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Random, contextless climate musing #2832:
~93.29% of all debates about climate solutions boil down to people grappling with how deep they think change needs to be.
eg - the electricity sector. Do we swap out dirty gen for clean gen, or do we smash capitalism to pieces?
~93.29% of all debates about climate solutions boil down to people grappling with how deep they think change needs to be.
eg - the electricity sector. Do we swap out dirty gen for clean gen, or do we smash capitalism to pieces?
The gripes with shallow change are that they don't alter the systems that caused the problem in the first place; meaning new issues outside of emissions will arise.
The gripes with deep change are that it's just too much, too fast to be likely to succeed in the timeframe needed.
The gripes with deep change are that it's just too much, too fast to be likely to succeed in the timeframe needed.
You all know how much I hate both-sidesing things but unfortunately climate change is a problem that requires *Everyone* and *Everything* - that means learning to be okay with shallow change where it's fast, and learning to be okay with deep change where it's faster
The other unfortunate thing about climate change: whether we like it or not, we are in the process of *literally* building a new chassis for our species to exist within.
So decisions to skip past deep change right now could create a new 'climate change' style problem *very soon*
So decisions to skip past deep change right now could create a new 'climate change' style problem *very soon*
Those of us who exist in the technological arena, in which we tend not to think about political, social and cultural systems as much as we ought to, can at the very least engage with and understand this threat of reemergence.
We *don't want* to tackle a problem like this again!
We *don't want* to tackle a problem like this again!
Conversely: far too many of the deep change folks are (a) shockingly bad at actually creating change, and bringing others on board and (b) tend to feel that technological, 'shallow' replacements are a threat to their efforts, not a complement to them, and lash out accordingly
Walking the line takes effort, concentration, charity, clear-headedness, time and collaboration. It means not linking your identity to the thing you advocate for. It means fighting misinformation, but also strongly welcoming clear and useful inward-facing criticism.
Most importantly: wherever you friends, family, community, country and planet end up will almost certainly be somewhere not perfectly aligned with the architecture of your own head.
You and I will have to deal with this without becoming eternally reproachful and bitter.
You and I will have to deal with this without becoming eternally reproachful and bitter.
tl;dr - shallow change works brilliantly for now, but it's 2020, and it's time to start thinking about how depth can both accelerate and solidify climate action so it lasts into the mid century!
Appendix 1: go follow US Green New Deal folks, they're doing a good job of this
Appendix 1: go follow US Green New Deal folks, they're doing a good job of this
