Comment on When do we riot?
notabot@piefed.social 4 days agoI think you’ve pretty much hit the nail on the head here, most people don’t want to sacrifice what they have for the “greater good”, even if they intellectually know it is necessary to avoid losing even more.
As I see it, there are two ways of dealing with this; either the government forces people to make those changes, which would be massively unpopular, and probably lead to the government falling, or we find ways to make the necessary changes without people having to make massive sacrifices. This would probably involve things like a worldwide push to renewable energy sources, replacing ICE based transport with electric, likewise replacing industrial processes with non-emitting versions, finding ways to grow meat protein in an industrial process rather than farming it, and miriad other big changes.
It would be a massive endeavour, involving international coordination, major infrastructure projects, and a certain amount of state imposed industrial planning, but I think it would still be easier than getting everyone to give up the things they like.
ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 4 days ago
EU is pretty much doing what you’re describing: it has some (weak but still) EV transition plan, it’s pushing hydrogen (to de-carbonize industries), it’s installing a lot of renewables. I would say they doing as much as people and industries are letting them. Push any harder and industries will move, people will lose their jobs and you will see even more discontent. And doing more would cost money which would mean higher taxes or less investment which people would also not like. We could tax the rich but this also isn’t very likely as there will always be a place for them to hide their money in (if not US than Russia or Argentina).
This is how it’s going: Image
This is what “best effort” gets us right now. Even if by some miracle all other countries started doing the same (and as we know US for example is doing the exact opposite) we would see 50 more years of emissions. This is obviously not going to happen so we’re pretty much fucked. Rioting will definitely not change any of that.
plyth@feddit.org 4 days ago
Kind of true, but industries are working to slow the transition down like working against modernising the electric grid.
So it’s time for best effort, without quotation marks.
ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 4 days ago
Of course industries are trying to slow down the process but I don’t think overcoming them is as easy as trying harder. As I said, they do employ a lot of people so you have to modernize them without destroying them. It’s a slow process and you have to fight lobbyist and corruption on every step.
plyth@feddit.org 4 days ago
Then we have to keep thinking. It’s worth finding a way to overcome corruption and other obstacles to transform in years and not decades.