Burning the Planet to Ashes is Good for the Economy
I guess we’ve come to that collective conclusion, because the opposite (Stopping the Planet from Burning to Ashes is Bad for the Economy) seems to hold sway among policy makers.
- More than 100 million people in the United States are currently under excessive heat warnings and heat advisories.
- Record-high temperatures are forecast for this weekend in 45 locales, mostly in Southern or Western states like Texas and Nevada, as well as Idaho and Oregon.
- In California alone, 25 million people will be under heat advisories or excessive heat warnings this weekend.
- Death Valley National Park is projected to reach or pass 130 degrees, almost reaching the world record temperature of 134 degrees recorded there in 1913.
- Las Vegas may have three consecutive days with highs of 115 degrees, which has only happened once before, in 2005. It is forecast to challenge its record temperature of 117 degrees on Sunday.
- For 29 days, El Paso reached 110 degrees or hotter.
- Phoenix reached 15 consecutive days at or above 110 degrees on Friday. With heat unlikely to let up over the weekend, the city could beat its previous record of 18 days a row with temperatures above 110.
- Forecasters say there’s an 86 percent chance that St. George, Utah, will reach or exceed its record-high temperature of 117 degrees on Sunday and Monday.
- The average high temperature in Miami from July 1-13 was 94.5 degrees — the hottest on record for that period.
- California’s Central Valley could see highs of 112 degrees this weekend.
We have exceeded the earth’s carrying capacity for humans. What’s missing from the conversation is a discussion of what kind of lifestyle people would like to have in the future; and to what degree that level of consumption would be sustainable if everyone on earth did the same. Doing so, one would see an inverse relationship between personal quality of life and population size. Then it’s only a matter of finding the right balance and maintaining it over the long term.
Is that all? Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezie.
It’s not easy but that’s the root of it. Would you be willing to give up flying forever if it meant a better environment? I know plenty of nyc/west coast folks who pride themselves on not owning cars but take 4-5 long haul flights every year. How much Are you willing to give up personally to make things right? It’s not a matter of electing the right people who will sign an accord and make some policy tweaks, expect deep collective sacrifice
Don’t be a dope. This is the same stupid argument as “if you think we’re undertaxed, go ahead and pay more.” Individual changes aren’t going to do shit in a country where everyone has to drive to survive.
It’s not on individuals. Without systemic changes we’re doomed, which is why we’re doomed.
Ultimately, systemic change will force individual sacrifice. We are as much a part of the system as we are subject to it.
True, but my point is that they’re trying to make us think that individual sacrifice should come first, when such sacrifice is pretty much pointless unless the systemic changes are made.
If gasoline prices go up, it’s good for the environment but not anyone in charge of government, because they’re immediately blamed for it (despite the fact that oil companies and the market, not the government, control the prices).
That should give you an idea of how quickly humans are ready to sacrifice anything. Which is why it’s so easy to wave one’s hands and make grand pronouncements about how things should work might be right, but so what?
As the saying goes:
Follow the money.
Since “the economy” always means the top 1%, yup.
The Top 1% of Americans Have Taken $50 Trillion From the Bottom 90%—And That’s Made the U.S. Less Secure
https://time.com/5888024/50-trillion-income-inequality-america/
Brother Bill reports in California (just outside Sacramento) it’s already in the low hundreds there and likely to go to the dreaded “teens” for an extended period. As noted the states in the south and parts of the mid west will have the worst of it. Good, we’re on the cusp of too damn late, and if it wakes the idiots up so be it. Taking pleasure in seeing the pathetic “Woke” game being ridiculed and tied to DeSantis.
I don’t really worry about the planet it will be fine and I don’t really care for people they never will be