https://media.nature.com/lw767/magazine-assets/d41586-023-02995-7/d41586-023-02995-7_26075536.png?as=webp how can people look at this image and just not understand it and the implications of it?
Easy. My in-laws are republicans. They just think it’s not man-made and god will take care of everything because “he always does.” How do you argue with that level of stupidity and ignorance?
Honestly? Because this chart didn’t explain that this isn’t part of some normal cycle or that humans are directly involved in some way. Many people don’t understand that.
Since I was a kid “El Niño” came around every few years and the hot air mass caused unusual summer storms and wacky winter snow conditions. This was explained as a 3-6 year cycle or something, nothing to worry about. A lot of people know about it because the weatherman loves the story.
Secondly, and I know this is a common thought: if humans are 100% solely responsible for tomorrow’s temperature reading, what precisely can any single person do today, and tomorrow, and next week to have the most significant impact? And how much will it cost that person relative to the benefit he or she will receive? It’s very unclear and this is a PR problem with the communication coming from many climate change activists.
People think a trend that’s been happening for 70 years, and is accelerating, is part of some harmless natural cycle that’s never been noticed before in the entirety of human history? I guess that’s possible because a lot of people are incredibly dumb, but mainly I think it’s just plain old denial.
It’s really hard not to be a total misanthrope.
Seeing a massive deviation from many years should be an obvious sign that it is not normal and there should be concern.
Not to mention scientists have been clearly calling for reduction in pollution and greenhouse games for over a century, starting with companies that are the most polluting. So a single person can vote for policies that hold companies accountable, because individuals cannot solve the problem on their own.
Well, one way they ignore it is by listening to everyone saying that it will disproportionately affect the most vulnerable in the world. In their minds this translates to “oh whew at least I’m safe from the worst.”
As true as this inequity is, I wonder if maybe we should stop talking about it, or at least acknowledge that it isn’t a motivating point for westerners with wasteful lifestyles. In fact the opposite.
At this point, all I got is gallows humor. It is honestly kinda darkly funny that the catastrophic temperature benchmark climatologists have been warning about for years will be blitzed past fairly unceremoniously in 2023z
Yeah, no shit. What do you want me to do? Recycle harder?
The narrative will immediately shift to 2.
