Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Tech & Science

Op-Ed: Climate – Nothing is being achieved, last decade to turn things around

A future based on nothing but total BS cannot possibly be much of a future.

A study found that subsidies totalling two percent of global GDP fund the "global destruction of nature". — © AFP
A study found that subsidies totalling two percent of global GDP fund the "global destruction of nature". — © AFP

Well, if World War 3 doesn’t get you, the climate probably will. According to IPCC figures, the last chance to keep warming under 1.5C is this decade. The previous decades of insanity have come to this.

The tale is simple enough. You may have seen this before somewhere:

Synopsis of failure on every level

If simple cheap emissions control measures like basic capture at source filtering had been put in place 30 years ago, this wouldn’t be happening at all. Nothing was done.

Politics, that home of genius, made sure that nothing was done. A herd of political and pseudoscientific skanks took the money and ran out the clock. Billions of dollars paid for some of the worst anti-science rhetoric in history for over a generation.  

This “environmental filibustering” is likely to do even more exponential damage. The political positions haven’t changed, and they’re simple enough, too:

Conservatives: There isn’t a problem.

Progressives: Verbose outrage and obsessive naivete.  

The conservatives are simply lying and getting paid for it. The progressives seem to believe that the utterly corrupt, criminal system which has created the catastrophes to come will somehow fix itself.

Turnaround is possible

Given the levels of total irresponsibility criminality, and greed, the main obstacle to climate reversal is human rather than technical. The required science is doable, and/or already exists.

The anti-regulatory, anti-compliance political environment is the key to undoing the damage. We’ll leave out the insanity issues and focus on fixing the basic theory that common sense is somehow illegal.  

(Yes, conspiracy nuts, not poisoning yourself is a form of socialism, like birds, trees, children, living, and breathing. Happy? Convinced you’re super geniuses, yet again? Good. Go apply for sainthood and disappear.)

This mindless, baseless, pointless “ideology” has no answers to anything. It doesn’t like questions much, either. For those born after about 1980 – This is the way things were done in the past. If something makes money, you get some puny political bozo to support making the money. You reduce costs and maintain profits by blocking laws. It’s roadkill-level thinking.

That’s the whole story. There is no vision of the future or anything else but a few bucks.  That’s what has to be turned around.

It’s not as hard as it seems. If money is the cause, risk of losing money can do the job of managing the issues.

What if:

  • Polluters were simply shut down instead of fined? Show compliance and cause why they should be allowed to operate again.
  • Polluting nations were embargoed? (My own country, Australia, could use a massive kick in the backside for its decades of inaction. We have the money and the tech, but not the political or corporate will.)
  • Compliance required remedial measures like CO2 emitters must also install CO2 scrubbers?  That’s 100% fair, and doable. (This is what you get for being too cheap to install a few $10 filters, guys.)
  • No new carbon fuel projects anywhere on Earth.
  • Carbon resources to be repurposed for non-fuel, non-polluting non-emitting uses only.

You’ll note these are very expensive enforcement measures for polluters and they could last possibly for decades. Even the fossil-brains will see an unacceptable risk of very high losses. (Pity you can’t see why, isn’t it?)

Is it possible? Yes. Fortunately, Millennials and Gen Z know there’s an existential risk to their immediate futures. It’s not “a hundred years from now” as it was for Boomers and Gens X and Y.

This fan-destroying big hit is a decade or so away. They’ll be in their 30s and 40s and right there at Ground Zero. Do you think these guys would vote for a bit of sanity? Could be, couldn’t it?

Consider also this scenario: A future based on nothing but total BS cannot possibly be much of a future.

Another way of looking at it is this:

Earth is Ukraine. A horde of criminal invaders are committing crimes all over the place and people are dying in large numbers. The only option is to fight.

Now does it make sense, O mighty intellects?

…Because it’s about time it did. Enough chain-dragging; get on with it.   

_________________________________________________

Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.

Avatar photo
Written By

Editor-at-Large based in Sydney, Australia.

You may also like:

Sports

The 2025 Millrose Games were held at The Armory in New York on February 8th, for a good turnout.

Business

A flood of presidential trade policy announcements has kept US automakers on edge since Donald Trump returned to the White House.

Entertainment

Pop singer-songwriter Leroy Sanchez released his new single "Fallin'" on February 7th.

World

Germany's conservative election frontrunner Friedrich Merz pledged a stronger role for Berlin in the EU and muscular support for Ukraine.