[flexie]

Not sure this kind of rhetoric ever worked. As far back as I have followed the news - so perhaps for 35 years - it was about to be too late. We were at the brink of a catastrophe. Humankind had to do something now. Tomorrow, it would be too late.

Look, global warming exists, it's (at least partially) man-made, and that's really bad.

But it's one issue out of many man-made or man-fixable issues. Fighting poverty is another. Curing diseases like malaria is also important. Curbing starvation. Spreading democracy and the rule of law. Then there are women's rights. Education. Racism. Avoiding WWIII. I am sure I forgot many large issues. How do we prioritize? Do we have to prioritize or can we deal with all of them at once?

[ath3nd]

This a typical what about-ism. The fact that there are other problems in the world doesn't invalidate the global warming/climate crisis.

Interestingly, lot of those things are connected:

Global warming is making droughts and floods more likely, thereby directly increasing the chance of starvation by threatening global food supply

Global warming is making warmer some parts of Europe, making ideal habitats for mosquitoes where they were not thriving before. Just this year Paris had to fumigate (first time in history) against a new invasive type of mosquito, known to be a malaria spreader. Additionally, Zika virus, once confined to parts of Africa, is now present in Greece, Turkey and other Balkan countries.

Global warming is likely to create a large societal collapse. When societies collapse, education and women's rights get thrown out of the window, so does the rule of law. Conversely, educated people and women are shown to care and do more about climate change.

Based on that, I think it's easy enough to prioritize...

[jclulow]

Good news! Climate change is already making malaria worse, decreasing food security, and will presumably begin destabilising governments in some regions as a result of disasters and migration if it has not already begun to do so. Prioritising efforts to stem the tide of climate change is prioritising those things!

[flexie]

For some of these it also applies the other way, doesn't it:

Richer societies can afford to heat their homes with more sustainable solutions.

More educated societies are more likely to introduce nuclear power or build windmill parks.

War could worsen the greenhouse effect.

[choilive]

All of those issues inevitably will get worse or be triggered by a runaway global warming scenario.

[ryandrake]

> As far back as I have followed the news - so perhaps for 35 years - it was about to be too late. We were at the brink of a catastrophe. Humankind had to do something now. Tomorrow, it would be too late.

Climate Change has felt like the Truck Almost Hitting The Pole[1] meme for decades. We're always A Mere N Years Away From Disaster, and then after N years, we're again M Years Away From Disaster. This has been the message since I can remember.

1: https://tenor.com/view/truck-crash-test-pole-doesnt-reach-gi...

[dlinz]

Climate change is not a single disaster waiting to happen at t=x, but a gradual process. There’s plenty of evidence suggesting that extreme weather events like wildfires, floods, and storms have been increasing in number and severity in recent years [1]. Some people have already been directly impacted, most are indirectly sharing the burden of the societal costs.

Unfortunately, humans collectively are very shortsighted, and it’s hard to communicate issues with seemingly intangible or long-term consequences. So we continue to argue pointlessly while slowly boiling like the proverbial frog in a pot.

1: https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/climate/climate-and-ext...

[hackeraccount]

That's part of the question isn't it? 1.5C isn't the problem - it's 1.5 over 10 years. If it is (or if we make it) 1.5C over 100 years then the problem is easier to deal with. If it's over 200 years then the problem is much easier to deal with.

[Izkata]

It's not shortsightedness on the public's side, it's "boy who cried 'wolf'" messaging making the doomsayers untrustworthy.