“You don’t miss the water until the well runs dry” has never been a more true expression. People expect that if something is going wrong here’d be immediate and apparent consequence. It seems like a vast majority of people completely lack the skill of extended foresight, where one can look at a current situation and see how it can accumulate into a worse situation later.
A great example of this was my mom during COVID-19:
“All this pandemic talk is just nonsense. I’m not seeing people dying on the streets, now, am I?”
If the effects of climate change aren’t immediately apparent with some big global disaster happening overnight, then it’s not a big issue or simply not real.
If eating something that causes long term health risks doesn’t immediately make you sick overnight then it’s not a big issue or simply not real.
And unfortunately as a life-long resident of white suburban america, I know how comfortable life still is for so many people, and how the culture of “ignore that problem and we’ll be fine” continues to pay off for people with a little privilege in their life.
Check out Ethiopia and Egypt, Pakistan and India, China and Vietnam/Laos.
Some are more hot than others but these are all conflicts over lowering water levels and increasing demand. Even within the USA, there are conflicts between states in the southwest and with Mexico over the Colorado river kind of… Just not existing anymore.
That’s what I’m saying, people don’t deal with problems until they’re forced to.
And climate change, while having effects all over the world, doesn’t affect everyone with the same intensity, so the luckiest among us can afford to ignore the problem longer than the rest. Of course the luckiest usually are also the ones with the most power to deal with these issues.
It literally cannot be ignored anymore.
“You don’t miss the water until the well runs dry” has never been a more true expression. People expect that if something is going wrong here’d be immediate and apparent consequence. It seems like a vast majority of people completely lack the skill of extended foresight, where one can look at a current situation and see how it can accumulate into a worse situation later.
A great example of this was my mom during COVID-19:
“All this pandemic talk is just nonsense. I’m not seeing people dying on the streets, now, am I?”
If the effects of climate change aren’t immediately apparent with some big global disaster happening overnight, then it’s not a big issue or simply not real.
If eating something that causes long term health risks doesn’t immediately make you sick overnight then it’s not a big issue or simply not real.
I agree with everything you’re saying.
And unfortunately as a life-long resident of white suburban america, I know how comfortable life still is for so many people, and how the culture of “ignore that problem and we’ll be fine” continues to pay off for people with a little privilege in their life.
As for your last point, that is literally how I feel because I know for a fact that I will die from water wars before it matters
If water wars start in my lifetime, it’s game over for me. I will not let myself live through that shit.
Check out Ethiopia and Egypt, Pakistan and India, China and Vietnam/Laos.
Some are more hot than others but these are all conflicts over lowering water levels and increasing demand. Even within the USA, there are conflicts between states in the southwest and with Mexico over the Colorado river kind of… Just not existing anymore.
That’s what I’m saying, people don’t deal with problems until they’re forced to.
And climate change, while having effects all over the world, doesn’t affect everyone with the same intensity, so the luckiest among us can afford to ignore the problem longer than the rest. Of course the luckiest usually are also the ones with the most power to deal with these issues.