I've begun to realize that none of Earth's major problems will even BEGIN being solved for at least another 20 years or so

[Exellus]

When the entire Boomer generation is dead and buried and people in their 30s right now finally step up into positions of power, and the world is even in MORE of a completely shitty situation. After hundreds of thousands of lives are lost, stock markets are in the shitter, and the average quality of life of every human on the planet is sent back to the 1700s.

THEN we can start rebuilding.

Or maybe not. Maybe everyone will be so desperate to cling on to any semblance of worth or comfort that we will plunge even further into ignorance and greed and climbing on the corpses of other people to just survive.

But hey, at least a couple dozen extremely wealthy individuals will be able to wall themselves away from the rest of the world in their own little Utopian bubble reserved for their nearest and dearest and the most advanced technology left on the planet.

 

[Terrysaur]

As somebody who lives downwind of some insanely large and destructive bushfires at the moment – with the smoke constantly choking our city – I'd say the world needs less of this kind of cynicism, to be honest with you.

 

[I Don't Like]

As somebody who lives downwind of some insanely large and destructive bushfires at the moment – with the smoke constantly choking our city – I'd say the world needs less of this kind of cynicism, to be honest with you.

Click to shrink...

At this point is this even cynicism? we've regressed steadily over the past years, globally. We're a dumb race full of dumb people who mock problems that are literally killing us.

 

[Officer Big Mac]

, at least a couple dozen extremely wealthy individuals will be able to wall themselves away from the rest of the world in their own little Utopian bubble reserved for their nearest and dearest and the most advanced technology left on the planet.

Click to shrink...

Yes. A couple dozen

 

[Failburger]

People will choke on smoke before changing their diets. People will fight tooth and nail to have a child, despite knowing that that child will live in a world of endless conflict and dwindling resources. People will proudly use 2 plastic bags if you suggest too use a nylon bag. The best outcome will be me being able to live a decent enough life for a good enough time before things gets truly shitty.

 

[subpar spatula]

World is dying. Glaciers are melting. Sea levels are rising. CO2 is increasing. Globe is getting warmer. Animal and plant species are going extinct faster and faster. No sign of slowing down.

It's game over at this point, so ride the storm and enjoy the final century or so of human civilization.

People will choke on smoke before changing their diets. People will fight tooth and nail to have a child, despite knowing that that child will live in a world of endless conflict and dwindling resources. People will proudly use 2 plastic bags if you suggest too use a nylon bag. The best outcome will be me being able to live a decent enough life for a good enough time before things gets truly shitty.

Click to shrink...

Resources aren't really an issue, it's basically the climate. The earth can and is bountiful for many more humans as well. Climate change is ruining that slowly.

 

[Psittacus]

Or maybe not. Maybe everyone will be so desperate to cling on to any semblance of worth or comfort that we will plunge even further into ignorance and greed and climbing on the corpses of other people to just survive.

Click to shrink...

This is the one that's going to happen, I have zero faith left in people to do the right thing

But hey, at least a couple dozen extremely wealthy individuals will be able to wall themselves away from the rest of the world in their own little Utopian bubble reserved for their nearest and dearest and the most advanced technology left on the planet.

Click to shrink...

If it's any consolation their bubbles won't last. Without people and spare parts to maintain them their bunkers will fail and they'll be stuck in the wasteland like the rest of us.

It's game over at this point, so ride the storm and enjoy the final century or so of human civilization.

Click to shrink...

It's crazy huh. Millions of years of slow progress, then we reached a tipping point and destroyed everything in ~500.

 

[Aztechnology]

Basically yea, until it's cancerous people won't act on it.

 

[Antrax]

and the average quality of life of every human on the planet is sent back to the 1700s.

Click to shrink...

I don't think you quite understand the quality of life in the 1700s.

As somebody who lives downwind of some insanely large and destructive bushfires at the moment – with the smoke constantly choking our city – I'd say the world needs less of this kind of cynicism, to be honest with you.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, I don't want to minimize someone's concerns, but history is full of so much shit. Imagine how you'd feel reading about the Holocaust in real time. Or fuck, World War 1! There were people who were alive during the American Civil War (fought with traditional cannons and muzzle-loaders for a large number of battles) who then experienced large scale use of:

• Full-auto assault weapons
• Aircraft(!) dropping bombs
• Gas weapons and other chemical attacks
• Armored tanks

You want apocalyptic? Only a decade after that, we had the worst economic crisis in centuries hit globally. The highest unemployment most people alive right now have experienced is during the '08 Recession. But that wasn't even half of the peak unemployment during the '30s.

