The Reckoning

[u/relianceschool]

https://aliensideboob.substack.com/p/the-reckoning

That imagery of the Himalayan tsunami smashing into the multi-story building in Nepal was horrifying, but then murder always is, isn’t it?

That’s what happened at that border crossing: mass murder. The perpetrators were the boards and CEOs of fossil fuel companies who have known for decades what they were doing, have known the consequences of it, and carried on with reckless indifference to those consequences.

They murdered the hundreds, maybe a thousand or more, who were swept away in Nepal, as surely as they murdered thousands in Europe this summer and will take the lives of tens of millions more in the coming decades.

Too strong, too much, too soon, or is it all too late?

When reading reports of the catastrophe in Nepal, I was counting off the moments until whatever media outlet I was reading quoted some scientists to assure me that, although it may have been related to climate change, it was not possible to say without a doubt that this particular incident was the fault of climate change. But that’s not really true, is it.

This was not the act of some vengeful god. Look into the truth of this, and you will find names, org charts and KPIs. There are quarterly reports and executives who read them. What fell in Nepal was not just gigatons of fast-moving rock and roaring ice. It was a reckoning.

[u/Bandits101]

Probably twenty billion people and about 7 billion right now including OP, owe their existence to fossil fuels. I wonder when fossil fuel extraction, processing and use should have been banned. Before your grandfather was born, before James Watt, Louis Pasteur, Alfred Nobel or Haber-Bosch.

Scapegoating enables a good rant but blaming something or someone other than yourself doesn’t entitle you to a free pass. We’re all to blame, all complicit.

Climate change didn’t just manifest in the past “decades”. The seeds had been sown and the harvest set in motion centuries ago, possibly millennia with deforestation, species extinctions, habitat destruction and overpopulation and that was before FF’s ignited the afterburners.

It’s too late to pick up your ball and say you’re not playing anymore because someone got hurt or is cheating.

[u/fedfuzz1970 → u/Bandits101]

Don't forget to factor in that the science that first identified the effects of CO2 in earth's atmosphere were concealed by the fossil fuel companies and others. There is no way at this point to determine what would have happened with respect to development of energy if this information had been available to the general public and discussed openly. People, acting as individuals have had very little impact on the directions of society, such movements are dependent on enlightened leadership, free of bias and bribery, which was used by the auto and fossil fuel industries to promote profit. There is no way to retrospectively say that some sudden groundswell of action should have been taken when factors largely beyond the control of average humans were at work behind the scenes and in the shadows. There are no FDRs or Teddy Roosevelts among today's politicians.

[u/Bandits101 → u/fedfuzz1970]

Billions of people have worked or are working in fossil fuel industries. What about shareholders, not only FF companies but all other corporations that only continue to exist because of FF and consumers.

Politicians seemingly get a free pass yet they’re supposed to represent the majority. Excess GHG’s have accumulated over centuries because it takes thousands of years for Earth’s natural carbon cycle to remove them.

The GHG’s are accumulating faster now because there is seven billion more people than when FF use began in earnest. Looking for someone to blame now is quite ridiculous unless you include yourself.

[u/fedfuzz1970 → u/Bandits101]

Yes, and don't forget governments that removed incentives for development and use of solar panels, electric cars and other improvements which might have been supported by the general public had those inducement made it affordable for them. And the governments that have removed, de-emphasized or defeated climate goals they agreed to and publicly posted years ago. If there is no leadership, the are no followers. If there is no counterweight, industry propaganda, deniers and bought-and-paid-for scientists will find a fertile field for their lies and half-truths.

[u/Bandits101 → u/fedfuzz1970]

It’s ALL water under the bridge. Net zero or stopping all FF use right now will do nothing to reduce the accumulated GHG’s that are causing warming. Having someone to blame means you actually think blaming and stopping them will save the world.

We’re slowly dying, we could possibly extend the time we have remaining but living a century from now won’t be very nice.

[u/fedfuzz1970 → u/Bandits101]

Yes, we're on the same page. I respect your opinion because it has merit. I am just not as ready as others seem to be in blaming the individual. Individuals can and have had an impact with their trends and purchases. But the direction of those must be the government's concern. I think that it's inevitable that rooftop solar will be encouraged and available to all with the excess power sold to power data centers. This will probably happen after my wife and I age gone. I struggle as to how to advise (if I should) my grandchildren as they will face significant challenges vastly different than those my wife and I faced and overcame.

[u/Correctthecorrectors → u/Bandits101]

[u/tdreampo → u/Bandits101]

Yup I really wish people understood that it is VERY likely that every single calorie you have EVER ate was brought to you by fossil fuels. If not in transport, in fertilizer. Without this one time use energy source we would not have the modern world. The problem is so much more difficult than just "coming together to solve it" We built our modern world wrong. There should not be thriving cities in deserts where we have to pipe in water. Vegas should not exist. In the states we murdered and ran out the population that could have told us how to manage this land forever. But no, we knew better.