Peter GleickYou know that metaphor about how a frog in a pot on the stove doesn't know it's heating up and doesn't jump out until it's too late?
The pot has started boiling.
Avocado Toast@petergleick this still works as a metaphor, but in reality the frogs jump out.
So we're less adaptive to subtle environmental changes than frogs.
echo (formerly eve) 👾🏳️⚧️@avocado_toast @petergleick personally I don't engage in humanity self-hate. We also jump out of the pot of boiling water. The climate crisis is just a bit more complicated to jump out of.
Like yeah, you can moan about how humans suck and ignore the problems. But it is, objectively, a very difficult problem. I don't know if the negativity accomplishes anything.
@akkavodol @petergleick do we? Or are we more like the frogs in this cartoon?
@avocado_toast @petergleick we're not. By proportion a significant fraction of humans agree that climate change is a problem. Certainly not 2 to 1 of climate deniers.
Modify the drawing to make the edges of the pot 1 meter tall, requiring significant infrastructure work to get out of, and make the majority of frogs say "the pot is boiling but I don't know what to do about it". That'll be more accurate.
https://today.yougov.com/topics/politics/articles-reports/2019/09/16/global-climate-change-poll
Black Chic with the Red Truck@akkavodol @avocado_toast @petergleick
And you also need a bunch of billionaires waiting outside to push anyone who gets too far back into the boiling pot.
And you also need a bunch of billionaires waiting outside to push anyone who gets too far back into the boiling pot.
@ReneeWestberry @avocado_toast @petergleick Once again : enough with the humanity self-hate.
A bunch of billionaires selling boats that are contributing to warm the pot but making it much more tolerable in the mean time.
I'm not pretending the situation isn't bad. But y'all just love to describe it as worst than it actually is just so you can indulge in hopeless despair. It's counter-productive. The frogs who are already convinced they're gonna die aren't getting out of the pot either.
@akkavodol @ReneeWestberry @petergleick nobody's "getting out of the pot" because the pot is planet Earth.
Enough with the tone policing. I don't have to be delusional just because you want me to join you in having a bias for positive thought.
If it were possible to solve the climate crisis through manifestation it'd already be accomplished.
@avocado_toast @ReneeWestberry @petergleick this isn't tone policing, this is me telling you that your worldview is inaccurate.
There's this inherent bias in human thinking that convinces us that if a worldview is grim and depressing it has to be true. That's just not how it works. It's just as easy to be wrong because you think things are worst than they really are than the other way around.
I'm just doing my best to bring some perspective into the conversation.
@akkavodol @ReneeWestberry @petergleick where am I wrong? Are we on track to emit less carbon than we did in 2022?
Don't think so.
@akkavodol Oh I was responding to avocado toast. I agree with what you’re saying.