In 2020? I can turn a faucet in my house right now and drink water that cleans my teeth. In the 1700s? Would I even still have my teeth? George fucking Washington had to go for full dentures by his mid-fifties, and they weren't actually wooden. They were made from various things, including other human teeth, and cow teeth.

Quite a lot of shit is going to hit the fan in our lifetimes, but I can confidently say that if someone offered me a time machine (no changes) to go live anytime in the past, permanently, I'd never take them up on that.

 

[MeetMyBackhand]

When the entire Boomer generation is dead and buried and people in their 30s right now finally step up into positions of power, and the world is even in MORE of a completely shitty situation. After hundreds of thousands of lives are lost, stock markets are in the shitter, and the average quality of life of every human on the planet is sent back to the 1700s.

THEN we can start rebuilding.

Or maybe not. Maybe everyone will be so desperate to cling on to any semblance of worth or comfort that we will plunge even further into ignorance and greed and climbing on the corpses of other people to just survive.

But hey, at least a couple dozen extremely wealthy individuals will be able to wall themselves away from the rest of the world in their own little Utopian bubble reserved for their nearest and dearest and the most advanced technology left on the planet.

Click to shrink...

Unfortunately, this is probably fairly accurate.

 

[Galactor]

Unfortunately, this is probably fairly accurate.

Click to shrink...

Like millenialls are sants now? Heirs of the rich will continúe fucking up everything if people dont vote left

 

[John Caboose]

Brace yourselves for >2 degrees. I think I've read that if no drastic improvement occurs, scenarios point to >3 degrees. It will be incredibly catastrophic for millions upon millions of people. Many will suffer and die from the increased droughts, floods, famine etc that climate change will bring. I believe hundreds of millions of people are going to be displaced during my lifetime.

I don't think we will prevent it. Humanity is not particularly suited for it. We are too focused on our own well-being and lifestyle.

 

[Dyle]

I think it's naive to believe that any of our problems like climate change will ever be solved

 

[Deleted member 43]

I'm as pessimistic for the future of our world as the next, but we're not 20 years away from the scenario you describe. We'll all be dead before it gets that bad.

Which honestly is part of the problem.

 

[Dr. Mario]

Nonsense, onshore windmills are now cheaper electricity per KWh than even coal plants, and offshore will be cheaper within two or three years. The major problems are already being tackled right now, shit just takes time.

 

[Kareha]

As somebody who lives downwind of some insanely large and destructive bushfires at the moment – with the smoke constantly choking our city – I'd say the world needs less of this kind of cynicism, to be honest with you.

Click to shrink...

It's not cynicism, we don't have the technology yet to fix all the shit we've done as a species. I honestly don't know how any fire service could even cope with the fires in Australia, unless the entire planet's worth of fire personnel descend on the country to help.

 

[Coleslaw]

Lol get a load of this guy, he thinks that human society has a chance of ever solving its systemic problems before it is inevitably destroyed by them. What a goof.

 

[M. Wallace]

Time to get drunk and not give a fook

 

[HotHamBoy]

 

[Hawkster]

Yes indeed.

And I feel like anyone who still believes that things can get fixed are fucking deluded.

 

[Deleted member 8901]

Lol this guy thinks anything will change when boomers retire and the new generation take positions of power. News flash: when people become rich, they want to preserve their wealth.

 

[rrc1594]

Earth has been through much worse it will be fine, humans are fucked.

 

[Airegin]

https://e360.yale.edu/features/how-the-world-passed-a-carbon-threshold-400ppm-and-why-it-matters

At the current rate of growth in CO2, levels will hit 500 ppm within 50 years, putting us on track to reach temperature boosts of perhaps more than 3 degrees C (5.4°F) — a level that climate scientists say would cause bouts of extreme weather and sea level rise that would endanger global food supplies, cause disruptive mass migrations, and even destroy the Amazon rainforest through drought and fire.

Click to shrink...

If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted… CO2 will need to be reduced… to at most 350 ppm," Columbia University climate guru James Hansen has said. We sailed past that target in about 1990, and it will take a gargantuan effort to turn back the clock.

Click to shrink...

Reducing emissions will not save us. We actually need to remove a ton of CO2 from the atmosphere. Instead there is no doubt we will keep emitting tons of CO2 in the next 100 years.

The article is from 2017 btw. We're at over 410 ppm now.

 

[Kinsei]

Earth has been through much worse it will be fine, humans are fucked.

Click to shrink...

Not just humans. We're gonna take out a hell of a lot of species with us.

