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A comment on Young People Are Anxious About Climate Change, Say Governments Are Failing Them. Parent comment

Re:Young People Are Anxious About Climate Change, Say Govern... by rufus_foreman on Wednesday September 15, 2021 @08:27AM (#28538192)
>> The people are selfish, more concerned with their property values and if their neighbour mows their bylaw required lawn, than if the next generation will be able to have a similar quality of life. Why wouldn't you be cynical if you were young?

The IPCC reports say that if we do little to ameliorate the effects of global warming, in 2100 future generations will have a GDP per capita several times higher than today's, but lower than it would be if actions are taken. That's not an apocalypse. I would worry about other things if I were you.

You are asking old people now to lower their standard of living so that future generations will have a standard of living that goes from "much higher than yours" to "much higher than yours plus x%", while calling them selfish.

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Re:Young People Are Anxious About Climate Change, Say Govern... by JeremyNT on Wednesday September 15, 2021 @10:30AM (#28539522)
Assuming this to be true, how can GDP possibly be the best metric here?

Maybe we should consider that you can't buy back the things we'll lose, barring some unexpected developments in large scale geoengineering. How much "GDP" would you trade to live in a world that isn't racked by increasingly powerful storms, unprecedented droughts, loss of unique habitats, mass extinction of various species, and the other dramatic effects of rapid climate shift?

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Re:Young People Are Anxious About Climate Change, Say Govern... by NortySpock on Wednesday September 15, 2021 @09:00AM (#28538532)
How bad will the famines be in 2100? How many people will be refugees? Is a cushy job indoors worth it if it's too hot to work infrastructure jobs outside? Is GDP meaningful if citizens cannot afford food?
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