Get ready for many more record-shattering heatwaves

Re:Get ready for many more record-shattering heatwaves by fragmede on Tuesday July 27, 2021 @01:53PM (#27975416)

Maybe I'm not rich enough to get it, but let's say I do only care about me, and no one else. In the event of catastrophic climate collapse, sure, I could hypothetically escape on my evil villian billionaire yacht to Oceania, but even if I'm personally fine, my estate (as rich people call their houses) is going to be destroyed. My Miami beachfront condo is literally underwater, as is my Venice summer home, and NYC condo.

Let's say I'm rich and selfish and care only about things and not people. If I bother to look into the future, don't I have more real estate to lose than the poors, who might have one (or fewer!) homes to lose?

Your second point, that long term thinking is hard seems to be a bigger issue, even more so for anybody who is living paycheck-to-paycheck. It's too difficult to get rid of, eg, single use plastic in my life as an ordinary consumer. How do we set things up so the system is incentivized to change itself? Especially when the culture is opposed to any change in the first place.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Get ready for many more record-shattering heatwaves by dfxm12 on Tuesday July 27, 2021 @03:18PM (#27976379)

I didn't really bring up rich vs not rich, because it's more about empathetic vs narcissistic or societal vs anti-social. The event of a catastrophic climate collapse that you describe is probably not going to happen in our lifetimes, so if you're of the anti-social mindset, what do you care what happens to the Earth or society at large, especially after you're gone? Some people aren't going to change their behavior for the benefit of people they'll never even meet (separated by space or time), let alone never care about.

[ Parent | on HN ]