‘Calm down’ was not the advice of Columbia professor, climatologist James Hansen, back in 1988, 36 years ago, when he was invited to testify before the US Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. It’s now 36 years later.
Anybody without similar qualifications – and the dozens of methods he recommended that could be used to avoid disaster – has no standing to advise us to calm down. Yes, there are people out there with -some- decent science credentials still denying it. Yet the greenhouse effect, understandable to grade-schoolers, was first suspected in 1824 by physicist Fourier and long confirmed.
They defend the status quo with a practiced rueful resignation: “Believe me, I wish things were different too, but it’s just the way things are.”
Oh man, does this sound familiar. I have seen this sentiment expressed so, so many times over the last eight years, or so. They say, “believe me,” but I don’t. I don’t believe they wish things were different. I think they really like things just as they are. Sure, maybe there are some rough edges they’d like to see smoothed out, but generally they like things the way they are. That makes people like me their enemy, because I don’t like things the way they are and I think we need to make some radical changes.
Yes, when I say I believe that food, housing, healthcare, education, etc are universal human rights, they say they agree, but I don’t believe them. I really don’t think they care. They got theirs, that’s all that matters. They say they think climate change is an important issue, and that they support climate mitigation actions, but what they leave out is that they only support actions that won’t radically change anything. They will gladly support actions that don’t require them to make any changes, but anything beyond that and their support wanes.
Look, it’s hard for me to get too mad at these people. If My life was good and I was happy and content, I probably wouldn’t want things to change either. It’s easier for me to support radical changes because I have no great love for the status quo, but I can’t deny that it is working for some people. Many people, in fact, maybe even most. I suppose as long as that’s the case, people like me are going to be seen as the enemy.
Beware that guy in most things that matter tbh.