 

[maxxpower]

I hope we somehow engineer a solution to reduce the CO2 from the atmosphere. Only thing that sucks is that humans will have eventually been bailed out and will have learned nothing and continue with their greed, but at least it will spare a lot of death and suffering.

 

[UltimusXI]

Lol this guy thinks anything will change when boomers retire and the new generation take positions of power. News flash: when people become rich, they want to preserve their wealth.

Click to shrink...

Yup, I really don't think change will come that easily when boomers are dead. Hell, I live in a street (around 24 couples or so) with almost exclusively people in their 30s and 40s and most of the families own two cars, most of them non electric, most of them seem to exchange their station cars for SUV's. Barely anyone invests in solar panels on their roofs and we're the only ones who are vegetarian.

Hell, just check how defensive many people are on this board (average generation is millenials or younger?) to keep eating meat.

Earth has been through much worse it will be fine, humans are fucked.

Click to shrink...

The problem I have with this is that yes, Earth will survive, but what 'use' does it have if so many people and animals die or can no longer live comfortably without having had any role in causing all of that. Why is leaving an uninhabitable (but 'fine' and recoverable) Earth behind any excuse to just not stop fucking shit up.

What Earth has been through has never been the cause by any species on it, let alone a species that knows exactly what it is doing and knows how to stop it.

 

[Sulik2]

It's game over at this point, so ride the storm and enjoy the final century or so of human civilization.

Click to shrink...

Not even a century, about 30 years, if the USA doesn't collapse on its own before then from corruption and start it early. 2050s is when the temperatures in the middle east and North Africa are predicted to become too hot for human habitation. The wars and depression from that migration will destroy civilization. Syria alone nearly broke Europe and sent it running towards facism. Imagine when it's all of north Africa and the entire middle east trying to get into Europe and Russia.

 

[Sweeney Swift]

If you want a real peek at what humanity thinks of its fate: everyone thought the new decade was going to bring positive changes only. Meanwhile in reality things got actively worse in under 72 hours into it

We're doomed, it's going to happen faster than expected, most people would rather bury their heads in the sand about it, and the only people who can actively fix it would rather double down out of spite because they don't want it fixed Because Needing To Fix It Means Admitting You Fucked It Up In The First Place

 

[Deleted member 2180]

I'm living more ecological, changed some of my behaviors these past months. All trash are further sorted and organized, I drink water from faucet only. I'm proud for changing my behaviors

 

[Deleted member 4413]

Trillions of dollars are already being poured into the problem by governments and private businesses. Scientists are making headway into new technology to stop and even possibly reverse climate change. Was just reading an article a few months ago about some people making good progress on a new de-salination tech that doesn't leave all the harmful byproducts it does now.

I know DOOM DOOM DOOM WE ARE ALL ALREADY DEAD is the latest fad on Era, but have a little hope. There are bright spots and more and more money and people will get on board as things get worse. The entire world is not gun touting, Trump voting, climate deniers.

The ability to actually reverse some of the damage is what interests me most. That and de-salination, because fresh water is going to start becoming a problem before the worst affects of climate change hit us.

Some of you are so sure of our doom I have to wonder if your actually excited/want it to happen. Because even scientists disagree with you that it's too late.

 

[Doggg]

Yeah, we're pretty well fucked.

 

[Brawly Likes to Brawl]

and that's assuming that the specific millennials that attain power will be ones who give a shit. we have terrible and stupid people in our ranks, too

 

[teruterubozu]

As long as there's the rich and the poor, people who target the weak, shit is pretty much gonna suck. This idea that the demise of Boomers will help solve our issues is pretty naive, and kind of sad in its myopia.

 

[Mudkip Xbox Series X]

At least one of the most important factors is stating to happen and that is population.

People are having less kids which means less resource use and abuse.

 

[Brawly Likes to Brawl]

As long as there's the rich and the poor, people who target the weak, shit is pretty much gonna suck. This idea that the demise of Boomers will help solve our issues is pretty naive, and kind of sad in its myopia.

Click to shrink...

yep. Boomers are problem but we also have to insure that we keep ourselves in check too.

 

[spam musubi]

Nonsense, onshore windmills are now cheaper electricity per KWh than even coal plants, and offshore will be cheaper within two or three years. The major problems are already being tackled right now, shit just takes time.

Click to shrink...

https://communemag.com/between-the-devil-and-the-green-new-deal/

Building all that stuff has a carbon cost as well.

