Are we talking climate change or climate warming? And why are talking about just that, instead of the complete destruction of society and the living planet?
Indeed. I've been talking about it all for quite some time, as many have. Otoh., many choose to turn the blind eye, perhaps because they were not raised to take responsibility for anything except themself, and thus they simply don't understand the concept of working together, or taking common responsibility.
What aggravates me so much about environmental matters is, that many are far more concerned with making up excuses for why they or anyone else shouldn't give a damn, than about helping to create an atmosphere where environmental concerns matter, not least politically. It's very destructive behavior.
I honestly think it's objectively stupid to neglect environmental problems. And I sense a disconcerting lack of empathy with those who neither care about the people (or the animals) that are affected by it directly. Thus we find most deniers and liars on the right wing, where everything is about individualism and money, not about taking responsibility for each other, the planet, and our common future. The people who shout 'treehuggers' and 'bleeding hearts' etc are basically dickheads without compassion, intelligence, or a sense of responsibility. In my opinion of course, but seriously, they are..
I think the loss of species and entire ecosystems in this day and age is a tragedy and a scandal, one that later generations will curse us for. They'll be less kind in their wording than I am now.
There are so many aspects to the tragedy. For instance, imagine when the big animals are gone, we will not only lose the results of millions of years of evolution, we will lose the objects that shape our language. What will 'a lion's share' mean to people in the future?
I always recommend reading Emerson's Nature, it's such a fine insight into how our language and thinking is shaped by, and connected to, the natural world.
Climate change and global warming has the ability to change ecosystems on such a large scale that the consequences are almost impossible to grasp. Thus it is so very important. Local pollutants are easier to grasp and manage. Climate change is a global situation akin to the vanishing ozon-layers, and it has drawn out the same kind of denials, because it's not something that is simple enough that everyone can understand it with 'common sense', and observe it directly, and so they start arguing from an ignorant 'common sense' point of view.
In short, the topic is very, very important, one of the most important environmental issues imo.
