agreement that we can't use that as an excuse to not do everything within our power to change things.

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I feel like I need to add this video to this thread. This guy talks so much sense it makes my nose bleed, even if he is a complete goofball.

 

Edited by gtarman

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just a note to vid...........I don't think addressing co2 has too be bad for the economy ......I Think that's a pop media myth.............on the contrary......what western economies are lacking is the growth that's comes from new innovation...............there's just so many unimaginative dull farts running our systems.......artist ...innovators...free thinkers are in exile.......or under house arrest...................

and just putting a thought out there......................this image of our world burning.........................its like the 'garden of eden myth"

.............except its a prophecy ......its the fruit of knowledge that's got us in this mess...........(not to say some natural event might have caused our extinction, had we stayed innocent)..............we screwed up are are about to lose our garden.....................

Edited by Dreamwalker.
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^ yeah, the guy who made the video was just trying to be even-handed. I doubt he personally believes that tackling climate change has a high chance of bankrupting us...but some people do believe that, and I think the video above is more intended for them. They are the ones who need convincing after all

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