. Just because a United States encrusted in solar panels releases no greenhouse gases, that doesn't mean its technologies are carbon neutral. It takes energy to get those minerals out of the ground, energy to shape them into batteries and photovoltaic solar panels and giant rotors for windmills, energy to dispose of them when they wear out. Mines are worked, primarily, by gas-burning vehicles. The container ships that cross the world's seas bearing the good freight of renewables burn so much fuel they are responsible for 3 percent of planetary emissions. Electric, battery-driven motors for construction equipment and container ships are barely in the prototype stage.

Click to shrink...

To replace current US energy consumption with renewables, you'd need to devote at least 25–50 percent of the US landmass to solar, wind, and biofuels, according to the estimates made by Vaclav Smil, the grand doyen of energy studies. Is there room for that and expanding human habitation? For that and pasture for a massive meat and dairy industry? For that and the forest we'd need to take carbon out of the air? Not if capitalism keeps doing the thing which it can't not keep doing—grow. The law of capitalism is the law of more—more energy, more stuff, more materials. It introduces efficiencies only to more effectively despoil the planet. There is no solution to the climate crisis which leaves capitalism's compulsions to growth intact. And this is what the Green New Deal, a term coined by that oily neoliberal, Thomas Friedman, doesn't address. It thinks you can keep capitalism, keep growth, but remove the deleterious consequences. The death villages are here to tell you that you can't. No roses will bloom on that bush.

Click to shrink...

Some will tell you that renewables can compete with fossil fuels on the open market. Wind and hydroelectric and geothermal have, it's true, become cheaper as sources of electricity, in some cases cheaper than coal and natural gas. But they're still not cheap enough. That's because, in order to bankrupt the fossil capitalists, renewables will need to do more than edge out fossil fuels by a penny or two per kilowatt-hour. There are trillions of dollars sunk into fossil energy infrastructure and the owners of those investments will invariably choose to recoup some of that investment rather than none of it. To send the value of those assets to zero and force energy capitalists to invest in new factories, renewables need to be not only cheaper but massively cheaper, impossibly cheaper. At least this is the conclusion reached by a group of engineers Google convened to study the problem. Existing technologies are never going to be cheap enough to bankrupt coal-fired power plants: we'd need stuff that is currently science-fiction like cold fusion. This is not only because of the problem of sunk costs, but because electricity from solar and wind is not "dispatchable" on demand. It is only available when and where the sun is shining and the wind is blowing. If you want it on demand, you're going to have to store it (or transport it thousands of miles) and that's going to raise the price.

Click to shrink...

 

[bionic77]

People are not going to change.

The addiction to consumption and convenience is the problem. We are all addicted to it. People are not going to give that up on their own.

It is going to have to be enforced on people and people are not going to like it. You can't win an election by taking away things from people for the promise that it will make things better for the planet. Thats a hard sell and most people just want more shit to shove into their mouth and collect in their apartments.

 

[onadesertedisland]

Humans are not good at planning for a future that they themselves will likely not be a part of. It's taken our best to do that. Most only think of what they need today at best. There's going to be a generation of old people suffering alongside younger people enraged at the planet they inherited.

 

[Joni]

Of course some problems will be solved. Things will be invented that will start doing things. The world keeps getting better, even if there are some huge issues.

 

[Wag]

I hail our new cockroach overlords.

 

[dabig2]

As somebody who lives downwind of some insanely large and destructive bushfires at the moment – with the smoke constantly choking our city – I'd say the world needs less of this kind of cynicism, to be honest with you.

Click to shrink...

After seeing results of COP25, we need a lot more anger and a lot more frustration with our governments and fellow citizens. The OP chose frustration, but not only is that a valid response to this, but one I feel might actually lead somewhere.

We're in crisis mode, and have been in crisis mode for longer than a lot here have been alive. Just because we haven't paid it enough attention and effort doesn't mean we weren't always under its threat.

https://www.theguardian.com/comment...ass-in-these-bushfires?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

As a climate scientist, the thing that really terrifies me is that weather conditions considered extreme by today's standards will seem sedate in the future. What's unfolding right now is really just a taste of the new normal.

At this point I could restate all the lines of scientific evidence that clearly show the links between human-caused climate change and the intensification of extreme weather conditions not just in Australia, but all over the world.

To avoid sounding like a broken record, instead I will say that as a lead author on the forthcoming Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) Sixth Assessment report of the global climate due out next year, I can assure you that the planetary situation is extremely dire.

It's no exaggeration to say my work as scientist now keeps me up at night.

As I've watched the events of this summer unfolding, I've found myself wondering whether the Earth system has now breached a tipping point, an irreversible shift in the stability of the planetary system.

