TimmyR   10 #1 Posted August 7, 2018 Our children and possibly we are going to experience a world in which hundreds of thousands of people die each year due to massive ecological disaster, those people may even be us or our children. Why are we all not in a state of panic? Why is anyone even considering burning a fossil fuel? Or buying a mass produced item? or voting for a government who wishes to continue to prop up an economy based on growth at all costs? Because bad stuff hasn't happened yet? Are we really all collectively that stupid?  https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/climate-change-global-warming-environment-dadly-killed-forest-fires-heatwave-europe-a7877781.html  If we as a race (and there is only 1 race - the human race) are to survive this we have to overcome this mass collective stupidity and work together. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
tinfoilhat   11 #2 Posted August 7, 2018 Our children and possibly we are going to experience a world in which hundreds of thousands of people die each year due to massive ecological disaster, those people may even be us or our children. Why are we all not in a state of panic? Why is anyone even considering burning a fossil fuel? Or buying a mass produced item? or voting for a government who wishes to continue to prop up an economy based on growth at all costs? Because bad stuff hasn't happened yet? Are we really all collectively that stupid?  https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/climate-change-global-warming-environment-dadly-killed-forest-fires-heatwave-europe-a7877781.html  If we as a race (and there is only 1 race - the human race) are to survive this we have to overcome this mass collective stupidity and work together.  I'll be long gone (as will an awful lot of other species in their entirety) by the time the penny drops. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
despritdan   241 #3 Posted August 7, 2018 Scientists have been warning about global warming since the eighties but nobody has taken it seriously. Even young people today seem more interested in passing their driving test and buying a car than the perils facing this planet, so what hope is there? It isn't stupidity, it's the consequence of being the most successful species on the planet through evolution which means we're not part of the natural world and we don't adapt to it as other species do, we replace it with our own artificial environment and the damage we're doing started almost as soon as modern humans evolved. People around the planet aren't going to go back to living in caves so the only thing we could do is stem population growth, but with the population of Africa set to double in the next 30 years, what chance is there of that? We might as well admit that we aren't part of nature's grand plan, we're the pariahs of the planet and there's a horrible inevitability about the grim future we're carving out for ourselves. I remember reading a letter in a newspaper years ago in which the writer pointed out that we're doomed so we might as well enjoy the party whilst we can and I think he was probably right. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
davyboy   18 #4 Posted August 7, 2018 The biggest peril for the future of this planet is the increasing number of humans. When I was 10 (1950) the population was 2.5 billion, in 2010 it was 6.9billion and projected to be 9.6 billion in 2050. A large % of the world goes hungry and live in dire poverty NOW. What are the chances of everyone living to the standard we do in the here and now? Nature will redress a balance.........epidemic, mass starvation? I won't be here to see it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
El Cid   214 #5 Posted August 7, 2018 Are we really all collectively that stupid?  If we as a race (and there is only 1 race - the human race) are to survive this we have to overcome this mass collective stupidity and work together.  We have some very bright individuals among us, but yes, collectively we are stupid. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
Padders   2,850 #6 Posted August 7, 2018 Its not a problem, technology is moving along at a terrific pace...in ,say, 50yrs we will have colonised the moon, maybe Mars, in 1000yrs we will have expanded to other places in the universe.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
Becky B Â Â 31 #7 Posted August 7, 2018 Wall-E is starting to feel like a documentary... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
biotechpete   10 #8 Posted August 7, 2018 Given the rate of species loss, it might already be too late for us. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jul/10/earths-sixth-mass-extinction-event-already-underway-scientists-warn Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
Top Cats Hat   10 #9 Posted August 7, 2018 It's not so much collective stupidity as living in a world where what we know is largely controlled by those with the power, who have a vested interest profiting from production of stuff that we mostly don't need.  When we do start to get a glimpse of the dangers of this, we are bought off with promises of more shiny things we can have.  We all acquiesce to this. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
The Joker   10 #10 Posted August 7, 2018 Its not a problem, technology is moving along at a terrific pace...in ,say, 50yrs we will have colonised the moon, maybe Mars, in 1000yrs we will have expanded to other places in the universe....  Oh boy, I remember reading that in library books back in the eighties . . . forty years ago . . . Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
biotechpete   10 #11 Posted August 7, 2018 It's not so much collective stupidity as living in a world where what we know is largely controlled by those with the power, who have a vested interest profiting from production of stuff that we mostly don't need. When we do start to get a glimpse of the dangers of this, we are bought off with promises of more shiny things we can have.  We all acquiesce to this.  Knowledge is more freely avavailable than ever before with more and more educated people, both globally and in the UK. The idea that knowledge and particularly that of climate change is hidden from people is absurd and insidious. These notions, that remove the responsibility from individuals serve only to perpetuate the inaction of society; making it someone else's problem. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
Top Cats Hat   10 #12 Posted August 7, 2018 Knowledge is more freely avavailable than ever before with more and more educated people, both globally and in the UK. The idea that knowledge and particularly that of climate change is hidden from people is absurd and insidious.  Of course the information is out there but it is hidden behind all the nonsense that is being fed to us.  I was at a pub quiz the other week and the team at the next table were 5 or six people aged between 20 and 30. In the news section of the quiz none of them knew who the Brexit secretary was, who the French president was or which social media giant had just been fined for data breaches. They did however know who was in the final of Love Island and what book had been given to Prince George as a christening present.  These were all people who had received a first world education but didn't seem to be interested in anything but fluff! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...