Re:Ask HN: What must happen to humanity to solve the climate...
by jfengel on Friday September 18, 2020 @10:18AM
(#24517071)
Politicians don't notice until their supporters notice. There's really no way for a politician to turn around and say, "Hey, it turns out I just noticed that climate change is a real and bad thing, and we should do something about it." Politicians elected on a climate-change-is-a-hoax platform will continue to do so, crisis or no crisis.
For that matter, the climate-change-is-a-hoax politicians are doing equally well with COVID19-is-a-hoax.
That applies to only half the population in one country with about 4% of the world's population, but it's responsible for 25% of the greenhouse gas emissions (and 20% of the COVID19 deaths). The new data may nudge enough of them to cause a significant change in the outcome if an election, but it would at best be temporary since so many other things can nudge it back come the next election.
I don't see anybody taking climate change seriously who isn't already. It's just too effective as a political strategy.
An even hotter summer heatwave causing large numbers of deaths in continental cities should make politicians take much closer notice.
Although it doesn't please me to say this, I think this is the crisis we need in order for this problem to start being taken much more seriously. Change can happen in a crisis.