[cheez]

The population of Norway is smaller than the city in which I live. I would say the city in which I live often teeters between sustainability and the opposite. Is there some limit to human organization scale where we can be effective?

[astrodust]

It's an attitude thing.

Countries like Japan and China are much bigger and yet pivot on a dime politically when there's consensus. China went all-in on coal and when things got so bad pollution wise, they went all-in on solar.

It's not a limit on population size, it's a limit defined by political cohesion. Look at the US today with two parties, one center-right wing, one extreme right wing, where they can't get anything done because one party would rather shut the country down than negotiate.

[hcurtiss]

Correction -- China went all in on solar AND coal.[1] These stories that China is going through some kind of environmental renaissance are fiction.

[1] https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-45640706

[cheez]

Interesting. So I suppose culture is important. Do we want to build a culture of sameness which allows for this kind of pivoting? I'm not so sure.

[astrodust]

It's not sameness so much as getting everyone on the same page.

A multitude of opinions is fine so long as they're not the polar opposite or just pure obstructionism.