There may now be so much heat trapped in the system that we may have already triggered a domino effect that could unleash a cascade of abrupt changes that will continue to play out in the years and decades to come.

Click to shrink...

As a climate scientist I find prime minster Scott Morrison's request for people to be "patient" as infuriating as it is condescending. With respect prime minster, the science of climate change has been ignored in this country for decades. We are now seeing the very worst of our scientific predictions come to pass.

Everyone's patience has worn thin. The Australian people are justifiably angry and are now demanding true leadership in the face of this climate emergency.

We have already squandered over a decade debating climate policy in Australia. All the while, the clear reality of a rapidly destabilising planet accelerates all around us.

There genuinely is no more time to waste. We must act as though our home is on fire – because it is.

Click to shrink...

What we need are global strikes and marches. We are way too far in the hole to tone police. And we've been continuing to dig down even as we've become more green conscious. Tens of thousands have already died from climate change related issues, and the next several years in many SE Asian and African and ME countries will suffer immensely as our superheating continues.

We've wasted at least 3 decades. We heard the warning, and instead STEPPED UP our poison in the atmosphere. And by we I mean industrialized countries, predominantly USA, China, and Russia. The world has to reduce global emissions by something like 5% this year to even have a chance of avoiding 2C -with 2C already being its own apocalyptic scenario for many on this planet. The USA has a better chance of becoming a socialist utopia in 2020 than the world reducing emissions even 0.5% next year, much less 5%.

 

[Vexxan]

The world is in a very tough spot and it's gonna take a lot of demonstrations/strikes to get things going in the right direction. Combating climate change is going to need everyone to put in the work. We need to keep talking about climate change to educate people of what's ahead and what can be done on individual levels. Voting for the right people in charge is very very important in the coming years but we, as induviduals, should start changing today. The more people who try to "live green" in the world, the more leaders with the planet in mind should hopefully be put into power.

Getting everyone in the right mindset is half the battle, educate yourself and talk to friends and family what is going on and what the future probably will look like. Climate change is the biggest problem on Earth right now and people need to realize it. It will of course not be solved in 10 or 20 years, but we still have to keep fighting to limit the damage already done.

Start by eating less meat and try other less impactful meat/overall food, join the strikes or help clean up around lakes and other typical nature areas. Tell your friends and family what you are doing, show them how much you are doing and maybe (hopefully) they will start to get it if they are not already on board. Be active in your local community and work toward a future where not caring for the environment is looked down upon.

As much as it still might feel hopeless, we still must try.

 

[VeryHighlander]

On one hand, yeah shit seems fucked..

On the other hand, how long exactly have human beings been crying about the sky falling? Worried about the apocalypse? Since the beginning of human history..

 

[N.Domixis]

We will make it through the apocalypse, but got damn is the planet going to suffer for it.

 

[t26]

At least one of the most important factors is stating to happen and that is population.

People are having less kids which means less resource use and abuse.

Click to shrink...

You mean in the West. The population in many developing countries are increasing and they want to improve their living standard which will use more resource.

 

[Br3wnor]

Like millenialls are sants now? Heirs of the rich will continúe fucking up everything if people dont vote left

Click to shrink...

Yeah I don't see how millennials are going to become enlightened about climate change. It's anecdotal but most people I know care more about other societal issues before getting to climate change. Add the fact that facing climate change will require people to expend money for something they won't see any benefit to for a long time and it becomes a political hot potato. Until coastal areas start becoming legitimately unlivable and/or we have weather events that decimate populated regions year after year on a consistent basis, you're not going to see (imo) the commitment needed by this country and it's government to fight climate change. Even with all the boomers dead.

 

[Ogodei]

You mean in the West. The population in many developing countries are increasing and they want to improve their living standard which will use more resource.

Click to shrink...

The birth rate is decelerating pretty much everywhere except Sub-Saharan Africa.

I vacillate between hope and despair on this issue, tbh. There is so much being done and yet so much more that needs to be done. There are days when this seems tough but solveable and days when you think we might as well all start partying because we're already in the end stages.

 

[mbpm]

Earth: The assignment is due at the end of the week don't procrastinate on it start now
Humans: It's fine I work best under pressure

 

[Dead Guy]

Humanity has survived worse. Yeah its gonna be a shitshow for the next 20 years but no I dont see society collapsing like so many of you do.

We've survived the ice age, the collapse of the Roman empire, the plague, 2 world wars; we'll be ok.

 

[maxxpower]

Can we engineer technology to remove CO2 from the atmosphere?